Duels are often portrayed as being events that are simple, straightforward, with one or both dead, but victims often took days to die, and the practice was illegal of course, so the survivor might face the death penalty or, as in this case, as the man came from a good family, was quietly put aside, and everyone got on with their lives. Apart from the victim, of course.
“A fatal duel took place in a field near the Montagu Hotel on the 1st of March, 1809, and caused a lively sensation in the district. The parties, who, it was reported, had quarrelled at the theatre, were Mr. Henry Smith, attorney, a member of an old Bristol family, and Mr Richard Priest, a tailor in Clare Street. The latter was mortally wounded in the thigh, and died within a few hours. [The account of the affair given in the local newspapers does not occupy half a dozen lines.] Smith fled to Portugal, but surrendered at the assizes in April 1810.No indictment,however, was presented against him, and after being arraigned upon the verdict of the coroner’s jury, a convenient informality was found in the document, upon which he was at once discharged.”
Personally I consider it would be a good thing that duelling is brought back; cheaper than the slow painful and costly court actions that nowadays settle disputes.
It’s a horrible way to go.
On Thu, Jan 10, 2013 at 10:13 PM, texthistory