The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-04-12
more character. in the sense in which

was Mr.. Justice william strong or the
Supreme Court Of the United States.
He owed his appointment to President
Grant, though 1t Is credibly enough
reported that President Lincoln, much
better Judge. Of course. of men in gem
eral and of lawyers In particular. had
chosen him, not for an Associate Justice,
but for the Chief Justice, upon the death
OF fancy. Political considerations
forced him to nominate Chase, the chief
of them being the consideration of the
Presidents personal comfort In getting
Chase out of the Cabinet, whore. as has
been shown In particular by Gideon
We!les, he was n thorn in the Presi-
dental side. The ultimate appointment
was made together with that Of Brad
ley, and there was at the time sus-
p!cion. here declared TO be quite ground
less, that President Grant had secured
in advance from his two candidates
pledges that they would sustain the
constitutionaiity OF the legal tender
act As matter of fact they did
sustain 1t and few years afterward
they were yokefellows on the Electoral
Commission In sustaining the title OF
Hayes. Justice Bradley was somehow
picked out by public opinion as the
odd man." the odd md doubtful man.
The ultimate decision In favor OF Hayes.
which gained for him the nickname Of
"Aliunde joe" was OF course severely
criticised. 1t Is intimated. not OBJ
viousy. In the recent memoirs Of John
Bigelow that the memoirst was In
formed by the unsuccessful candidate
that for this opinion 100000 was paid
by the friends of the successful candi-
date. II was also widely believed and
reported at the time that Mr.. Justice
Bradley had prepared an opinion in
the opposite sense TO that OF the opinion
which he finally delivered. or this story.
at least, the present reminiscent seems
to dispose satisfactorily. upon the au-
thority of Justice Strong. to whom his
colleague had shown the only opinion
ne had prepared in the case. and this
opinion, with some verbal changes sug-
gested by Judge Strong. was the decld-
ing vote which turned the scale in
favor of Hayes. 1t Is none the less in
teresting to know that when the op'n-
ions OF Justices Strong and Bradley
were submitted to private conference
of the Electoral Commission Justice
Stephen ]. Field expressed himself with
such ferocty OF disgust and con-
tempt about the attitude OF his two
colleagues as to suspend the personal
relations between himself and Judge
Strong until. long afterward. the Offend
ing jurist placated the offended with an
apology that proved to he acceptable.
Stephen ]. Field was given to speak,
ing his mind freely. on or off the bench.
There was never any question about
the amount OF his Character" and the
circumstances Of his life had been such
as to develop It to the full. There IL Q
whole chapter given to him here. He
was possibly the most noteworthy Of
the four Field brothers, though David
Dudley abOunded in character. and
Cyrus W. was conspicuous by achieve
ment, the Rev. Henry NJ. being nearer
the human average than the other
three. But none of the others under.
went the toughening experience OF an
Argonaut of 40 for which Stephen ]
forwent the commonplace advantages
of a partnership In his elder brothers
law business in New York. In those
days there was no place IN California
for weaklings, and as little at the bar,
or even on the bench. as anywhere else.
Fields law studies in the East had
been worth to him an early elevation
in California TO the quasi judicial posi-
ton Of Alcade under the Sill surviving
Mexican customs, but neither in that
office nor in the Legislature, to which
he presently went, nor on the bench Of
the Supreme Court OF California, to
which he was elected in 1857, was he
secure from the knives and pistols of
disappointed litigants or political OPP
ponents, or even OF his associates on the
bench. For Terry. a large. violent, un.
governable man, who always went fully
armed and who had been ordered out
of san Francisco by the Vigilance Com
mittee. was actually, AZ the same time
with Judge Field, Justice OF tho
Supreme Court of that early and singu-
lar California. We may digress long
enough to note that among Judge
Fields fellow legislators in California
was one Moore. who, having occasion
to differ particularly with his colleague
Mr." Field, on some personal or polltl-
cal issue. prepared himself for the
eventualtles Of his argument. before be-
ginning 1t, by laying his cooked pistol
on the desk in front OF him. The prepa-
ration indicated that he was about TO
make fighting remarks" and so he
did. But Mr.. Field was dissuaded
from then and there resenting the re
marks In the only manner that was
then deemed quite correct In California
by perforating on the spot the vital
organs OF his learned adversary with a
pistol or by eviscerating them with q
knife. but was induced to take tho
measure deemed more appropriate TO
the dignity of q deliberatlve assembly
OF delivering challenge to mortal COM
bat. II Ia interesting to learn that, on
the following day, In the Legislature,
when Field and Moore struggled for the
Speakers eye and Moore obtained Il.
he made use OF his priority In the con.
troll Of the optic to make n handsome
and ungrudging apology for mis- oratort-
cal indiscretions OF the previous day,
and that incident was closed
This little incident of Moore IN epi-
sodlcal to the general exercise by Field
OF judicial functions in California. Blu
the controversy OF Judge Terry and
Judge Field was prolonged, was indeed
chronic and was entirely typical. It
IL one OF the most typical stories Mr..
Strong has TO tell ana he tells 1t very
well. He is doubtless correct in assum-
ing that youngsters do not know OF Il
and that oldsters win be glad to have
1t recalled. Field was already a Justice