October 23, 1909. New York

WTF all the protection???? G.D. Pussys.
Eye protection of course but full facial;../....? The point being that when we were plebes in college + were rented rooms from, (Mrs.Williams).The point of this that during
college I would load my .45 with a primer + a cookie cutter plug of wax projectiles curtasy of a box of parofin.(sp)
I set a copy of "Moby Dick""Required Reading" + then I poured a bit of honey on the book + awaited.It was a study in marksmenship + patience: 2 invaluable things.

Incomplete entry; For those who have not figured it out,the honey was for the fly's attraction.To pop a fly @ 40 feet....well good practice.

I believe France had a good system until the 60's. Apparantly, you could file suit against someone alleging that you had good cause to challenge them to a duel. If the court agreed, you could issue the challenge and if they accepted, a duel could take place. The willing participants were not legally liable for the results. Of course, if they refused, you could accuse them of being a coward, which used to bear some stigma.

Wink might shed some light, but I thought that was a good system.

Giorgio Santelli had a fencing school around the corner from where I lived in NYC about thirty years ago-



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F...1924_Summer_Olympics

-and Aldo Nadi:



In this duel, Nadi was asked why he didn't fence according to style, etc as it was taught and he replied in so many words that it was a lot different deal when it wasn't a game.

https://www.google.com/search?....0...0.0.x9cfw7byC78

-also, diplomats still square off with sabers to this day.

In the early 70's when @ U.T. I took fencing classes,.There was this little black girl that was total HELL on all comers using the sabre.I was never able to take the course but still regret it to this day.

interesting book, " By the Sword", it has been cited for some inaccuracies, but overall a good look at the history of swordplay, most interestingly cheating in modern competition.

quote:

Originally posted by lavaca:
I believe France had a good system until the 60's. Apparantly, you could file suit against someone alleging that you had good cause to challenge them to a duel. If the court agreed, you could issue the challenge and if they accepted, a duel could take place. The willing participants were not legally liable for the results. Of course, if they refused, you could accuse them of being a coward, which used to bear some stigma.

Wink might shed some light, but I thought that was a good system.

in Santelli's case above, Il Duce lifted the ban on duelling for twenty-four hours.

Just for the record,was the "ladies's virtue" truly in danger at any time"?

By coincidence, the wife and I were watching "To Have and Have Not" on TCM this evening- I looked the movie up on IMDB and Aldo Nadi has a bit part in the film.

He was a fencing instructor in Hollywood for a time.

quote:

Originally posted by lavaca:
I believe France had a good system until the 60's. Apparantly, you could file suit against someone alleging that you had good cause to challenge them to a duel. If the court agreed, you could issue the challenge and if they accepted, a duel could take place. The willing participants were not legally liable for the results. Of course, if they refused, you could accuse them of being a coward, which used to bear some stigma.

Wink might shed some light, but I thought that was a good system.

I know nothing about dueling so had to look it up. Here's what I found out about France:

France
King Louis XIII of France outlawed duelling in 1626, and duels remained illegal in France ever afterwards. At least one noble was beheaded for fighting a duel during Louis's reign, and his successor Louis XIV intensified efforts to wipe out the duel. Despite these efforts, duelling continued. Between 1685 and 1716, French officers fought 10,000 duels, leading to over 400 deaths.
The last duel in France took place in 1967 when Gaston Defferre insulted René Ribière at the French parliament and was subsequently challenged to a duel fought with swords. René Ribière lost the duel, having been wounded twice. He escaped relatively uninjured, however.

So dueling has been illegal in France for a long time. However, it seems that protoganists are rarely prosecuted.

Diplomats still square off from time to time with sabres, and there are German duelling clubs where participants fence with their faces exposed, their eyes protected by glass goggles, and their upper bodies with mail.

I started out fencing in Brooklyn in high school , then college and continued after .Many years of enjoyment !!

I watch the Olympic fencing when I can find it [it's as bad as shooting to find].But it's frustrating at times because as someone who has done some coaching I find it's not always "Olympic Class" .

Fencing , and shooting are rare sports in that you don't have to be 20 years old to compete.

During WWII Germany's famous commando, Otto Skorzeny, tried to talk Hitler into reintroducing sword duelling in the educational system. Hitler patiently heard him out, then reminded there were more important things to concern themselves with, but promised to revisit the subject after they won.

As late as the 1960s it was still considered an honor to have a duelling scar. I had this German girlfriend then who told me about the boys intentionally trying to collect one of these scars. She said at first she didn't like the look, but came to find it attractive. I think I asked "how so?", but I don't remember the answer...

Anyway, here's a little treat for you on it - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtU6Fs2Jyn0

I think there's a version of that on youtube with the words if you "duellists" want to sing along...it's an interesting mix of German and Latin..

There was a movie in 1962 called Mondo Cane. It was what they now call a "shockumentary". It had a segment on the German dueling clubs as I recall.

silly. If I'm pissed off enough at you to want to shoot at you, I want to use lead.

Wax pellets make a good bruise on exposed skin.