Commonwealth Network
While he was a state Supreme Court justice, David Terry was hunted by the 1856 Vigilantes. When they came to arrest him, Judge Terry pulled a knife and stabbed one of the self-appointed avengers. The Vigilantes were disappointed, however, when his victim lived. In 1859, Terry resigned his position as Supreme Court Justice to duel Senator David Broderick. Broderick, Terry felt, had unjustly insulted him after the judge had made an incindiery speech against the abolitionist Congressman. Senator Broderick died in the duel. Terry was not charged with murder or dueling.
Terry joined the Southern cause during the Civil War, then went to Mexico to help Maxmillian. He returned to California after many years and began the practice of law. His most prestigious client was Sarah Althea Hill, a courtesan in the employ of Mary Pleasants, who averred that she was married to Senator William Sharon. The two fell in love and married, perhaps in the hope of sharing Senator Sharon's estate. Their lawsuit, though initially successful, failed on appeal. Terry and Hill were cited for contempt of court and were on their way to San Francisco for trial when they ran into Supreme Court Justice Stephen Field (who was also head of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court) at a railside diner. Terry slapped Field and Field's bodyguard, believing that Terry had a knife, shot Terry. Local officials arrested the bodyguard. In a historic decision, however, the U.S. Supreme Court declared that states could not prosecute murders committed by federal law enforcement officers in the line of duty. Hill, who was Terry's second wife, went insane and was committed to Stockton..