The Times 6 October 1841
SINGULAR DUEL - Middleton-by-Wirksworth was a few days ago the scene of
a truly remarkable affair of honour.
An eccentric disciple of Aesculapius, who resides in a
romantic village in Derbyshire, went over to Middleton on a visit to his
friends. As he passed down the village he unluckily called at the
Nelson's Arms, and as it was the Wakes the house was crowded with company,
among whom was one Doxey, well known in the neighbourhood as a little chap,
but a great talker, and with the reputation, among the small fry of the place,
of being an uncommonly sharp, clever, and witty fellow, and considered by
them a complete oracle. Doxey's forte is of political character; but whether,
on this occasion, he advocated the cause of the many, or defended the
Policy of the Tories, we could not ascertain. The oratorical renown of this
sage had been borne to the peaceful dwelling of our Quixotic hero, who soon
found opportunity of arguing some point of his political creed. The virulent
language and menacing attitude of the rustic seer soon wrought the feelings
of the doctor to the highest pitch, which ultimately ended in the latter
demanding gentlemanly satisfaction of his diminutive opponent, in order to
wipe off the stigma fixed upon him, and to restore his heretofore unsullied
honour. Pistols were selected as the weapons for this deadly work. Seconds
were appointed, the ground measured, and all necessary arrangements being
complete, the word was given to fire. After an exchange of shots the seconds
proposed an amicable adjustment of the matter, but the doctor,
"jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel", turned a deaf ear to the
proposal, and as swords were not to be had produced a case of lancets,
determining to end the encounter with an instrument he knew more of than
he did of pistols. The duellists, standing vis-a-vis, looked daggers at each
other, and from their threatening attitude the affair excited much interest
among those who witnessed it. The doctor, at the given signal, advanced
with a firm step towards his antagonist, and made a plunge at him with the
lancet; but Doxey adroitly avoided the blow, and in return threw his weapon
with such good effect that it pierced his opponents breast, causing him to
bite the dust, the blood flowing profusely from the wound. The doctor was
conveyed in agony to the Inn and placed in a bed. The wound was not fatal,
and in the course of a few hours the two heroes became good friends, and
laughed heartily at their own folly.
- Derbyshire Chronicle.
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