History
- The U.S. Marshals and Court Security
Protection of Federal Judge
A beautiful woman scorned by a former lover,
a hot-headed husband intent on defending his wife's honor, and a Deputy
U.S. Marshal assigned to protect a Supreme Court Justice came together
in an explosive
confrontation on August 14, 1889, in the Lathrop, California, railway
station in the San Joaquin Valley.
The result was a dead husband, an insane wife, and a landmark Supreme
Court decision that substantially
expanded the powers of the executive branch and affirmed the authority
for U. S. Marshals and their Deputies
to use force in the performance of their lawful duties.
The Cast:
 David S. Terry
Beautiful and vivacious, Sarah
Althea Hill was also mentally unstable and had a history of
violent behavior. She carried a small-caliber Colt revolver in
her purse and did not hesitate to threaten all who crossed her,
even if they were Federal judges.
David S. Terry
A prominent California lawyer and former
chief justice of the California Supreme
Court, David S. Terry was also hot-tempered and violent. Although in his
late sixties in 1889, the 6'3", 250-pound Terry was known for
his physical strength and his prowess with the Bowie knife he
habitually carried in a leather sheath under his coat.
David Neagle
David Neagle worked as a mining engineer
and lawman throughout the West. He
served as town marshal and deputy sheriff
in Tombstone, Arizona, in the early 1880s.
In 1886 and 1888, Marshal John Franks
(Northern District of California) appointed Neagle a Special
Deputy Marshal to supervise the congressional
election returns in one of San
Francisco's roughest precincts. Neagle
stood 5'4" tall and weighed 150 pounds.
In 1889, he was 35 years old.
Justice Stephen Field
Stephen Field was a famous California
lawyer whom Abraham Lincoln appointed
to the Supreme Court in 1863. Although
73 years old and temporarily lamed by a
knee injury in 1889, Field continued to
perform his duties as circuit court judge
in California.
The Prologue
Conflicts of Authority
Throughout the last quarter of the nineteenth
century, the powers of Marshals
and their Deputies were often challenged
by state and local authorities. Deputies,
and occasionally Marshals, were commonly
arrested by local sheriffs for
carrying a weapon or, if involved in a
shoot-out with a lawbreaker, for murder
or attempted murder. In the letter excerpted
at right, Marshal Paul Strobach of
Alabama reported to the Attorney General
that the circuit court of Tuscaloosa
County had indicted one of his Deputies
for carrying a concealed weapon. The
evidence against the Deputy consisted of
eyewitness accounts from two prisoners
whom he had in his custody.
Continued: Page One |
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See also related
article on Protection of Judges
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