Delope

Delope (French for "throwing away") is the practice of throwing away one's first fire in a duel, in an attempt to abort the conflict. According to most traditions the deloper must first allow his opponent the opportunity to fire after the command ("present") is issued by the secondary, without hinting at his intentions. The Irish code duello forbids the practice of deloping explicitly.

The delope could be attempted for practical reasons if one's opponent was thought to be superior in ability, or for moral reasons if the duelist had objections to attempting to kill his opponent.

For one's opponent to insist upon a second shot after a delope was considered bloodthirsty and unbecoming. Often, it would fall to the secondaries to immediately end the duel after a delope had been observed.

Notable uses

• Alexander Hamilton, a 19th-century American politician, is thought to have perhaps attempted to delope during his infamous duel with Aaron Burr, then the sitting Vice President of the United States, during their duel on July 11, 1804. Rather than firing into the ground (as was customary for deloping), Hamilton fired into the air; Burr, perhaps misunderstanding his opponent's intent, fired directly at Hamilton, mortally wounding him. However, Burr's animosity towards Hamilton was such that it is not out of the question that Burr understood what Hamilton was doing and intentionally shot to kill, or at least draw blood. Other historians have proposed Burr shot first and the wounded Hamilton reflexively pulled the trigger, which would not be an instance of delope.

• William Pitt, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, chose to delope to indicate "moral superiority", having been forced into a duel with another Member of Parliament.^[1]

• Joseph Howe, Nova Scotian journalist, politician, and public servant, who deloped during a duel in 1840.

• In the 1975 film Barry Lyndon, the title character is challenged to a duel by his stepson Sir Charles, Lord Bullingdon. A preliminary coin flip gives Lord Bullingdon the privilege of first shot, only to prematurely misfire. Barry fires into the ground honorably and hopefully, but Bullingdon demands a second round, whereby Barry's leg is critically shot, and requires amputation below the knee.

• In Flashman (novel), by George MacDonald Fraser, title character and scoundrel Harry Paget Flashman gets into a duel with a fellow officer over a woman. He arranges, by promising a bribe to the loader, that his opponent will have no ball in his pistol. When his opponent appears to miss, Flashman makes a great show of deloping and in doing so, accidentally shoots the top off of an attending doctor's medicine bottle, winning renown as a crack shot as well as a gentleman. When his opponent angrily accuses Flashman of mocking him by deloping, he responds "I didn't presume to tell you where to aim your shot; don't tell me where I should have aimed mine." He later blithely refuses to pay the bribe, noting that the loader cannot complain of bad faith without admitting to a capital crime.

In game theory

Deloping is the best strategy for a duelist with lower accuracy than both his opponents in a truel (against rational opponents) who is given first fire.

References

• Flemming, Thomas (1999). The Duel: Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, and the Future of America. New York: Perseus Books. pp. 8–9. ISBN 0-465-01736-3. 

Notes

1. ^ Reilly, Robin. William Pitt the Younger. New York, 1978: 358-359.