A STRANGE DUEL.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1128, 14 December 1883, Page 3

A STRANGE DUEL.

A New Orleans paper reveals the existence of a man, now well advanced iu life, who forty years ago was one of the principals in a duel ot a very strange and tragical kind. The cause of the encounter was the rival claims ot to young men two a lady’s hand, the enmity so bitter that it was mutually agreed that the world was not large enough for the two. But death was not dealt by the pistol or revolver. An old army doctor, a friend of both combatants, finding their resolution irrevocable, undertook to promote their plans. When the duellists arrived on the field of combat they were considerably surprised at the nature of the arrangements. I’here were no firearms visible, only a black morocco case, from which the doctor drew foFth a pill box. It contained four pellets,' one or which was destined to cause instant death • the remaining three being harmless. The two men agreed to the mode of “ duelling” proposed. A gold piece was tossed in the air to decide who would have the first choice. Two of the pellets were swallowed, and then the piece was tossed again for the other two which the doctor insisted should be swallowed by both the principals at the same moment A draught of claret washed them down, and the next instant one of the young men fell forward in the last agony. The survivor still lives, but, says the Nevv Orleans paper which has resuscitated the story, mental anguish has destroyed the peace of his existence, and to this day he can never look on a pill box without a shudder, and shuns claret as though it were poison.