GAMING DUEL AT PARIS, 1827.
A medical student, named Goulard, quarrelled at billiards with
a fellow-student named Caire. Their mutual friends, having in
vain tried every means of persuasion to prevent the consequences
of the dispute, accompanied the young men without the walls of
Paris. Goulard seemed disposed to submit to an arrangement, but
Cairo obstinately refused. The seconds measured the ground, and
the first shot having been won by Goulard, he fired, and Caire
fell dead. Goulard did not appear during the prosecution that
followed; he continued absent on the day fixed for judgment, and
the court, conformably to the code of criminal proceedings,
pronounced on the charge without the intervention of a jury. It
acquitted Goulard of premeditation, but condemned him for
contumacy, to perpetual hard labour, and to be branded; and this
in spite of the fact that the advocate-general had demanded
Goulard's acquittal of the charge.
