David S Terry

Biography

Terry was born in Todd County, Kentucky. In 1831, his family moved and settled in Brazoria County, Texas, until Terry himself moved to California in 1849. There, he engaged in the private practice of law and was active in Democratic Party politics.

In 1855, a prominent incident in Terry's life came about when he took up the cause of the 'Widow Sanchez'. Maria Encarnacion Ortega de Sanchez, the widow of a wealthy rancher, was being cheated by local authorities, including the Sheriff, William Roach, who took her fortune under the guise of guardianship. After kidnapping Roach with the help of a local gunslinger named Anastacio Garcia, they held Roach in a jail cell in Stockton until he agreed to release the widow's gold. But Roach had bribed a guard to ride to Monterey and urge Roach's family to hide the gold. The treasure was hidden somewhere in Carmel Valley by Roach's brother-in-law, Jerry MacMahon. MacMahon was killed in a barroom brawl before he could reveal the location of the money.

In August 1855, he was nominated by the American State Party, or Know Nothings, for the short term remaining on the seat held by Alexander Wells, and won the election. From November 15, 1855, to September 12, 1859, he was a California State Supreme Court Justice, serving as the 4th Chief Justice of California from 1857.

In 1856, the State of California declared San Francisco to be in a state of insurrection. Judge Terry traveled from Sacramento to San Francisco to negotiate, where he was kidnapped by armed gunmen. He managed to stab one, Sterling A. Hopkins, a member of the San Francisco Committee of Vigilance, who was not tried.

On January 8, 1858, Chief Justice Terry administered the oath of office at the inauguration of Governor John B. Weller.

Although Terry was a close friend of Democratic U.S. Senator from California David Broderick, he accused Broderick, a Free Soil advocate, of having engineered his loss for re-election in the 1859 state elections. Terry issued inflammatory comments at a state convention in Sacramento, which offended Broderick.

On September 13, 1859, Terry and Broderick, having agreed to a duel, met just outside San Francisco city limits. Terry won the coin toss to select weapons, and chose pistols. Broderick's discharged early, leaving him open for Terry's shot. At first Terry thought that he had only wounded Broderick, but the senator died three days later. As a result of the incident, Terry resigned as Chief Justice.

In June 1860, Terry was acquitted of murder. In November 1862, he campaigned for the Breckenridge Democratic Party. But by March 1863 he left the state for Texas. He fought during the American Civil War, serving in the 8th Texas Cavalry Regiment of the Confederate States Army. This unit was raised by his brother Benjamin Franklin Terry and was also known as Terry's Texas Rangers. David Terry later became Colonel of the 37th Texas Cavalry Regiment and was wounded at the Battle of Chickamauga. In November 1865, after the war was over, he moved to a ranch at Guadalajara, near Mazatlan, Mexico.

In 1869, Terry came back to Nevada, and by 1870 returned to Stockton and engaged in private practice. From March 1878 to March 1879, he was a delegate from San Joaquin County, California, to the state Constitutional Convention. Terry was chair of the Committee on Legislative Department, and his proposed language on bank directors' liability to depositors was adopted.

In August 1879, the Democratic Party nominated Terry for California Attorney General. The nomination triggered criticism due to his record of dueling with Broderick and fighting for the Confederacy. Terry lost the election to Republican Augustus L. Hart.

Marriage

In the 1880s, Terry became entangled in a mysterious divorce case. A young woman named Sarah Althea Hill claimed that she was the legal wife of silver millionaire William Sharon. Sharon denied that they had ever married, but Hill wanted a divorce and a share of Sharon's treasure. She lost her case and eventually wound up marrying Terry on January 7, 1886, in Stockton.

Downfall and death

On behalf of his wife, Terry appealed the ruling on his lawsuit against silver millionaire William Sharon. United States Supreme Court Justice Stephen J. Field, a former friend of Broderick's, heard the case in 1888 as the senior justice of the Federal circuit court in California. Field ruled against Mr. and Mrs. Terry in a final appeal, and jailed them both on contempt of court. The Terrys vowed vengeance.

A year later, on August 14, 1889, David Terry met Field at a train station in Lathrop, near Stockton, California. Field's bodyguard United States Marshal David B. Neagle (formerly assigned to Tombstone, Arizona) shot and killed Terry. Neagle was arrested by California authorities on a charge of murder. The United States secured the release of Neagle on a writ of habeas corpus. The issue was resolved by In re Neagle, 135 U.S. 1 (1890), a United States Supreme Court decision that determined that the Attorney General of the United States had authority to appoint U.S. Marshals as bodyguards to Supreme Court Justices, and that Federal appointments superseded State law regarding conduct of bodyguards.

David S. Terry is buried at Stockton Rural Cemetery in Stockton.

His wife, Sarah Terry, became insane, and spent the rest of her life at the Stockton State Hospital for the insane, where she died in February 1936. She is buried in the same gravesite as her husband. Terry's first wife, Cornelia Runnels, is buried next to him.