The Weiser signal. [volume] (Weiser, Idaho) 1890-1904, 1901-01-24
THE MIRACLE !
I0F LAVA CANYON. !
BY W. s. PORTER
4 COPYRIGHT. 1900, BY W. s. PORTER.
BY W. s. PORTER.


was a physical coward A shot fred !
set his heart beating wildly, and he c
turned sick at strife and carnage His /
pulse beats averaged 90 per minute l
and his heart turned cold every time a t
summons for arrest was placed in his t
hands. He experienced a sensation OF {
nervous dread each time he swung
himself upon the back of his high spir-
tied horse. Every sudden sound con-
veying presSge of danger thrilled him
with fright His disposition was high
strung, sensitive and unalterably timid.
And vet rad Conrad was known as
the coolest and most courageous sheriff
in this territory. He had attained this
reputation by daily and hourly strug-
gle with his whole moral force against
| his natural weakness. His fear OF dan
ger, great as it was, had been subordi-
mated to a greater fear lest his failing
be known How to hide his cowardice |
from the world was his one aim. With |
a cold fear in his heart he sought dan
ger with the eagerness of one who low
ed it's every phase. Quiet, persistent,
plodding in his way, without any of
the western dash and audacity belong
ing to most men in his occupation, he
continually sought the closest risks and
hazards, driven by an abnormal desire
to appear fearless. Men who had no
conception of the meaning of the word
''fear'' sometimes stood apart, aghast
at the mans daring, and admired him.
Apparently without the slightest ex-
element, almost sullen of aspect, he
10 1c fo thoi rom
= devious, engaged in combat against
mighty odds and waged such relentless
war upon desperadoes and outlaws
that his fame as an upholder of law
and order was spread far and wide.
}. Radcliff Conrad kept his secret we'll
u Not a man in Siskiwah county had
ever seen him finch from his duty, and
= tales were told in saloons and camps OF
his intrepidity and recklessness.
The sheriff's personal appearance
;, aided him. He was strongly and finely
formed He possessed blond head of
classic mold and steel blue eye under
good control. His inward struggles
kept him at a tension that gave him q
reserved and somewhat preoccupied
manner, and his every action seemed
the result of deliberation instead of i'm
pulse The giving away to impulse
7 was the thing he was trying to avoid
He felt that some day his moral cour
age would fail him and he would stant
stripped to the gaze of his friends thu
an coward that he knew himself to be
No monkish ascetic ever scourged hi
fieshly sins as Radcliff Conrad did hi
one egregious failing. How well h
succeeded in triumphing over it hi
fame in Lava Canyon and indeed /
the mouths of men as far as the sage
brush grew to east and west attested.
~ There came one cruel day when til
" sheriff was forced to apply the whip
his tortured spirit with double fore
The town of Lava Canyon was bui
on a stretch of plain sloping down to
- river from the exit of mounta1
,5oy gulch. Within this gulch was tangle
Wildness. Two miles back from Il
; town it converged to assure half
mile deep like a sword cut cleaving Il
hills. The sides for its whole eXtel
were inaccessible except to the rattl
. snakes that made their dens among Il
powders. Within the edge of the gull
10
Ham to straighten to sleeper angles sto
the white painted cottage OF Emm
Reed, the postmaster and leading de-
er in hardware, cutlery, arms and a.
munition. Here beside the mounta
stream and among the moss groN
rocks played the juvenile Reeds, lit
more than rushes in size, watched on
more or less carefully by Boadic
- aged 20, eldest daughter of the hous
To these confines late one afterno
', came Arizona Dan, worst man In
county, after breaking half thousa
dollars worth of mirrors and gla
ware in the principal places OF ent
tainment and introducing sundry sl'
of lead into various citizens, to III
Az great bodily anguish. Dan was not
drunk to entertain a wholesome T
. of Rad Conrad, and it was his Int
ton to conceal himself until darkn
should lend him cover to escape
On being appraised of these eve
the sheriff of the county, recogniz
his duty, prepared to effect Dams
ture. A brave man in his place
properly estimated the value of G
tai spark of a degenerate like Ariz
Dan as a furtherance of the surv
of the fittest idea would have sunni
ed posse and by moral force OF n
Err bers would have secured the surreI
of the offender without risk Of bl
shed. Radcliff Conrad was not
man to do this He Stunned all
Office pearance of lack of courage, as he
"a sired in his heart to shun the dang
what arms did he haveF' asked
" sheriff Of some men who had seen
iona Dams retreat to the gulch,
mary one" said saloon Ike
who had suffered from the fugit
}. icouoclasm. HE left both his CUR
}. NJ D. my place"
The sheriff unbuckled his reyt
and showed it across the counter.
treets, "Keep that for me- he said. II
ond get DAN"