remor of the
voice, and are swung off, into eternity, with what seems like the
calmest fortitude. Hence, it seems clear, that in such low and degraded
natures, it cannot be _moral_ courage that sustains them. But if moral
courage is not the requisite quality, what is it that such men as Reid,
lack? Bloody, desperate, reckless, and yet kindly mannered and urbane
gentlemen, who never hesitate to warn their enemies of their intention
to kill them on sight, when next they meet. It seems to me a question
worthy of study and solution.

The executions over, we returned to the town, first detaching a party to
remove and bury the bodies. Then the assemblage quietly dispersed, and
that night our little community saw the first peace and quiet it had
known for many a day.

The condition of affairs in the new mining districts was peculiar. One
reason why murder and outrage were so prevalent, was, that the rough
element generally predominated, and among this class a person is not
respected until he has "killed his man," as they express it. When any
new arrival came into camp, no one thought of inquiring if he was honest
or industrious, but, had he killed his man? If not, he was a person of
small consequence, and unworthy of further notice; if he had, the
cordiality of his reception, and his standing in the community was
graduated according to the number of his victories.

No man could rise to any position of influence, with bloodless hands,
without long and weary labor, but if he were known to have killed half a
dozen men, his worth was at once appreciated, and he became a man of
note in the community.

Hence, it is not surprising that many men were killed without the
pretext of provocation; so impatient were these persons to achieve
distinction and emerge from their obscurity, and become shining lights
among the fraternity of desperadoes. "There goes the man that killed
Jack Smith," was the sort of celebrity mostly coveted by this class of
people; and I know of several cases, where persons tried to "kill their
men," for no other reason, and in some instances were successful, in
others, got killed themselves for their pains.

In such communities it is utterly impossible to convict a man of murder,
arising from one of these public brawls or affrays, and it is only when
patience ceases to be a virtue, and the long-suffering miners and others
of the law-abiding classes, rise in their might, and by an
indiscriminate execution of al