In "Just Lather, That's All," would the barber have been a hero or a coward had he killed the captain?

The decision that the barber has to make will either
result in him being regarded as a coward by the rebels and a hero by the military, or a
coward by the military and a hero by the rebels. Consider how he balances the way that
his actions will impact his future and how others will think of
him:

"Captain
Torres' murderer. He slit his throat while he was shaving him--a
coward."

And then on the other side. "The avenger of us
all. A name to remember. He was the town barber. No one knew he was defending our
cause."

Therefore we can see
that the two opposite reactions depended entirely on the people that you are talking
about. The rebels would have considered the barber a hero, whereas the military would
have hunted him down like a dog and killed him for a coward. The barber finds himself in
an immensely difficult situation, where acting or not acting is going to have massive
consequences on the rest of his life.