A CURIOUS DUEL.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 2742, 8 February 1890, Page 6 (Supplement)

A CURIOUS DUEL.

A DUEL which occasioned a great sensation at the time ot its occurrence was one between Henri Delagrave arid Alphonse Riviere, the cause being the success of the former in wooing a young lady to whom they were both attached. Riviere insulted hie successful rival by slapping him on the cheek in a givmiog saloon, and it was agreed that a duel should take place in which the life of one should be ended. The details were left to their seconds to arrange, and until they faced one another upon the field neither of the young men knew in what form they were to brave death. On the following morning four men met in a quiet wood. They were Riviere, with Monsieur Savalle, his second, and Delagrave, who was accompanied by a docter named Rocquet. The latter informed the rivals that Monsieur Savalle and himself had arrived at tho decision that, in order to eecure the certainty of a fatal result to one of their principals, it would be best to leave out of the question swords or pistols, and t6 trust to the more sure action of a deadly poison. Aβ he spoke he drew from his pocket a little box, in which lay four black pellets, all exactly identical in size and shape. "In one of the3e," he said, " I have placed a sufficient quantity of pruasic acid to cause the almost instantaneous death of anyone who swallows it. Monsieur Savalle and I will decide by the toss of a coin which of you is to have first choice, and you shall alternately draw and swallow a pill until the poison shows its effects." While speaking the last words the doctor span in the air a glittering gold piece, and as it fell Saralle cried " Tails." It fell with the head uppermost, and Savalle said, " The choice is yours, Monsieur Delagrave." The two whose fate was contained in those innocent looking black balls had shown no uign of trepidation while the doctor explained the awful preparations that he had made for the death of one of them ; and Delagrave's face was perfectly impassive as he selected and washed down with a glass of eludet ono of tho globules. " And now Mou.iieur Riviere," said the doctor. Riviere extended his hand and took a pill, which he swallowed with as little appearance of concern as his opponent. A. minute passed, two, three, and still the duellieta stood motionless. "It is your choice again, Monsieur Delagrare," said tho dootor ; " but this time you must swallow the pill at the same instant that Monsieur Riviere swallows the one you leave for him. Delagrave paused for a moment, looking in silence at the two balls that lay before him. The closest scrutiny showed not the slightest difference between them|; one was harmless, but in the other rested the pall of eternity—the silence and peace of that sleep which knows no awakening in this world. With a start he drew his eyes from the box, and, putting his finger and thumb into it, drew forth one of the remaining pills. Rivifere took the solitary one remaining, and both men simultaneously gulped down their fate. A few seconds passed without any perceptible movement on tho part of either of them, and then Riviere threw up his hands, and without a sound fell flat upon the grass. He turned half round, gave one convulsive shudder, and, as his rival bent over him, breathed his last. The fair cause of this awful tragedy was so horrified at it that she refused to see Delagravo again ; and the memory of those few minutes weighed bo heavily upon him that ho followed RiviiSr* to tho grave in a few months' time.—All the Year Round.