Note 315 — BOOK IX[283]

Émile de Girardin (1806-1881), the journalist and economist (Cf. Vol. IV., p. 21, n. 2). A duel was arranged between Girardin and Armand Carrel in consequence of articles published in their respective journals, the Presse and the National. It was fought in the Bois de Vincennes; the weapons chosen were pistols. The two adversaries were placed at forty paces from one another, with powers each to walk ten paces and to fire at will, a very much more dangerous method than the firing at the word of command, at a fixed distance, which is generally practised to-day. After each taking a few steps, the two adversaries fired almost at the same time: Émile de Girardin was shot through the thigh and Carrel was hit in the pit of the stomach. He succumbed to acute peritonitis from the lesions caused by the bullet, which had torn the intestines.—B.