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• 1 media/out_duel_picot.jpg media/out_duel_picot.jpg 2024-11-07T14:54:24-05:00 Duels 21 Benito Sylvain was a frequent duellist. Take a look at some of his encounters. image_header 2024-11-24T14:54:37-05:00 The Fraternité's founder and editor Benito Sylvain was involved with numerous duels during his years in Paris. Although duelling was illegal, it was widely practiced among elites in nineteenth century France. In this era of contradiction, it was at once a nostalgic reminder of the earlier age of honour and chivalry, and at the same time an expression of the égalité of republican ideology—anyone could challenge anyone and thereby level social distinctions through individual skill.

  First encounter:

  On 12 August 1895, Sylvain criticized some Haitian students in La Fraternité for slacking off at school.  They responded by printing a derogatory article about him in a different paper, which, in turn, prompted Sylvain—a skilled fencer—to challenge them to a duel with épées.  One, the law student Auguste Durand, accepted. The two Haitian men met on the Plateau de Gravelle in the Bois de Vicennes at 3 p.m. on 3 September. Both were accompanied by several friends, and, according to one report, this conspicuous number of “hommes de couleur” drew a crowd and soon the police intervened, arresting both Sylvain and Durand and confiscating their épées. 
   

   

  Second encounter:

  On the afternoon of 23 July 1898, Sylvain was involved with a second duel in Paris. Weeks earlier, the French gossip columnist Gustave de Villette had published an offensive article about Sylvain’s friend George Flambert, another Haitian. The author, who was a habitual duelist, had mockingly described Flambert lying about a family fortune in order to win the affections of the Belgian beauty Léo Link. Flambert had taken the bait and challenged de Villette to a duel with pistols. The two met at the Parc des Princes Velodrome at 3 p.m. on the 23rd, and Sylvain agreed to serve as Flambert’s second. The combatants exchanged shots. No one was harmed, but the two Haitians successfully defended Flambert’s honour and the honour of their country.

  Third encounter:

  The third instance saw Sylvain in a duel against the future president of Haiti, Sténio Vincent, who was in Paris for law school and was also serving as secretary of the Haitian legation in the city. Vincent had apparently written a letter to Sylvain which the latter had found offensive. They met on the Île de Grand-Jatte on the 6th of July 1899 for a duel with épées. Vincent managed to strike Sylvain in the collarbone, ending the duel.