Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1905-11-21
QUICK
IN TIME
OF DANGER
Persons Really CowardlY do
Brave Acts Apparently
by Instinct

There is a distinction to be drawn
between presence Of mind and cour-
sgo. People who are naturally timid
and nervous will, under circumstances
Of great danger and settlement, per.
form acts Of heroism which would be
beyond their powers on ordinary oc.
casions We speak Of these as in.
stances Of persons showing present Of
mind but If you asked them they
would tell you that an involuntary
impulse, rather than any premidi.
tatcd course Of action. guided their
will on tho occasion. Had they had
time for reflection, when all the
threatening danger TO themselves bad
become clear 80 their minds. their
natural timidity Of character would
have asserted itself and deprived
them Of action.
Toward the close Of tho Crimcan
war a troopship was returning to
England with invalidcd men, and ono
morning at sea a Group Of officers
on tho dcok discussed tho subject Of
firing shells A soldier was told by
Colonel u. % bring an empty shell
with a fusc Tho colonel took the
shell In his hands and striking a
match lighted tho fuse. Az this
slowly burned, and tho Colonel pro.
cootbed with his address 20 the other
officers, another soldier passed tho
group anil tho moment he caught
sight of the she'll ho rushed forward.
cEclaimingi "Tako care, sir, tho she'll
Ia 1.-Two oneln
Ho then asa what never soomod 90
como into the minds Of any In the
group Of officers, ho seized tho she'll
out Of tho hands Of tho colonel and
threw Il into tho aoa For this service
DO was made a sergeant and on com.
ing homo he had the honor Of recoiv.
Ing a small present from tho hands Of
tho queen, % wlom he was presented
Tho soldier who had been told 10 bring
an empty sholl had gone into tho
wrong magazine 1 many times talked
over this incident with tho sergeant,
and ho repudiated and idea that he
had dono brave action. Il don'b
know" he said, "what made mo seize
tho sholl out of the eolonel's hand,
bot Il came suddenly into my mind
and ala IT," II Is this coming sud,
denly into tho mind this wave Of un-
conscious thought which, constitutes
true presence OF minA This will come
90 people OF nervous natures
/ remember an instance when man
whom I knew 90 be utterly deficient
in courage saved himself from an
awkward situation. He lives In
town in the Mlhands, where no was
an oFganist Late one evening he was
returning home through some Of the
back streets, which al that hour were
more or less empty Of people. AS ne
went along, however, he noticed some
distance ahead Of him a man and
woman walking side by side, the
man : arm being around the woman :
neck just undsr the gas lamp the
couple stopped for a moment, when he
heard a piercing scream and saw the
woman slowly falling from the mans
arms
Almost before she had reached |
tho ground tho man had darted away
down side street and disappeared. |
When the organist came up 70 the wo
man he found 10 his horror that the
Was lying In a pool Of blood His first
impulse was 20 run away, but his bet
ter feeling prevailed and he knelt |
down beside the poor woman 10 see il
he could DO anything for. When he
raised her head he found she was
quite dead with her throat cut from
ear to ear. Beside her on the pave
meut lay a blood stained razor
The OFganist was overwhelmed with
the horror Of the scene. Before he
could collect himself a group Of peO-
pie had gathered, as they invariably
do whom anything happens in the
street. and presently he heard the ex
preston, He did ib''; 81 ten you
saw him. "Why there is the razor
be cut her throat with''i "oh, the
cruel brutei'' "Seize himl" etc.
1t was certainly an awkward posi-
lion, as the rough character Of the
people might tempt them to take the
aw in their own hands aud use him
BADLY, Tie arrival Of a policeman
seemed 70 steady his nerves for