The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-04-10

! ltldl DOuN. lie was lQuQeQLldl III Sc
curing legislation favorable TO miners
! and aided in the passage Of laws reg
ulating civil and criminal procedure OF
the state. At the close of the session
| he returned to Marysville and devoted
| six years to the practice Of his profess
| sion.
He was elected a Judge Of the SUI
I preme court of California in 1857, fOI
| the term Of six years. In 1853 he be-
| came chief justice succeeding Chief
| Justice David 5. Terry. In 1863 Pres
ident Lincoln appointed him associate
| Justice of the supreme court of the
United States, and he held that posi-
! ton until his retirement on Dec. /
! 1897, During the latter years Of his
| service on the bench, he was in feeble
health. His term was the longest in
the history of that tribunal The great
chief justice. John Marshall, wore the
ermine for a period extending over 81
years. II was the ambition of the late
Justice Field to surpass this record
and he succeeded in doing so by few
months.
His friends. fearing that the strain
Of hard work would shorten his useful
life, advised him to retire from his ar
duous duties. But with interchangeable
perseverance, he chung to his task I'M
til the latter part of 1897, when he had
the satisfaction Of having fulfilled the
ambition Of his life.
During that term of more than a
third Of a century he was concerned in
some Of the most important cases ever
passed upon by the supreme court.
Among the prominent decisions was the
famous test oath case, in which he gave
the casting vote. and wrote the opin-
ion of the court annulling the validity
of the "ironclad' oath.
His dissenting opinions in the con-
iscatiOn cases. the legal tender cases
and in the New Orleans slaughter
house case attracted the widest attGn-
IiOn. During his long service on the
bench he was also before the public eye
in other ways than as a judge Of the
United States supreme court. He was
a member Of the Hayes-Tilden electCr-
al commission in 1871 and voted with
the democratic minority. In 1880 he re
ceived s. votes for the presid initial
nomination at the Cincinnati democrat
ic convention on the first ballot.
In 1873 he was appointed by the gov
ernor of the state Of California one Of
the commission to examine the code
Of laws of that state. In 1866 Williams
College conferred upon him the degree
of Ii. D, and in 1869 the regents Of
the University of California made him
a professor of law in that institution
In 1889 one of the most sensational
events of q remarkably active and Wig
orOus career, largely passed in new
country in process Of development from
pioneer state to a highly civilized
community, brought his personality
wildly before the public.
Sarah Althea Hill Terry had brought
a. =o i'm
on. a California multi-millonaire. Jus
tice Field was on the bench. The out
come Of the case was uufayorable to
the plaintiff and engendeTed in her,
feelings of hatred of the jurist.
This eliminated in her attempt to
chastise the aged jurist in the dining
hall, or depot eating house at Lathrop,
California, a railway junction Judge
Terry, who had been her attorney in
the suit against Sharon, and who af-
terward married her, interfered, and
when it seemed that he was attempting
to do violence to Justice Fields person.
David Nagle a United States deputy
marshal, drew a revolver and shot and
killed Judge Terry. Nagle was acqUit-
ted.
There was. however. for many years,
intense bitterness between the friends
of the two factions, and for this rea-
son Justice Fields family discouraged
his discussion of California topics, or
the perusal of California newspapers.
Justice Fields retirement from the
supreme court bench took place Dec.
T. 1897, and Attorney General McKenna
Of California shortly afterwards was
nominated to succeed him. He ten
dered his resignation in April, 1897, to
take effect Dec. J. The president in
his letter of acceptance of the resigna-
ton. wrote:
Upon your retirement both the bench
and the country will sustain a great
loss. but the high character and great
ability Of your work will live and
long be remembered not only by your
colleagues, but by your grateful fellow
cOuntrymen.
The dead justice made the formal an
nouncement of his resignation to his
ter sketching his own and the court
history during his extended service. In
one part he said
1T is a pleasant thing in my memory
that my appointment came from Pres
ident Lincoln. of whose appointees 1
am the last survivor"
up to the time of his appointment
there had been no representative here
from the Pacific coast. A new empire
those Of another country. The land
titles We're from Spanish and Mexican
grants both of which were often over
laid by the citizens of the first settlers.
To bring order out of this confusion
congress passed an act providing for
another seat on this bench, with the in
tentiOn that it should be filled by some
one familiar with the conflicting titles
and mining laws of The coast, and it so
happened that I had framed the princi-
pal of these laws, and was, moreover,
chief Justice Of California. 1t was the
wish of senators and representatives of
that state as well as those from Ore
gnn that 1 should succeed to the posi-
ton.
During his incumbency, he said he
alone had written $40 opinions which
with 81 in the circuit court and 365
in the California supreme court, made
up a total Of 1912 cases decided by him
in his life. He took issue with the
styling of the court as an aTistOcratiC
feature of republican government
and said it is the most democratic Of
all
1T carries" he wrote, neither the
purse nor the sword, but it possesses
the power of declaring law and in that
it found the safeguard on which keeps
the whole mighty fabric Of government
from rushing to destruction"
The court replied, in a very feeling
letter. and later called in a body and
babe him farewell Since his retire
ment he had lived quietly in his old
home fleeing the eastern section of the
capitol grounds.