Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1889-08-23
The Shooting OF Judge Terry.

Justice Field Of the United States Su-
preme Court. accompanied by a deputy {.
;. Marshall. sat down in a railroad restau-
rant in the town of Lathrup. California, on
Wednesday of last week; and while par
taking of their meal Judge Terry, the
husband OF the notorious Sarah Althea
Ill., came up to him and slapped him.
whercupon the deputy Marshall shot and
killed Terry.
The tragedy has no parallel ia criminal
annals. and the trial of the case will at
tract widespread attention.
The fatal shot was fired by deputy
marshal OF the United States. 1t was
fired in real or supposed defence of the
life OF a United States Supreme Court JUS
tice. The officer was accompanying the
Justice, it is reported, by order of he At
torney General of the United States to
protect him against an assault which was
feared if not openly threatened. The vie
tim was man of worldwide notoriety,
once the Chief Justice of California and
for more than third of a century a con.
spieuous figure in the legal and political
circles of the Pacific slope. His wife. who
in large measure is the cause Of his fate,
is a woman whose career has been more
eveutlul and sensational than creditable.
The tragedy is but another chapter ir
the story of the notorious Hill Sharon di-
voree litigation. Neither in legal records
nor the pages Of fiction is more extraor-
dinary story to be found. 1t dates from
lSS0. when William Sharon, mliouaire
and Senator of the United States, met
Sarah Athea Hill. Four years later the
woman publicly claimed to be the wife of
the Senator by virtue of a secret mar
riage, and sued for divorce. The de-
fence was that no marriage had ever taken
place. She produced written contract of
marriage. At first the Courts sustained
her claim. She got a divorce aud iudg
ment for a share of his vast estate.
The litigation was prosecuted and de
Tended with bitter determination for years
in both State and Federal courts. 1t bris-
tied with dramatic scenes and sensational
y
jury, bribery, assaults in court, and other
crimes. During its progress Sharon died
and Judge Terry married Miss Hill, for
whom he had been acting as counsel. The
final result was the complete routing of
the woman. The pretended marriage
agreement was declared a forgery and she
was held never entitled to the name or the
money of Sharon.
The immediate origin of the tragedy is
to be found in what occurred at hearing
of one phase of the case last September,
when after dramatic scene in which
Judge Terry had drawn a huge knife on an
officer of the court, and a revolver had
been taken from his wife both of the of.
tenders were sent to jail by Justice Field
for contempt of Court. This naturally
deepened the enmity which had existed
between Judge Terry and Justice Field
since those exciting times of early Califor
MIA life when Terry killed Senator Broder-
lex in a duel
When Justice Field returned from
Washington to California this summer for
circuit duty he was repeatedly warned to
beware of Terry. While the Justice him
self seems to have treated the matter with
Indifference, the Attorney General OF the
United States, if report be true, deemed it
prudent that he should be accompanied by
a marshal Of the court.
The defence of Deputy Nagle is likely to
raise Il novel and important Question of
criminal law The plea will doubtless be
that he acted i'll the discharge OF his Of
fetal duty to protect the Justice and that
the shooting was necessary to save his
life. 1t may be contended that no such
necessity existed On the other hand, it
will be claimed that Judge Terry was
known to be n man of determined charac-
ter; that he was probably armed and in
tended when he assaulted Justice Field to
bring to an issue a feud of thirty years
standing, and avenge the punishment he
had lately suffered at the hands of the
Justice.
The trial viii be sensational one.
Meanwhile has the last act in this event
full drama been reached Sarah Althoa
Hill, the leading actress still lives