the undelegated personal right, that
vague thing which, none the less, is recognized in all the laws and
charters of the world; as England and France of old, and Russia to-day,
may show. This undelegated personal right is in each of us, or ought to
be. If there is in you no hot blood to break into flame and set you
arbiter for yourself in some sharp, crucial moment, then God pity you,
for no woman ever loved you if she could find anything else to love, and
you are fit neither as man nor citizen.

As the individual retains an undelegated right, so does the body social.
We employ politicians, but at heart most of us despise politicians and
love fighting men. Society and law are not absolutely wise nor
absolutely right, but only as a compromise relatively wise and right.
The bad man, so called, may have been in large part relatively bad. This
much we may say scientifically, and without the slightest cheapness. It
does not mean that we shall waste any maudlin sentiment over a
desperado; and certainly it does not mean that we shall have anything
but contempt for the pretender at desperadoism.

Who and what was the bad man? Scientifically and historically he was
even as you and I. Whence did he come? From any and all places. What
did he look like? He came in all sorts and shapes, all colors and
sizes--just as cowards do. As to knowing him, the only way was by trying
him. His reputation, true or false, just or unjust, became, of course,
the herald of the bad man in due time. The "killer" of a Western town
might be known throughout the state or in several states. His reputation
might long outlast that of able statesmen and public benefactors.

What distinguished the bad man in peculiarity from his fellowman? Why
was he better with weapons? What is courage, in the last analysis? We
ought to be able to answer these questions in a purely scientific way.
We have machines for photographing relative quickness of thought and
muscular action. We are able to record the varying speeds of impulse
transmission in the nerves of different individuals. If you were picking
out a bad man, would you select one who, on the machine, showed a
dilatory nerve response? Hardly. The relative fitness for a man to be
"bad," to become extraordinarily quick and skillful with weapons, could,
without doubt, be predetermined largely by these scientific
measurements. Of course, having no thought-machines in the early West,
they got at the matter by experime