Life — February 4, 1897 — page 14: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

* LIFE: POKER TERMS. “RAISING HEM." ADVICE TO DUELLISTS. first thing to be con- T" sidered insult. An insult is necessary to a is the duel, but it must not be too great an insult nor yet too Your hated rival > would hardly be induced to go to Hoboken on a cold winter morning merely because you have remarked to him, ‘‘I don’t like you!” And before a police magistrate if you took a belaying pin and beat his brains out or broke his back, smalla one. he would be more than likely to have you haled Different things are insults with different men also, and you find that you yourself will not feel half as insulted at a thing said of you by one man as you will if the same thing were said by a much smaller man. The best plan, when you feel like fighting a duel, is to : to consider himself insulted dating, he will oblige you. Having thus chosen your adve} a second, your adversary If he is at all accommo- ‘ou now choose He will attend to all the necessary arrange- Be sure and choose one, however, who knows enough to see that the pistols are loaded with blank cartridges, or at least that the other fellow’s is. After this, inform your family and friends. Spend the evening of the last day before the duel with your sweetheart. When you leave to go forth into the dark night, press her fondly to your heart and tell her of your dread purp Make her swear that she will use every endeavor in her power to have the duel averted. Then say good-bye, hinting that perhaps it is never to meet again — until to-morrow evening. After this, notify the police. Once on the field of honor, behave with becoming mode Offer to excuse your adversary from firing if he wishes to win fame by doing the prenx chevalier act. If this does not meet with his approval, offer to fire first. ments, If you fail in these negotiations, however, get behind a tree, close your eyes, take steady,faim, and at the word, fire. After firing, fall to the ground, roll your eyes wildly, and murmur the names of eight or ten rich girls loud enough for all parties to hear you. At this point your adversary will seek a reconciliation. Wave him off, however, and inform him coolly that it is but a wound. Don't under any circumstances let him get near enough to discover that you are lying—on your back. If you follow these directions carefully, and remain ay from home long enough for a supposititious wound to heal, you will become a hero, just like Maurice Bar- rymore and John Drew, and all the girls will love you. There is alw however, the bare possibility that your second does not know a blank cartridge from a ball car- tridge. Herein lies all the danger of duelling. Under such circumstances it is quite possible that you may be killed. Should this happen, feign a deep sleep when you fall. Try to be as calm as possible. Nothing is more gauche than a nervous corpse. | once heard of a stylish funeral being broken up entirely by the corpse sitting up and insisting that it was alive. Tom Hall, “Mow DID YOU GET THEM so MUDDY?” “L HAD JUST RAISED THEM TO CROSS THE STREET, WHEN 1 SAW COMSTOCK ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE, AND | HAD TO LET THEM DRAG IN THE MUD FOR FEAR OF BEING ARRESTED.”