“I received the warmest of welcomes. It was difficult to think so amiable a man could ever find himself a duellist perforce. Gentle of speech, clear of eye, wondrously steady of hand, spare, lithe, and muscular of body, a man of middle age and ever smiling face, whose brown mustaches were just streaked with grey – that was the man whose challenge to a pistol duel I had accepted.”
-1908 challenger to Walter Winans
Bloodless Duel between Dr. Graeme M. Hammond and C.B. Miller – Carnegie Hall gymnasium, March 10, 1909
Wax for Lead
Suiting up in what can only be described as a Victorian Mad Max, pistol wielding duelist go to war…
This duel of gentleman is however is to be Bloodless…
Bloodless Duel between Dr. Graeme M. Hammond and C.B. Miller – Carnegie Hall gymnasium, March 10, 1909
Developed by Dr. De Villers in Paris, the sport of bloodless dueling was short lived but highly badass…
The ordinary dueling pistols would be filled with a bullet with wax and fat replacing the deadly lead…
Predecessor to the paintball, these Victorian paintball duels had all the feel of the deadly duels with little more then your pride that dies as a result…
the Parisian Club de Pistolet in Paris, 1905
The Daily democrat., February 02, 1907
Bloodless Duel between Dr. Graeme M. Hammond and C.B. Miller – Carnegie Hall gymnasium, March 10, 1909
The Bloodless Duels became so popular they even made an appearance at the 1908 Olympics in Paris…
“One of the most curious contests at the Olympic Games is the duelling with wax bullets. The combatants are as elaborately protected as a German student duellist, and even the revolver has a large hand-guard. The helmet has a plate-glass window.”
Pistol dueling as an associate event at the 1908 London Olympic Games
These bloodless duels didn’t always turn out so bloodless, with the match sometimes ending in red drips due to over packed charges behind the wax…
During a interview and mock bloodless duel with a reporter, Walter Winans accidentally shot the hand of the reporter with a over packed charge…
Walter Winans retelling of the event
“When I first tried it several years ago, I shot out the soft piece of flesh connecting the thumb and forefinger of the right hand of M. Gustave Voulquin, the well-known sports writer; and he tells me it still pains him when he has a lot of writing to do.”
Along with the very real possibility of a lead bullet, this incident shook the confidence of more then a few participants in this new “sport” like this article from a hesitant reporter in the newspapers in 1908…
Star – newspaper article, June 27, 1908
1908 bloodless dueling pistols
It would be almost 80 years before you could again safely shoot your friends in a bloodless duel… If we only followed history, the times we could have had…
Friends, check,
Mad Max gear, check,
Dueling pistols, check,
Now…
“Fill your hands, you son of a bitch”
Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon (right), W. Bean and Captain MacDonnell of the British Fencing Team at the Olympic Games in London. All three hold dueling pistols. 1908