Milford chronicle., 1902-10-17
HEROIC TRAINING.
How George KEENAN, OvercRmO His
Fear of DANGER


Fear of Danger.
Russia's inhospitable treatment of
George KEENAN, shows that she has not
got over smarting from his exposure of
the barbarities of the Siberian deporta-
ton system. 1t must be rather fiattering
to a mans sense of his importance in the
" orld that his mere bodily presence In
one Of the greatest countries Of Europe
can give its police system a fit Of hYs-
terics.
1t is interesting. in view Of the place
Kennan's Siberian explorations have won
for him, to know how he came TO under
take them. 1t was in a certain sense
pure accident. He had been working MS
night manager Of the Associated Press in
Washington for a good while and sup
plementing his salary by occasional lee
lures, mostly on the subject of his travels
in the Caucasus some years before.
One Of his lecture trips was made to
Orange; n. j., and the member Of the
local committee who took charge of him
for the night was Mr.. Drake, the head
Of the Illustration department on The
Century Magazine While they were
chatting about foreign experiences Ken
nan remarked that 1t would be q good
| thing IL some writer for the press with
| trained powers Of observation and the in
stinct of an explorer were TO 60 to 81
IBERIA and describe in detail, with abundant
| pictures, the system followed there with
| deported convicts.
Mr.. Drake seemed much struck with
the idea, and awhile later there came to
Washington from Mr.. Glider, the editor,
q proposal sat KEENAN, should himself
| undertake a52h an enterprise. KEENAN,
was unwilling TO DO so without going
| abroad first and making n preliminary
survey of the field. This he did; but,
realizing better its difficulties and dan
| gers, he was reluctant to make the ven
! ture. An offer which in these days seem
ed munfcent, however, changed his mind,
and he went, with results which are now
history.
Most readers will find it hard to be-
lieve that q man who could address him
self, with his eyes wide open to what lay
before him, to such q task as the Siberian
expedition had ever been timid. But, ae-
cording to his own account, KEENAN, was
apprehensive all through his young days
that If he should be brought face to face
with real danger he should play the cow
ard.
The way he took himself in hand to
overcome this tendency was heroic. He
was then three or four yenrs short Of full
manhood and was employed as a tele-
graph operator In a western city some
what noted for its lawlGssness. His du-
ties kept him out late at night, and he
knew that he was liable to be beset by
fOotpads at any time while going home to
bed.
At first he used to avoid all the streets
where there seemed the least liability OF
an ambuscade and turn corner sharply
IL he heard the voices Of midnight revel
lers on either side. Then he said to him
self: "This is foolish and must stop. Mer
can harden themselves to any kind Of
danger and cultivate GOODNESS and nerve
l might as we'll be killed with q dirk or
bludgeon as die Of fright or get a bulle
! in my back"
So thereafter he put q pistol into bill
pocket every night and kept his thumb OF
the hammer and his forefnger on tn
trigger as he sought out the most danger
Gus quarters Of the city through which t.
make his way home. If he saw a fire.
fight going on, he would deliberatel,
walk through the crowd and he made
a point of honor with himself to enter ev
cry particularly noisy barroom he cam
to and to interfere whenever he saw on
man attacking another at a disadvantage
He had two or three narrow escape
from trouble and saw a good deal o
bloodletting and other crime, but In tn
course Of one winter he succeeded in con
quering so thoroughly the qualms whic
had once unnerved him that he has neve
since lost his self command when Gale
to face even deadly peril, little as he ha
enjoyed it sometimes.-New York Post.