combatants within six steps of each other; at which distance one would think a school boy in an ague fit, who had never seen a pistol, could kill the dastardly villain who made faces at his sister. George Pen Johnson could hit Ferguson at that distance at all events; he could shatter at six paces the thigh bone of him who in a dramshop dared speak in other than courtly phrases of a damsel fortunate enough to be under the chivalrous protection of a Johnson ; could with a bullet at six steps inflict a torturous wound upon this flippant-tongued honorable, which should cause him twenty-four days of acutest suffering and finally death under amputation. Ferguson could well enough be spared, and if he had taken Johnson with him California would not Lave been the loser. Among those who call themselves gentlemen, who pretend to that honesty and culture which give manners to society, such scenes are by no means attractive—less so, indeed, than those of the mad miners encamped along the gold belt, who shot and slashed each other in their bacchanals and cared neither for God nor man. Law now steps in to give the final touch to this ghastly farce. Surrendering to the authorities of Marin county, Johnson was tried, and acquitted, on the ground that Ferguson did not die from the effects of the shot, but because he would not submit to earlier amputation! Most worshipped law; incorruptible, direct, void of hypocrisy and guile, let all good villains bow at the mention of thy name !
The most notable of Californian duels was that fought by David S. Terry, associate justice of the supreme court; and David C. Broderick, United States senator from California. Both of these men were actively opposed to the vigilance committee; both made politics a profession, both were high in official position, derived their influence and support immediately from the government, and held themselves up as lights of the law shining upon the obscured intellects of mechanical and mercantile plodders. Now,
