Authors, American -- 19th century -- Biography; Humorists, American -- 19th century -- Biography; Twain, Mark, 1835-1910
Selecting at random from my record, I next find a duel at Tarnopol
between military men. An officer of the Tenth Dragoons charged an
officer of the Ninth Dragoons with an offence against the laws of
the card-table. There was a defect or a doubt somewhere in the
matter, and this had to be examined and passed upon by a Court of
Honor. So the case was sent up to Lemberg for this purpose. One
would like to know what the defect was, but the newspaper does not
say. A man here who has fought many duels and has a graveyard, says
that probably the matter in question was as to whether the
accusation was true or not; that if the charge was a very grave
one--cheating, for instance--proof of its truth would rule the
guilty officer out of the field of honor; the Court would not allow
a gentleman to fight with such a person. You see what a solemn
thing it is; you see how particular they are; any little careless
act can lose you your privilege of getting yourself shot, here. The
Court seems to have gone into the matter in a searching and careful
fashion, for several months elapsed before it reached a decision.
It then sanctioned a duel and the accused killed his accuser.
Next I find a duel between a prince and a major; first with
pistols--no result satisfactory to either party; then with sabres,
and the major badly hurt.
Next, a sabre-duel between journalists--the one a strong man, the
other feeble and in poor health. It was brief; the strong one drove
his sword through the weak one, and death was immediate.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account