ts themselves." May we not hope, Mr.
Editor, that this example of one occupying this high place in
our country may have some influence in staying the spirit and
deeds of violence now so rife, and that they who are so ready
to resort to the rifle and revolver may learn to regard them
only as the instruments of the coward or the scoundrel?

B. WISTAK MORRIS.

The citations given below from different journals, published at the
time, indicated the general opinion of the country. With rare
exceptions it approved of the action of the Government, the conduct
of Neagle, and the bearing of Justice Field.

The _Alta California_, a leading paper in California, had, on
August 15, 1889, the day following the tragedy, the following
article:

THE TERRY TRAGEDY.

The killing of David S. Terry by the United States Marshal
David Neagle yesterday was an unfortunate affair, regretted,
we believe, by no one more than by Justice Field, in whose
defense the fatal shot was fired. There seems, however, to
be an almost undivided sentiment that the killing was
justifiable. Every circumstance attending the tragedy points
to the irresistible conclusion that there was a premeditated
determination on the part of Terry and his wife to provoke
Justice Field to an encounter, in which Terry might either
find an excuse for killing the man against whom he had
threatened vengeance, or in which his wife might use the
pistol which she always carries, in the pretended defense
of her husband. For some time past it has been feared that
a meeting between Terry and Justice Field would result in
bloodshed. There is now indisputable proof that Terry had made
repeated threats that he would assault Justice Field the first
time he met him off the bench, and that if the Judge resisted
he would kill him. Viewed in the light of these threats,
Terry's presence on the same train with Justice Field will
hardly be regarded as accidental, and his actions in the
breakfast-room at Lathrop were directly in line with the
intentions he had previously expressed. Neagle's prompt and
deadly use of his revolver is to be judged with due reference
to the character and known disposition of the man with whom
he had to deal and to his previous actions and threats. He was
attending Justice Field, against the will of the latter and
in spite of hi