The Hawaiian gazette., 1889-09-10
THE KILLING OF JUDGE TERRY.
What is Thought of it by Two of the
AbIest LAWYERS in America.

70 Va ~ W W. VI INV
Ablest Lawyers in America.
After the funeral of the late Judge
Terry had been held in Stockton, his
friends telegraphed to General Butler
and Colonel Ingersoll, offering them
large sums if they would go to California
and undertake the prosecution in the
trial of Deputy-Marshal Neagle, who
killed Terry. These gentlemen, without
communicating with each other, made
remarkable replies, which indicate pub
lie sentiment at the East.
General Butler positively refused to
act as prosecutor, and said:
believed Terry would die violent
death" "He killed Brode.ick, my best
friend. That was deliberate murder"
81 wonder why there can be any
doubt as to Neagle's conduct and liza
bility. As 1 understand it, Terry had
been duly sentenced for contempt of
court. He had sworn revenge upon
Judge Field. He was armed in Court
when he committed the contempt. He
testified that he always bore arms. He
had resigned his seat as Chief Justice of
California in order to fight duel. He
was man of blood. In consequence of
his character and threats, and the fear
that he might do great bodily harm to
Judges Field and Sawyer, the officers of
the Department of Justice had detailed
Mr.. Neagle to attend upon the Judges,
watch over them and protect them from
Terry.
Neagle was at the time in charge of
Justice Field in the performance of his
duty, and after seeing the hand drawn
back as if to seize a weapon, he shot,
and, Heaven be praised, he was a good
shot.
l have not seen Neagle's legal posi-
ton correctly stated, and the Attorney
General was very properly reticent about
it. agree fully that the common law is
that one man when attacked by another
has the right to use all the force that is
necessary to preserve his life, but before
he uses deadly weapon he must have
exhausted his other means of defense,
and, in the language of the old law, must
be back to the wall, or he is culpable, if
death ensues, not of murder necessarily,
but of homicide, more or less uniusti-
fable.
but this was not Neagle's case at all.
He was an officer of the law. Nobody
was attacking him. He had no occasion
to be back to the wall. On the contrary,
it was his duty to stand up to the fight.
He had no luminosity against Terry He
was put there to do an official duty, and
that was to protect the Judge, and he
was to do that duty in the exercise of
his own best judgment, when and how
and where he could best do it, and in
the exercise Of nobody else's judgment.
"And he is not to be harmed or even
put to his defense unless it can be
shown that he acted maliciously and
with an evil design. Any such claim of
course is groundless. This view of
course disposes of the claim against
Judge Field that he conspired with
Neagle to shoot Terry. If Neagle and
the Judge had gone out somewhere and
hunted up Terry and killed him, such a
charge might possibly be sustained, but
how could they conspire to make Terry
come and strike the Judge?"
INGERsoLL's DECIDED EXPRESSIONS.
Colonel Robert G. Ingersoll was sit
ting in his charming little summer
home, Wave Crest, Rockaway, when he
received dispatch announcing that the
friends of Judge Terry wanted him to
come out to California to prosecute
Judge Field and Deputy Marshal Neagle.
Il will not go. There is not enough
money in California to take me out on
such an Grand" said the great agnostic,
emphatically. "Why, we might as we'll
Danish our courts of law if our Judges
are to be terrorized and assaulted for
rendering honest decisions. From all l
have heard and seen, the Justice has
committed no offense unless it be one to
be insulted. Money could not pay me
to prosecute Justice Field in this case. l |
believe in perfectly free judiciary. If |
a Judge renders a corrupt decision the |
law provides for his Impeachment. If |
suitors who are defeated resort to brute |
force and people sustain such course |
then courts should be abolished The |
individual must submit to law as admin |
istered and expounded by courts, and |
must seek his remedy within the law"