In the first part of 1918, the Romanian political class was going through deep turmoil. After the pro-German government led by Alexandru Marghiloman signed the peace treaty with the Central Powers on May 7, 1918, a campaign of revenge began against the members of the former government led by Ionel Brătianu. Added to all this was the political rise of General Alexandru Averescu. In this context, political disputes were even settled by pistol duels. Ion Gheorghe Duca also went through such a duel. The highlight is that the one who challenged him to a duel was none other than his cousin, Grigore Filipescu. But how did the duel between the two come about?
After the Peace of Bucharest was signed with the Central Powers, all the attention of the Romanian political class was directed to the evolution of the battles on the Western Front.
In Iași, where most of the Romanian politicians were refugees, all kinds of plans were made for the moment when the First World War would end. But there were also attacks against political opponents. From here to a duel was but a single step. What started the conflict?
A letter full of insults and a challenge to a duel
“During that period I had the only duel in my life: with my cousin Grigore Filipescu. Grigore Filipescu, who was doing politics with Averescu at the time, was fierce against us (the liberals, no), he attacked us anywhere and anytime.
“Mişcarea” (liberal newspaper, no) had published a note in which it said that, instead of doing the great thing, it should have been better to do his duty at the front, and not to stay in Bacău and order the street sweepers there . Unfortunately, a fully justified accusation, because in order to organize his party, Averescu kept him in Bacău next to his command and officially gave him the supervision of the city’s construction works where his headquarters were.
Filipescu had the weakness to receive such a less than glorious mission. Be that as it may, the note was not written by me”, recalled IG Duca.
Although Duca had not drafted those lines, Filipescu sent him a letter full of insults in which he attributed the authorship of those appearing in the newspaper to him and challenged him to a duel:
“The next day, however, I found myself with a letter full of trivial insults from Filipescu, attributing to me the authorship of the lines from “Movement”. With all the contempt that this anachronistic and outdated institution of the duel has always inspired in me, I had to raise the gauntlet and send witnesses”.
Verbal altercation between witnesses
Duca’s witnesses were two great liberal politicians: Mihail Pherekyde, minister in several Romanian governments, and George G. Mârzescu, former mayor of Iasi and future minister. The meeting between the witnesses was, however, the occasion for other confrontations, this time verbal.
“We chose Pherekyde, our great expert in the matter, and Mârzescu. I asked them to quickly take me out on the field and, being the offended one, to choose the gun as a weapon. That’s what they did from the first meeting with Grigore Filipescu’s witnesses, Costică Hiott and Zizi Cantacuzino, the duel was decided for the next morning at Kilimoglu’s vineyard in Copou, where Vintilă Brătianu’s duel with dr. Wolf. Pherekyde was once again extraordinary. First, when he met with the opposing witnesses, instead of discussing the incident, he began to shake Zizi Cantacuzino, make him a professional witness and almost insult him. Zizi Cantacuzino tried to stop him “yes, Mişule, don’t be upset, let me explain”.
“What’s wrong Mișule, what explanations, it’s not a scandal, it’s not a hateful plotting of Iași without you being involved, sir.”
-`But, bitch Misule, you offend me’.
– “What an offense, I was friends with your father, I’m telling you the truth”. (…) Mârzescu was frozen and was afraid that a new duel would break out, this time between witnesses”, recorded Duca, not without humor.
“I don’t want to risk even hurting my cousin”
IG Duca was determined to shoot in the air so as not to injure his cousin. But this offended Mihail Pherekyde who saw in the institution of the duel an extremely important thing that had to be treated seriously.
“Going in the car to the place of the duel and Pherekyde always explaining to me what I have to do, how I have to sit, how I have to shoot, I had the imprudence to say that all these details do not interest me because I am determined to shoot in the air , because I don’t want to risk even hurting my cousin. Upon hearing these words, Pherekyde declared to me that from this minute he ceased to be my witness, because for him the duel is a grave and serious thing and that for a parody I should therefore address someone else.
It took Mârzescu’s persistence and my promises that I would shoot my opponent, for Pherekyde to reconsider his decision”.
“You tricked me, this time I forgive you”
Pherekyde prepared for the duel with a seriousness that amused the participants, but Duca remained consistent in his determination to fire into the air so as not to injure his cousin.
“On the field, at the whole ritual of the duel: measuring the distance, checking the weapons, it amused us all, by the frowning gravity with which the command proceeded, etc… Needless to say, I still fired in the air. For nothing in the world I would not have wanted to risk hitting a man with whom I was connected with so many expensive, personal and family memories.
If it was at least something really serious, but for the note in the “Movement” to expose myself to having a man on my conscience. This could not enter, and quite frankly, in my mind. And so everything ended with the traditional “two bullets without result”. On the way back, Pherekyde told me, ‘you tricked me, this time I forgive you’. He forgave me so easily because he had a weakness for me and Pherekyde was not a righteous man, he was a passionate man, full of indulgences for those he cared about, without mercy for those who disliked him”, Duca remembered.
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Source: www.descopera.ro
