.

Terry and his friends brought all the pressure to bear that they could
command, but the President refused his petition for a pardon, and,
as already shown, the Supreme Court unanimously decided that his
imprisonment for contempt had been lawfully ordered. He was therefore
obliged to serve out his time.

Mrs. Terry served her thirty days in jail, and was released on the 3d
of October.

There is a federal statute that provides for the reduction of a term
of imprisonment of criminals for good behavior. Judge Terry sought
to have this statute applied in his case, but without success. The
Circuit Court held that the law relates to state penitentiaries, and
not to jails, and that the system of credits could not be applied to
prisoners in jail. Besides this, the credits in any case are counted
by the year, and not by days or months. The law specifies that
prisoners in state prisons are entitled to so many months' time for
the first year, and so many for each subsequent year. As Terry's
sentence ran for six months, the court said the law could not apply.
He consequently remained in jail until the 3d of March, 1889.

CHAPTER XI.

TERRY'S CONTINUED THREATS TO KILL JUSTICE FIELD--RETURN OF THE LATTER
TO CALIFORNIA IN 1889.

Justice Field left California for Washington in September, 1888, a few
days after the denial of Terry's petition to the Circuit Court for
a release. The threats against his life and that of Judge Sawyer so
boldly made by the Terrys were as well known as the newspaper press
could make them. In addition to this source of information, reports
came from many other directions, telling of the rage of the Terrys and
their murderous intentions. From October, 1888, till his departure
for California, in June following, 1889, his mail almost every day
contained reports of what they were saying, and the warnings and
entreaties of his friends against his return to that State. These
threats came to the knowledge of the Attorney-General of the United
States, who gave directions to the marshal of the northern district of
California to see to it that Justice Field and Judge Sawyer should be
protected from personal violence at the hands of these parties.

Justice Field made but one answer to all who advised against his going
to hold court in California in 1889, and that was, "I cannot and will
not allow threats of personal violence to deter me from the regular
performance of my judicial duties at the times an