The Gringos Illustrated

A Story of the Old California Days in 1849: If you would glimpse the savage which normally lies asleep, thank God, in most of us, you have only to do this thing of which I shall tell you, and from some safe sanctuary where leaden couriers may not bear prematurely the tidings of man's debasement, watch the world below. You may see civilization swing back with a snap to savagery and worse - because savagery enlightened by the civilization of centuries is a deadly thing to let loose among men.