Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1873-02-08
Mark Twain's Courage.

.
following narrative is that it is true
story. 1t has moral at the end of it,
but claim nothing for that, as it is
merely thrown in to carry favor with
the religious element.
After I had reported a couple of years
on the Virginis City (Nevada) Daily
Enterprise, they promoted me to be ed
itor-in-chief, and I lasted just week,
by the watch. But I made IN uncom-
monty lively newspaper while I did
last, and when retired I had duel on
my hands and three horse-whippings
promised me. The latter I made no
attempt to collect; however, this history
concerns only the former. 1t was the
old d" flush times of the silver excite
ment, when the population was wonder
fully wild and mixed; everybody went
armed to the teeth, and every insult had
to be atoned for with the best article of
blood your system could furnish. In
the course of my editing made trouble
with Mr.. Lord, editor of the rival
paper. He flew up about some little
trife or other that 1 had said about
him l do not remember now what it
was. I suppose called him thief, Or
body, snatcher, or IN idiot, or some
thing like that. l was obliged to make
the paper readable, and 1 could not fail
in my duty to whole community of
subscribers merely to save the exagger-
atcd sensitiveness of an individual. Mr..
Lord was offended and replied visor-
ously in his paper. Vigorously means
a great deal when it refers to personal
editorial i'll a frontier newspaper. Duel
ing was all the fashion among the up
per classes in country, and very few
gentlemen would throw away an oppor-
tunity of fighting one. To kill person
in duel caused man to be even more
looked up to than to kill two men in
the ordinary way. Well, out there, if
yoI abused q man, and that man did
not like it, you had to call him out and
kill him; otherwise you would be dis
yra ced. So l challenged Mr.. Lord,
and did hope he would not accept
but knew perfectly we'll that he did
not want to fight, and SO challenged
him in the most violent and implacablc
manner. And then l sat down and
suffered and suffered till the answer
came. All our boys-the editors
i'll the office, " helping" me in the dis
nal business, and telling about duels,
and discussing the code with lot OF
aged ruifians who have had experience
i'll such things, and altogether there
was loving interest taken in the matter,
which made me unspeakably uncomfort-
able. The answer came--Mr. Lord
declined. Our boys were furious, and
so was lon the surface.
I sent him another challenge, and
another and another; and the more he
did not want to fight, the bloodthirstier
l became. But at last the mans tone
changed. He appeared to be waking
up. 1t was becoming apparent that he
was going to fight me, after all.
ought to have known how it would be
he was man whe never could be de-
pended upon. Our boys were exultant.
was not, though I tried to be.
1t was now time to go out and prac-
tice. 1t was the custom there to fight
duels with navy six-shooters at fifteen
paces-load and empty till the game
for the funeral was secured. We went
to little ravine just outside of town,
and borrowed barndoor for a target
borrowed it of gentleman who was
absent-and we stood this barn-door
up, and stood a rail on end against the
middle of it, to represent Lord, and
put squash on top of the rail to rep
resent his head. He was very tall,
lean creature, the poorest sort of mate
rial for duel-nothing but line shot
could "fetch" him, and even then he
might split your bullet. Exaggeration
aside, the rail was, of course, little
too othin to represent his body accurately
but the squash was all right. If there
was any intellectual difference between
the squash and his head, it was in favor
of the squash. - .'-' 3"
Well, practiced and practiced at
the barn door, and could not hit it; and
l practiced at the rail, and could not
nat that; l tried hard for the squash,
and l could not hit the squash.
would have been entirely disheartened,
but that occasionally I crippled one OF
the boys, and that encouraged nc 10