Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1899-04-10

curing leglSlallOn favorable TO tho
miners and aided in the passage Of
laws regulating the civil and criminal
procedure of the State. At the close
OF the session he returned to Marys-
vile and devoted six years to the prac-
tice of his profession. He was elected
judge of the Supreme Court of Cali
fornia in 1857 for the term Of six
years. In 1859 he became chief justice,
succeeding Chief Justice David S. Ter
nv. In 1863 President Lincoln appoint
ed him associate justice OF the Supreme
Court of the United States, and he held
that position until his retirement on
December 1, 1897.
During the latter years of his SER
vice on the bench he was in very
feeble health. His term was the long
est in the history of that tribunal. The
great chief justice, John Marshall,
wore the ermine for a period extend
ing over thirty-four years. 1t 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 arduous duties. But with indefa-
tigable perseverance he clMg to his
task until the latter part of 1897, when
he had the satisfaction of having full
filled the ambition of his life.
During that term OF more than
century he was concerned in some of
the most important cases ever passed
upon by the Supreme Court. Among
the prominent decisions was the fam
Gus test-oath case in which he gave
the casting vote, and wrote the opinion
of the Court annulling the validity of
the Iron Clad" oath. His dissenting
opinions in the confiscation cases, the
legal tender cases and in the New Or
leans slaughter house case attracted
the widest attention.
During this long service on the bench,
he also was before the public eye in
other ways than as a judge of the u.
S. Supreme Court. He was a member
of the Hayes-Tilden electoral commits
sion in 1877, and voted with the Demo-
cratic minority. In 1880 he received
SiXty-five votes for the presidential
nomination at the Cincinnati Demo-
cratic convention on the first ballot
In 1878 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 LID, and in 1869 the regents of the
University of California made him
professor of law in that institution.
In 1889 one of the most
SENSATIONAL EVENTS
Of a remarkably active and vigorous
career, largely passed in a new coun-
try in process of development from a
pioneer state to highly civilized COM
munity, brought his personality vivid
ly before the public. Sarah Althea
Hill Terry had brought a famous suit
against ex-senator Sharon, of Califor-
MIA, the multi-millionaire. Justice
Field was on the bench. The outcome
of the case was unfavorable to the
plaintiff, and engendered in her feel
ings of hatred of the jurist. This cul-
minated in her attempt to chastise the
aged justice in the dining hotel or eat
ing house at Lathrop, Gala, railway
junction. Judge Terry, who had beeen
on, and who afterward married her, in
terfered and when it seemed that he
was attempting to do violence to JUS
tice Fields person, David Maggie, a Tn
tied States deputy marshal, drew a re-
volver and shot and killed Judge Terry.
Maggie was acquitted.
There was, however, for many years
intense bitterness between the friends
of IN fxxrO yH1nv md fCt. \,
Judge Fields family discouraged his
discussion of California topics, or the
perusal of California newspapers.
Justice Fields retirement from the
Supreme Court bench occurred Decem-
Der /, 1897, and Attorney General Nc
Kenna, of California, shortly after
wards was nominated to succeed him
He rendered his resignation in April,
1897, to take effect December 1st. The
President, in his letter of acceptance of
the resignation, 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."
Inc uead JuSuce mace the FORMAL an
nouncement of his resignation to his
colleagues on the bench in long let
ter sketching his own and the courts
history during his extended service.
In one part he said:
ut is a pleasant thing in my mem
DRY that my appointment came from
President Lincoln, of whose appointees
I am the last survivor. Up to that
time there had been no representative
here of the Pacific coast.
A NEW EMPIRE
had arisen in the West whose laws
were those of another country. The
land titles from Spanish and Mexican
grants, both of which were often laid
by the claims of the first settlers. To
bring order out of this confusion Cor
gress passed an act providing for an
other seat on this bench with the in
tention that it should be filled by some
one familiar with these conflicting
titles and with the mining laws Of the
coast, and it so happened that ] had
framed the principal of these laws and
was, moreover, chief justice of Califor-
MIA, it was the wish of the Senators
and Representative of that State. as