Dumb Duels #7: Circus Duel March 14, 2017
Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern , trackback
Obviously this never happened. But credit to the hack who came up with it. Note the event took place in France, the favourite land of madness for 19C English journalists…
A curious duel has taken place in a travelling circus temporally stationed in village outside Paris. Two acrobats quarrelled and resolved to fight a duel. The place chosen was the ring—after the public performance, of course—the conditions being two shots twenty-five paces. As usual, neither of the combatants was hurt, and their wounded honours being satisfied the incident terminated. The duellists and their seconds overlooked the presence of two members of their company, who were quietly munching nuts ina corner, trained monkeys, who had been taught to ride round the ring dressed as soldiers and to fire pistols en route. The monkeys saw the performance of their masters, and once the way was clear they resolved to imitate it. Gravely loading their pistols they faced each other—not at twenty-five paces, but at five—and fired. They both fell dead, one with its head nearly blown off and the other shot in the breast. At the sound of the shots the master of the circus rushed in, and found the bodies of the imitative duellists in the ring, with the still smoking pistols lying by them.
Other animal duels with animals (as opposed to using animals as weapons): drbeachcombing AT yahoo DOT com
Brian writes, 30 mar 2017: Here’s a wonderful illustration of the monkey duel from the front page of the Illustrated Police News, 19 July 1890.
Wonderful indeed.
