ber of bailiffs to keep order in court. They told
him that judging from the action of the Terrys on the train, and the
threats they were making so publicly, and which were being constantly
published in the newspapers, it was not impossible that they might
create a disturbance in the court-room.

When the court opened that day, it found Terry and his wife already
seated within the bar, and immediately in front of the judges. As it
afterward appeared, they were both on a war-footing, he being armed
with a concealed bowie-knife, and she with a 41-calibre revolver,
which she carried in a small hand-bag, five of its chambers being
loaded. The judges took their seats on the bench, and very shortly
afterward Justice Field, who presided, began reading the opinion of
the court in which both of his associates concurred. A printed
pamphlet copy of this opinion contains 61 pages, of which 18 are
taken up with a statement of the case. The opinion commences at page
19 and covers the remaining 42 pages of the pamphlet.

From time to time, as the reading of the opinion progressed, Mrs.
Terry, who was greatly excited, was observed to unclasp and clasp
again the fastening of her satchel which contained her pistol, as if
to be sure she could do so at any desired moment. At the 11th page of
the opinion the following passage occurs:

"The original decree is not self-executing in all its parts;
it may be questioned whether any steps could be taken for its
enforcement, until it was revived, but if this were otherwise,
the surrender of the alleged marriage contract for
cancellation, as ordered, requires affirmative action on the
part of the defendant. The relief granted is not complete
until such surrender is made. When the decree pronounced the
instrument a forgery, not only had the plaintiff the right
that it should thus be put out of the way of being used in the
future to his embarrassment and the embarrassment of his
estate, but public justice required that it should be formally
cancelled, that it might constantly bear on its face the
evidence of its bad character, whenever or wherever presented
or appealed to."

When Mrs. Terry heard the above words concerning the surrender of the
alleged marriage contract for cancellation, she first endeavored for
a few seconds, but unsuccessfully, to open the satchel containing her
pistol. For some reason the catch refused to yield. Then, risi