This Is How Two GENTLEMEN Fight Over A Whore

Two men, Monsieur de Grandpre and Monsieur de Pique, once quarreled over the affections of the famous dancer called Mademoiselle Tirevit. She was the mistress of one and lover of the other.The event occurred in 1808, when the hot air balloon was still extremely popular among the elite in France, and so, pun intended, the men decided to take it to the air because both were of “elevated minds.”

At 9am on May 3, 1808, watched by a huge crowd, the two parisians climbed into their aircraft near the Tuileries and rose gently up in to the morning air. At about 2,000 feet, when the balloons were about 80 yards apart, de Pique fired his crude blunderbuss and miss. De Grandpre aimed his more effectively. De Pique’s balloon collapsed, the basket tipped, and he and his second fell headfirst to their deaths on the rooftops below. De Granpre and his second, however, drifted happily away in the light north-westerly breeze before landing safely 20 miles away.