The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1889-08-21
JUDGE TfRaI's sIolU LIFE.
i Wild Beasts spirit Sxayed :
Brilliant Mind.


eoss last by Violence TIE ssorfsay
vinssicssss, asssaIscspsia>si scEl Ut Davis
). Terri has gosse out. Dasid =
grya~riek. ~hos@ body ssas fslaen bach
Ia duet ia Lore Nosnssfa. has ha1
mighty vengeance wrought for hIns a
iass. II wii. he thirty years DOE IN
se~ days sfnce Terry killed Broderfck
IL was . fair fight ansisr the code. afse
II vas necessary. for il sas one Of tiss
opening sets ia the woria's mtxhtie~'
tragedy arc fate was setting the stag
and shifting the sDfnher scenes. Terry
took osfense rs 81 inpatient WORD
iroprea BIZ Bro<serIek. took offenss
not because he was offended. but De
Cause il xAs deemed necessary by tbs
men who had been virtually rslins
caiifornia for tsn years. that Bred
erick should be pat out OF the way
Terry was hut the instruments bus ne
gas a wiling one. The shot that
killed Byssderick wss the opening gun
~ the great war. and IL was nsid A. N
omen OF good through Ali the ranks "
the chivalry. the continent across.
Bat IL awakened the thought hin
held California aud Nevada nrsniy ~ !,
the Union. when . year and nan
later the great struggle came
From the faces OF the men OF Caiiior-
MIA il was relief for Judge Terry 70
get away: he went early 20 the eosilc.
he served four years. bat his punish
ment wa s,sIt just begun then, AND nc,
friendly bullet cafne 20 bear his soul
away in the glory OF battle elo.id.
The var over, be sought the West
again. and though bis old-fiine friends
gathereG around him and gave him
their hands and opened their hearts TO
him. be nevertheless Was under
cloud. Whenever be aspsrsd 10 t0nors
they Turned 10 ashes on his lips. SO
aee cane without the hoEor- and with
out tie caIus that Is the good man 8
due. Az last ne became infatuated
with a @cheming. constituencies NO
man, and. forgetting all his ancient
pride. made her bis vile and enlisted
his strong intellect in her canse.
Through her he was forced 10 suffer
half wears imprisonment, and, smart
ing under that and under the position
her case has assumed IN court, he yes
fertlay made an assault on Justice
Field and was slain by marshal who
doubtless had been detailed TO protect
the venerable justice from insult and
violence.
LISA piiiahle ending TO what prom
ised In the golden days of the golden
coast 10 he glorious career. There
will lie few moarners To grieve tor
him. for the generation OF men that
knew him before the blight came TO
his life are xeli-nigh all gone. and III
these last years he has been nlorose
and has drawn within himself. not
counting friendship or companionship.
Yet Judge Terry was originally
Ligh-mindeG, honest man, In a rough
way. though his instincts were brutal.
and when aroused he was as cruel as
death. He was the ehiefest represen-
tatiye OF that unreaSoning pride that
grew out of slavery. He had con-
tempt for everything not Southern,
and vet he represented a coarse strain
of the southerner.
We believe that when but young
man he found himself raised tothe posi-
ton OF chief justice OF great state, he
meant to be worthy Of the honor and to
alwavs he worthy OF 1t. The change
began when he stabbed Hopkins.
though he was right in that. Hop
kins was an officer of the vigilance
committee, an illegal organiza-
ton. When arressing a man, Judge
Terry asked him if he had warrant.
Hopkins, with coarse epithet, said:
u will arrest you, too" at which
Terry stabbed him. Hopkins was
clearly acting without authority even
from the illegal organization behind
him. But fury broke out among the
people, and Judge Terry's life was in
danger After that the wild beast
grew i'm him, and from the first he
was altogether undisciplined; he was
natural leader Of men and would
brook no opposition; he was a. brave
as julius CFsar, ana had the nerve to
carry out any purpose that he formed,
and he was where political passions
we're high and sectional hates intense.
and as We said above, the fate that
was setting the stage and shifting the
scenes tor the opening act of the
worlds latest great tragedy, liked
upon him as one of the actors To be-
gin the tremendous play.
His fight with Broderick was fair.
Broderiek recognized the code. He
sought To have meeting with Gwin
and George Penn Johnson. bat never
With Terry. he for several years
had been warm friend of
animosity between them, and
never would have been except for the
meddlesomc interference of another.
but the challenge passed aud was ac-
cepted and the duel fought. Had the
quarrel been strictly personal one
there would have been nothing said,
but the people of the coast at once
construed IL a. political feud: the
impression At once took form that il
had been determined that Frederick
should be killed because he was in the
path of the ambitions of certain men
Who were determined to have no
divided reign in California, and that
hence he was killed. That impression
made brand on Judge Terry s brow
which he could never wear OF.
It's quite possible, too. keeping in
mind how the fierce nature of the man
had been Developed, that in his natur-
ally honest heart he believed that he
was nuiustly regarded nv the men al
California. and that this belief tended
TO make him the more morose and
uuioFgiying: and SO he walked his
lonely way until ia y moment when
in the act of com hitting an outrage in
response Ia hts old fierv anger. he ~ as
killed IL is n piuahle ending to q
pitiahle life.
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