The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1893-02-16


The war had come to Bradley's Cross
ing. The little Salem meeting house in
which the Union men under Father
Peters had so often and so fervently
prayed for peace was sinoldering ruin.
The men who had burned it down We're
as savagely jubilant over their work as
il they had won a great battle against
great odds and the Union men were cor
respondingly Respondent.
Strong Dick Bradley and the men who
had been converted in the little meeting
house were startled ut the destruction.
They had come to speak Of the place az
1.-THE house of Cod" and this meant to
them not simply place for worship.
but structure sanctitied by the divine
presence and under the divine care, and
as such as safe against fire as tho hills
themselves.
why did God let the house burnY'
"Why did he permit his people, and
particularly so good a man as Father
Peters, to be persecutedT' why did
he not smite hip and thigh the profane
wretches who had done this thing?''
These were the questions that puzzled
the Union men who belonged TO the
church, and failing to receive a salts
factory answer the most soundly con-
verted felt that he was falling from
grace, and that if the Lord did not afford
miraculous help at once he must sever
the connection. for the time being at
least, and try to help himself after the
old mountain methods.
A habit supposed to be dead invariably
asserts itself with greater force after il
is resurrected. This was certainly the
case with Strong Dick Bradley, the black
smith. He had been noted for his pro-
family among Il people where even the
children lisp in oaths. He had been
famed as fighter in community where
the ability to fight is regarded rs the
highest and noblest attribute of man
hood, and where the desperate who has
killed his man, or men, is envied as the
wild Indians envy the warrior who has
taken the most scalps.
1t was generally believed that the
blacksmith's religion. while making him
a safer and so more desirable neighbor,
had entirely unnamed him, and that
even so arrant a braggart as Het Ma
goone could safely treat him with CON
tempt and set him at defiance. But
Strong Dick Bradley's religion, or at
least that part of it that had curbed his
tongue and his arm. went up and van
ished in the smoke of the meeting house,
and for four terrible years both had full
swing.
While Bradley's religion had received
so severe check. the effect of this at
tack was to turn his earnest mission
feelings into blind fanaticism that was
to find delight in conhagrations and q
soothing comfort in blood. Father Pc
tiers. who had just been praying by the
blacksmiths side, and W stood hold.
ing his arm while they watched the play
of the flames destroying the mission, for.
got his own danger and his own loss as
he noted the old. black scowl on the
face and the devilish light flashing mp in
the deep gray eyes of Strong Dick Brad
ley.
"If Jesus Christ won't perfect the
place we uns hez fixed up snug TO him
that's his lookout. Hill be id long
time afoah he hez another SO good a
show in these hills. But by the Great
Eternal! the men ez hez did this'll have
to pay the insurance in blood Hold
thar. Het Magoone! God cuss go 70 a
dog and coward! I've got somethin to
say afoah you uns :. Off
The last sentence was addressed to
Het Magoone, who was now about to
mount the horse on which he had come.
The people who had been praying and
the people who had been shouting about
the fire and Het Magoone himself were
startled by the blacksinith's voice and
manner. All saw that the Christian
blacksmith had gone and that the strong
and savage Dick Bradley of few years
before had come back. Magoone obeyed
the summons, for he knew. as did all his
supporters, that the first sign of DISC
bedience would have been the signal for
q bullet in his heart.
Het Magoone had forty men there
with him. All were armed with rifles
and pistols. The very fact that they
carried these weapons showed that they
were prepared for fight and expected
one. Physically, it is safe to say there
was not downright coward in the lot
Well led, there was not a man of them.
not even the brutal. staggering Het
Magoone. who could not have been held
in line against overwhelming numbers
till the last one fell in his tracks. and
who could not have been carried on in
an assault, though certain that not one
could return; but at sight of Strong Dick
Bradley and at the sound of his voice
the strongest trenbled and became for
the time more obedient than if not SO
weak as child.