The San Francisco call., 1908-09-27
Z FREDE RICK

head. like he didn't know what the
feller could be thinkin'' of, he covers.
Garvin was game and agreed TO run
for one-fourth the winnings, an when
he seed what he was up agin said IL
he'd known 1t was only a pleasant
stroll he'd gone for less. Said he
guessed he'd take his wife an the
kids along an make a picnic of 1T.
They started at 10 o'clock Sunday
mornin', and tn rest of the bunch who
weren't let in thought 1t was joke.
Garvin had stripped down to shirt and
a sawed of pair OF underdrawers so'st
he looked like a real racer. But Cor
coran turned UP in his usual clothes
an Just threw off his hat an coat.
Didn't do nothin' but twist a bandanna
round his neck and tie his shoestrings
tight. Sandy said II was disgustin';
that he oughter to throw bluff enough
sost he wouldn't feel like he was
stealin' candy from a baby. He left
some one to start them, cause he said
he didn't have the heart TO stay round.
He'd be ready at the finish with
wagon Z bring the stranger back in
case he ever got there. At the end
of FIVE minutes Garvin was out OF sight
in a cloud of dust and Corcoran hadn't
more'n got started, pluggin' along like
a spawned boss so far in the rear he
couldn't see the other one.
But m'son, at o'clock Corcoran
comes joggin' along down the pike at
Crows gulch, ambles through the vii
lage, an leanin' up agin the bar at
MacIntire's asks fer long one to take
the dust outern his throat. Hadn't
hardly sweat a hair. Sandy gives one
long, sad look at him and sinks into a
chair. He didn't speak until, 40 min
utes later, Garvin came stumblin in
and fell on the floor in a heap. Corco-
ran looks aroun' fer moment and then
says, timid like:
Now, If any gent would like to race
me back"
ooh. Gawd" gasped Sandy.
No one who wasn't at the finish be-
lieved it. Swore that Sandy and all the
rest of them was so drunk they could
MT tell Corcoran from Garvin. But
long comes this stranger once more
and offers to put up his thousand and
a thousand more he'd raised that he
could do 1T agin. 1t was covered in
five minutes. an this time they picks
young Indian to do the trick and ap-
points a committee OF five, the commit
tee not to take a drink until after the
race The whole camp watches them
start. an a dozen men on broncos fol-
lers Corcoran. But mile out he waves
'em goodby and turns into the woods,
explaining II was easier fer his feet.
The road warn't straight, but cross
country wouldn't cut off moren four
mile, an there was the devils own
tangle Of brush in there. Didn't seem
to make no difference to him. In at the
finish he comes again, his shoes full of
leaves. fresh as a daisy and chewin'
checkerberries. the Indian beaten by
good 20 minutes.
The committee gathers aroun' him,
feels his legs, taps his chest, an looks
him all over like he'd dropped from
Mars. But he amt a mite stuck up
JUS takes IL all nat'ral an says he don't
know how he done 1t himself. JUS
gift. he says. Seems though he kept
gettin' stronger an stronger, an fresh
er and fresher every mile, he says. IF
he hadn't slowed down on the last lap,
he says, he mighter gone on clean
through the village fore he could have
stopped hisself. He didn't let on bout
the winds. Ker' that to hisself, an
JUS let me IN as special favor for
helpin' him git started.
Course there was some who didn't
b'lieve in him even then. Swore it was
a fake an he'd discovered some short
cut, or an old Indian trail which he had
taken on bronco. But he settled that
when he ran the other way, beatin' out
Long Sam by 30 minutes. This was
how he won his title Of Corcoran the
Marvellous. 1t was given him by Small,
who owns the Clarion and who writ
him up a column long.
Never" says he in the piece he
wrote, never since that nimble mes
senger OF the gods. Mercury, darted
through the clouds on HIS celestial err
rands has one appeared so fleet of foot
as this Corcoran-Corcoran the Mar
velous. He does more than run-he an
initiates space. We feel honored by
his presence. but can not help but feel
that this is too small an arena for his
miraculous powers. Methinks we see
him in the old Greek amphitheater be-
fore admiring thousands, crowned with
the laurel wreath. We can crown him
with base gold alone"
Sandy thought that last was a bit
personal and said he'd be hanged IL he'd
do any more of the crownin' unless
they took UP Smalls idee an did 1t with