Agree this is a good question. Spent some time researching–zip-nada. I can only add that dueling is illegal in Japan. If two people agree to meet and fight and one dies, the violation of some dueling law is usually mentioned in the newspaper.
I am given to understand that duelling in Uruguay is legal, so long as both parties are registered blood donors.
As to Hamilton’s pistols, yes, X-ray studies in the 1960’s revealed a concealed hair-trigger mechanism in the pistols, and, yes, from the eyewitness accounts it would appear that Hamilton fired prematurely.
It is not certain that the premature shot was a result of the hair-trigger (the device had to be manually activated), and, if I recall correctly, it is not even clear that Hamilton knew the pistols’ secret.
John W. Kennedy
“Compact is becoming contract; man only earns and pays.”
– Charles Williams
Tomndebb: If Pete hadn’t introduced that fact, I would have. I recall seeing an article in (IIRC, and it’s been a good 15+ years) in “Smithsonian”. It included not only pictures of the guns involved, but x-ray photographs which clearly showed how Hamilton had had the guns tampered with.
I guess I’m another latecomer to a dying thread, but i can’t resist as I am an avid reader of napoleonic era history and fiction.
Every account of a pistol duel I have ever read involved a pair of closely matched pistols loaded by the second of one party and presented to the other party to choose one. If one could be sure of which pistol one got, any number of schemes could be applied to give advantage. They were still primitive enough weapons that failure to fire happened frequently even without foul play.
Whatever Aaron Burr was, he wasn’t a fool who would not insist on this common protocol, especially when Hamilton was providing the weapons. Does anyone have an answer to this aspect of the rigged gun? The only one I can think of without discounting the report, is that Burr had a choice, but Hamilton presumed that the rigged weapon in his own hand would be an advantage, but in Burr’s unknowing hand would result in just what happened to Hamilton himself.
Jon
The hair-trigger mechanism is a concealed one – that’s why it took X-rays to discover it. It requires forcing the trigger forward to activate it.
The pistols came from Hamilton’s side of the duel – I forget the exact connection – but they were not his personal property. He might have known about the hair trigger, and he might have attempted to use it, but we do not positively know.
John W. Kennedy
“Compact is becoming contract; man only earns and pays.”
– Charles Williams
Although I admit I read too fast and missed the part about the mech being concealed, It still sounds like something that could be inadvertently triggered by a nervous hand. For that matter I sure wouldn’t want my life depending on such an unfamiliar awkward action like “pushing” a trigger.
No, no. First you push the trigger backward, an act that is almost impossible to do unless deliberately. Then you squeeze it in the ordinary way, but it only will take only a tiny fraction of the force that it ordinarily takes; that makes the weapon more accurate, because your hand is less likely to move as a result of tightening your trigger finger.
The theory is that Hamilton activated the hair-trigger mechanism, intending to use it as an unfair advantage, but didn’t realize how sensitive it was and accidentally discharged his weapon before aiming. That is entirely consistent with the eyewitness accounts; however, the history of the pistols up to that point is such that it is entirely possible that he had no idea the hair trigger was there. It is still possible that the theory is true that people believed before the pistols were X-rayed – that he deliberately fired his pistol into the air to shame Burr into giving up the idea of a duel, and that Burr, instead, cooly shot him down. It is unlikely at this date that we will ever know the truth for certain.
John W. Kennedy
“Compact is becoming contract; man only earns and pays.”
– Charles Williams