Post by subdjoe on Sept 13, 2009 11:21:46 GMT -5
A bit of pre-CW California history I found while perusing the link in the "Eats Crow" thread.
www.startribune.com/politics/national/congress/59124867.html?elr=KArks8c7PaP3E77K_3c::D3aDhU6:_0c:QyDiiUiacyKUUr
Anti-slavery senator's death in
1859 duel with pro-slavery judge
prefaced Civil War carnage
By FREDERIC J. FROMMER , Associated Press
Last update: September 12, 2009 - 11:00 PM
WASHINGTON - Nearly two years before the first
shots were fired in the Civil War, simmering
hostilities over slavery erupted on a "field of
honor" in California, where a pro-slavery judge
mortally wounded an anti-slavery senator in a
duel.
On Sept. 13, 1859 — 150 years ago Sunday — Sen. David Broderick, D-Calif., and Chief Justice David Terry of the California Supreme Court faced off at 10 paces near the San Francisco-San Mateo County line at Lake Merced. Broderick fired first, but his hair-trigger pistol went off prematurely and the bullet landed in the ground. Terry then fired a bullet into Broderick's chest; Broderick, 39, died a few days later from the wound.
and I love this:
"California was a "a wide-open world where
newspapers carried announcements of upcoming
duels as if they were street fairs," wrote Barbara
Holland in her 2003 book, "Gentlemen's Blood: A
History of Dueling."
Kind of like Ren Faire with pistols.
(shakes his head to clear images of Folsom Street Fair in this context)
www.startribune.com/politics/national/congress/59124867.html?elr=KArks8c7PaP3E77K_3c::D3aDhU6:_0c:QyDiiUiacyKUUr
Anti-slavery senator's death in
1859 duel with pro-slavery judge
prefaced Civil War carnage
By FREDERIC J. FROMMER , Associated Press
Last update: September 12, 2009 - 11:00 PM
WASHINGTON - Nearly two years before the first
shots were fired in the Civil War, simmering
hostilities over slavery erupted on a "field of
honor" in California, where a pro-slavery judge
mortally wounded an anti-slavery senator in a
duel.
On Sept. 13, 1859 — 150 years ago Sunday — Sen. David Broderick, D-Calif., and Chief Justice David Terry of the California Supreme Court faced off at 10 paces near the San Francisco-San Mateo County line at Lake Merced. Broderick fired first, but his hair-trigger pistol went off prematurely and the bullet landed in the ground. Terry then fired a bullet into Broderick's chest; Broderick, 39, died a few days later from the wound.
and I love this:
"California was a "a wide-open world where
newspapers carried announcements of upcoming
duels as if they were street fairs," wrote Barbara
Holland in her 2003 book, "Gentlemen's Blood: A
History of Dueling."
Kind of like Ren Faire with pistols.
(shakes his head to clear images of Folsom Street Fair in this context)
