The Man Killed In A Duel Where Billiard Balls Were The Weapons
An fight to settle an argument over a game of pool in 19th century France led to one of the most unusual duels in history
Duels used to be a fairly common way for two parties to settle grievances with extreme finality. Although weapons like guns, swords and knives were most common in these personal battles for honor, there have been other examples of unusual hand-to-hand combat. This includes a young Frenchman named Lenfant, who was killed in a 19th century duel where billiard balls were the weapon of choice.
On September 4th, 1843 in the French village of Maisonfort, a game of billiards between two young men named Lenfant and Melfant turned deadly. While the game started out innocently enough, at some point during the match a disagreement broke out between the pair and rapidly escalated.
With duels being a prominent way for gentlemen of the time to get satisfaction in matters concerning honor, whatever they were arguing about was serious enough that they decided to fight it out. However, instead of planning an elaborate affair with seconds and proper weapons, they decided to settle the matter then and there with billiard balls — specifically a red ball.
