Duelling Days in the Army.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 206, 11 June 1887, Page 3

Duelling Days in the Army.

William Douglas, late of the 10th "Royal Hussars, has written a book on " Duelling Days in the Army,'' which Messrs Ward and Downey have just published. The custom took a long time to die out in the British service ; long 1 after they had been forbidden by the Articles of War duels were fought. When an officer was wounded in a duel, it was represented to the authorities —although every man in the corps know otherwise— that ho had sprained his ankle or broken Ins leg ; and when one of the combatants fell, it was only put down to disease at homo, apoplexy ; abroad, cholera or fever. Mr Douglas mentions several instances of duelliots escaping death by the bullets being stopped or deflected by the brass buttons- so maeh worn by our grandfathers. When Captain Cullibcvt. of the Guards, and Lord Lonsdalo fought in 1792, two shots were iircd by each without injury to either ; but. Loul Lonsdale's la&t shot would probably haw been fatal if the bullet had not struck a button on Captain Cuthbert'b coat. " An even move wonderful affair happened in 1787, when a French officer having said in an unguarded moment ' that the English army had moie phlegm than spirit,' he was soon afteru ardn challenged by an English officer, Captain S ,of the 11th Regiment of Foot, for having made use of these words. As the Chevalier La T3 icfusecl either to apologise for or to withduuv the expression, a duel took place ; and the offence was considered by the Biitou to be of so deadly a kind- or, rather, one v.hich nothing but the death of the utteror could extenuate— that ho insisted on fighting at five paces. If the two arms and the two pistols are taken into account, the short distance was of course much reduced, so that apparently neither had a chance of escaping. Seemingly they had to^ecl, or done something el --o, for ' first fire,' -which the Englishman won, and Captain S "s ball ' took place,' as mi^ht be expected, on the Chevalier's bu\u>l ; but, by a marvel of luck, it was stopped by a metal button. The Chevalier,touched by so p' o\ icicnlial an escape, magnanimou.-^ly fired in the aii, and did not stop at that, but made a lull apology by stating thai (he English had both spirit and phlegm. We road elsewhere of another duellist picking up on his \va) to the place of meeting a hoi-e-hoe, v.hich for 'luck' he placed inside of his, coal, over his heart, and the bullet happening to strike there, the horseshoe ?a\ed his life. Ceneial Eonnet, in lih duel with General Oinani in Paris in 181 k owed hi* life to ha\insf a hundred-franc piece in his -waistcoat pocket.''

A Ridiculous Affair. While Dr. Young, nn officer belonging to the Woolwich Carrison, was escorting some ladies up the river to Vauxhall about the year 1720, lie played (.hem some tunes on a flute. Behind them was a boat, in which were several officer rowing for the same goal, and as these «oon came alongside the one the doctor and his party were in he ceased playing. "One of the officers immediately asked why he did so. 'For the reason I began,' nnswered Dr. Young, Ho please myself. 1 The reply to this was fin order to continue playing, ending with q threat that if he did not do so, lie (the officer) would toss the doctor into the Thames. Pr. Young complied -with the insolent demand and played all the way up the river to Vnu Khali. During the o\ ening, however, the doctor observed. _ the officer who hail been ?o musically inclined by himself in one of the walks, when ho went up to him, and with great coolne-s said, ' It was, sir, to avoid interrupting the harmony of either my company or yours that I complied with your arrogant demand ; but that you may learn courage id to be found under a black coat as well as under a red one, T expect yon will meet me to-morrow morning at a certain place without any second — the quarrel being entirely between ourselves.' The doctor covenanted that the aftair^hould be decided by swords, to all of which conditions the officer readily agreed. The parties met the following morning as had been arranged ; but the moment, the officer had taken his ground and drawn hi^ sword, the Doctor pulled out a horse pistol, and presented it at him. ' What !' exclaimed the officer in a fright, 'do you mean to assassinate me ?' ' No,' replied the doctor, ' but you shall instantly put up your sword and dance a minuet, otherwise you are a dead man.' The other at this began to wear at his opponent, as well as to vow ho would do noth^e" oi the kind : but the doctor was resolute, giving the officer clearly to understand that if he did not begin to dance before he (Young) counted thirty, the threat would be carried into effect. In slow time the doctor began to count ' one, two, three,' and by the time he got up to ' ten' the sword was returned into its sheath, and before he had counted ' twenty ' the officer was going through a minuet, as stately as a man could do that had a loaded pistol levelled within but a few feet of his head. After a quarter of an hour's practice the muzzle of the pistol was lowered, the hoider of it saying, as it fell, ' That will do, sir : we are now quits. You forced me to play against my will, and I have compelled you to dance against yours. Being now on a level, I will give you whatever other satisfaction you require. The next affair will, of course,be seconds. You know where to find me. Good morning.' The doctor, however, heard no more of the matter."

Determined Encounter in a Locked Boom. Several letters reflecting on the character of a lady having been published in the " Morning Post " in 1777, Captain Stoney, a celebrated buck of the day, challenged the editor, the Reverend Mr Bate, on the understanding that there were to be no seconds. " They met in a room, and, locking the door, took up their positions. Having discharged their pistols without effect, they threw these on the ground, and, drawing their swords, attacked each other most resolutely, the result being that Mr "Bate was wounded in the thigh and Captain Stoney in the arm and breast. By this time people were hammei-ing at the door of the room and trying to open it, but the swordsmen were too intent on their work to attend, and the conclusion would have been fatal to one or both but for an accident which occurred in the combat. This was owing to the bending of the blade of Mr Bate's sword, which was caused by the point meeting the Captain's breasfc-bone. On Mr Bate apprising his opponent of this, Captain Stoney called upon him to straighten it ; and in the interim, while Mr Bate had his sword under his foot for that purpose, the door was broken open ; otherwise, as remarked, the death of one or both of the parties might have ensued. On the Saturday following Captain Stoney married the lady whom he had thus defended at the hazard of his life."

A Bully Surprised. An account of a duel between a French and an English officer while the Allies occupied Paris (when the Frenchman, who was a practised duellist, provoked Lieutenant Gordon to fight and kill him) recalls an incident mentioned by Charles Lever in one of his books :—: — "There was a Frenchman who boasted of having killed a dozen English officery,

and promised to go ou in this work. One evening he swaggered as usual into his cafe", and, to his astonishmont, actually sawj one of those hated 'Anglais' occupying his chair, a chair that no one hitherto had dared to sit upon except himself. Mastering his passion, ho undid his sword belt, and, having placed his sword on one side, began to insult tho perfectly inoffensive English officer who &at so unconsciouslooking in his (tho Frenchman's) chair. Ho trod upon the English toes, ho deprived the Englishman of his candles ; ho went from one thing on to another without at all being able in the least, apparently, to disturb the other's placidity. At last he snatched tho newspaper out of the Englishman's hand, and then the Briton slowly rose up, displaying to the astonished oyes of the Gaul a Guardsman some 6ft. Gin. high. The giant, bending across tho table, soized hold of the Frenchman's nose with ono hand and his chin with the other, and wrenching his mouth open, spat down his throat. With a howl the Frenchman, holding his underjaw with both hands, ran out of the room. His j'»w was broken, and neither he nor any of his comrades were seen again at the cafe 1 ." The English officer, Mr Douglas adds, was tho late General Sir Jas. Simpson, who for a time commanded in tho Crimea, and who was in his time the tallest man in tho Britibh army.