The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1859-10-21
Death Of David G. Brodericlk, Of Calif0r-
MIA.
From Forney's Press,

When, several days ago, it was announced,
by telegraph from st. Louis, upon the ru-
NOR of the overland mail, that Senator Da-
vid G. Broderick had engaged in duel
with Chief Justice David s. Terry, OF Cali
fornia, and that the latter had paid the for
felt of his life, we refrained such comment
as would have been natural under the Cir
cumstances not, indeed, that duel, with
Mr.. Broderick as one of the principals, was
unexpected, because we knew that the life
OF this man had been sought by the myrmi-
dOns of the Federal Administration for the
last two years, and we could not but con.
ceive that, in controversy between him
and any one of their representatives, the
chances would be entirely against the man
who embodied Independent thought and he
roic devotion to principle, for the reason
that BrOderick was not duellist. Coura-
geous as it was possible for any man to be,
be had not cultivated killing as trade, and
while his convictions were such as would
have led him to face death at any time, he
never boosted of the accomplishment so pc
ing mems lives upon punctilio. Perfectly
ready at all times to give up existence for
that which he believed to be right, he was
not proficient in the art by which desper
ate men, pistol in hand, can defend the
wrong and, living in community where
the tribunal of the duel was recognized,
whatever his moral sentiment might have
been, be was too physically and too int lee
tually proud and brave to resist it. He,
therefore, frankly accepted the trial, know
ing that when he went to it he risked his
life among those who were practised MUIR
derers.
We are now called upon to perform the
painful duty of announcing, on the authority
of late dispatches from Jefferson city, Mis-
souri-based upon information received by
the last overland mail from California--that
the first report, as to the death of Chief
Justice Terry, was unfounded, and that in
the duel which took place on the morning of
the 18th of September David C. Broderick
was MORALLY wounded, and died few days
after. This intelligence will occasion pro.
found sensation in all parts of the country.
MIR. BrOderick was, in every respect, a
representative man not simply represen-
tatve of his class, but of the great principle
involved in the struggle between the people
and the Federal Administration. Few
men have attracted to themselves more de-
voted friends than David G. Broderick, and
the news that he has fallen, in the very
prime Of life, victim to the insatiate and
Unsuitable malevolence of the Federal Ad-
ministration, will be received by these gall
liant men with sad and heavy hearts. Mr..
Broderick was not thirty-nine years old at
the time of his death. 1t may be said of
him that be died almost without a fault, for,
saving the susceptibility of his nature, and
the excitement engendered by his earnest
devotion to what he conceived to be right,
be was, in all respects, model for imitation.
When, in a late speech in California, he an
nounced "that there was no man who had
ever seen him under the influence of liquor,
or at gambling table, or in any house of
doubtful reputation and that during long
and eventiul career he had discharged every
obligation to society and to his fellow-men,"
he pronounced, without vanity, an uncon.
scious eulogy upon himself, and the epitaph
that may now be written upon his tomb
stone. Even in the midst OF that wild and
wildering canvass, when men stood ready
to take each others lives, and when be, of
all others, was regarded as the signal en-
bodiment of the great principles involved,
there was no one bold enough to take issue
with his statement, while all his friends and
thousands Of his foes were glad to en-.
dorse it.
The part sustained by Mr.. Broderick in
the struggle which took place between Mr..
Buchanan's officials and that band of fear
less Democrats who refused to sanction the
shameless prescriptions of the Administra-
ton, attracted to him the confidence Of the
country, in the same degree that it aroused
against him malevolent and merciless an
tagonism. Himself a man of positive
character, unbending will, and iron nerve,
he neither shrunk from the responsibility of
his position, nor paltered, in double sense,
in maintaining it. He felt, from the mo-
ment his conscientious convictions placed
him in hostility to the most fragrant piece
of treachery in political annals, that he was
entirely right {; and he, therefore, gave no
heed to consequences, but pursued straight
and onward course to the end. He adopted
no new views, but held on with characters.
tic tenacity to the old teachings of the
Democratic faith, confident that if the sequel
did not find him and his friends victorious
it would, at all events, fully vindicate them
before the country.
Such a spectacle of firmness was novelty
in these days, but still greater novelty was
in reserve. From the moment that Mr.
Broderck took his stand, be, aud all those
associated with him, became the objects of
a series of prosecutions of the most aban.
doned and savage character. For doing
nothing more than maintaining consistent
and courageous adherence to repeatedly
defined Democratic principles, they have
been traduced and villi6ed by every instru-
ment that could be employed against them
by the Administration. How STEPHEN A.
DOUGLAS was attacked is historical. The
page that describes that achievement of the
Federal Administration, foul as it is, is
bright and clean in comparison with that
which preserves for the amazement and
Indignation of posterty the record of the
hostility and cruelty practised upon Mr..
BRoDERICK. Never before in this country
have public men been so shamelessly hound
ed for the exercise of honest opinions.
Broderick began life surrounded with
disadvantages. His progress had been a
long, bitter battle with adversely. Thrown
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