In re Neagle

Sharon's heir still wanted the new Mrs. Terry to return her marriage contract. In 1888 he brought suit to that effect, also in federal court in California. Two local federal judges sat on this court, along with Supreme Court Justice Stephen J. Field. As was the custom in those days, Supreme Court justices also served part of the year as federal court judges.

Field had formerly been an associate justice on the California Supreme Court under Chief Justice Terry. When Terry had left the post of chief justice, Field had succeeded to it. Yet Terry was now to become Field's bitter enemy.

When the three-judge panel, headed by Field, called Mrs. Terry and her husband as a party to the suit, both she and her husband denied that Sharon's heir had any rights. Soon afterward, on 14 August 1888, one of the other judges on the panel found himself on a train leaving Fresno, California, the home of the Terrys. The Terrys "grossly insulted" the judge, according to the account of the case written up by Justice Miller in the Supreme Court decision. Reportedly, Mrs. Terry actually pulled the judge's hair, while Mr. Terry said, "The best thing to do with him would be to take him out into the bay and drown him."

On 3 September 1888, the three-judge panel ruled against Mrs. Terry once again. She shouted at the judge, causing Justice Field to ask the marshall to remove her from the courtroom.

[Mr. Terry] . . . struck the marshall a blow in his face so violent as to knock out a tooth. He then unbuttoned his coat, thrust his hand under his vest, apparently for the purpose of drawing a bowie-knife, when he was seized by persons present and forced down on his back.

Mr. Terry did eventually draw a bowie knife, so that others had to wrestle it away from him. "The most prominent person engaged in wresting the knife from Terry," wrote Justice Miller, "was Neagle . . . " Meanwhile, Mrs. Terry was trying to open a small satchel that she had with her. When the satchel was taken from her, it was found to contain a revolver.