Seward Attack

[Claudine]

[...] The room was dimly lit - Powell was panic stricken and didn't think. He had more or less never used a knife before and simply tried to cut Seward's throat [...]

Betty, I remember that you wrote on another thread (I don't remember where exactly, sorry!) that Powell was not much experienced in close combat. How is that possible after he had been a soldier for four years?