USA > California > History of California, Volume VI > Part 82
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POLITICAL HISTORY.
port the president's policy with regard to Kansas; but that during the last days of the last session he had been invited and urged to attend the caucus, by such distinguished southern senators as Toombs of Georgia and Davis of Mississippi.
Broderick was no orator, as I have said; he was made for action; but he had nerved himself, albeit he was suffering from a prostrating bodily ailment, to speak in this campaign. He ridiculed Gwin's long written speeches with which he read every one out of the senate, "except Doolittle of Wisconsin and him- self," and spoke off-hand to large audiences. He called attention to the attempted Lime Point swindle, declared Gwin opposed to the homestead bill, and agricultural and mechanical college bill,62 and that he was a paid agent of the Pacific Mail Steamship Com- pany. No very clear defence was ever set up against these charges; but true or false, they were savage weapons wielded by the strong, relentless hand of Broderick.
It was the senatorial bargain, however, which most severely cut Gwin. So far as Broderick was concerned, the bargain had been treated confidentially for two years. He had even denied its existence and exoner-
62 Gwin, in his Memoris, MS., fearlessly praises himself for his advocacy of these bills. He certainly had a way of seeming to do whatever Cal. de- sired until Broderick began to expose his methods. The south was opposed to granting the public lands for any purpose, as I have mentioned. Gwin, being instructed to vote for the homestead and agric .- college bills, made a pretence of giving them his aid, while his action was really not friendly. For instance, look at this amendment to the agricultural-college bill: 'That there be granted to the several states and territories, for the purpose herein- after mentioned, 5,920,000 acres of land, to be apportioned in the com- pound ratio of the geographical area and representation of said states and territories in the senate and house of representatives; provided, that said apportionment shall be made after first allotting to each state and territory 50,000 acres; and provided further, that the state of Cal. may locate her por- tion of the said lands upon any of the unappropriated lands in that state other than mineral lands, and not then occupied by actual settlers.' Gwin, Memoirs, MS., 148. The temper of the south was not such as to allow this liberal disposition of the public lands, with the apportionment proviso besides. Broderick described Gwin's manner toward the homestead bill, saying he sat quietly tapping the floor with his foot in approval of the remarks of south- ern senators against it, but that after it was killed he voted for it. It is certain Gwin said nothing in the debates on the bill. See Cong. Globe, 1857-58, index.
729
SLAYING OF FERGUSON.
ated Gwin, until Gwin's treatment of him in the cam- paign incited him to anger, and caused him to tell the whole humiliating story in a manner to make it most humiliating, reading the contract letter from the stand, with sarcastic comments. The Lecompton newspapers and speakers pointed out the contradiction simply as wilful falsifying without motive, to the great disadvan- tage of Broderick. This was a matter in which Latham also was involved, giving damaging accounts of Brod- erick's treatment of him, without denying that he would have resigned the federal patronage to the more experienced politician, except the three chief offices. In this notable campaign, in short, the democratic leaders, or a majority of them, were at enmity with Broderick; the cause of that enmity being anti-Le- comptonism, veiled under the flimsy pretext that it was a personal quarrel between the two senators.
In his speeches Broderick was provoked into men- tion of a matter, which from its suggestiveness, prob- ably, as well as because he had lost a friend, lay near his heart. This was the killing of State Senator Wil- liam I. Ferguson, in a duel, by George Pen Johnston, on the 21st of September, 1858. Ferguson had joined the knownothing party in 1855, but had gone back to the democracy in 1856. When the rupture occurred between Douglas and Buchanan, on the Kansas ques- tion, Ferguson took the side of Douglas. Like Brod- erick, he thenceforth became a marked man in his party, and being on a visit to San Francisco, a quarrel with him was sought, a challenge sent by an expe- rienced duellist, accepted by a man who knew nothing of fire-arms, or any other deadly weapons, and Fer- guson, who had stood three shots, was mortally wounded at the fourth.
Broderick connected Ferguson's death with the Gwin-Broderick contract, and stated that he, Ferguson, was the person who arranged the bargain; charging that he had been murdered in cold blood, in order to
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POLITICAL HISTORY.
get rid of his testimony in the premises; 63 citing the breaking open of Ferguson's desk after his death, in the search after the original of the famous contract, but which had been confided to Estill before this event. The effect of these utterances, which the Le- compton press distorted to serve a purpose, was more damaging than helpful to Broderick. His friends, or at least those who were not his enemies, were puzzled by something seemingly contradictory in his speeches, and were led to doubt, while his foes triumphed in the unfavorable construction placed upon them.
The explanation of the whole mystery was exceed- ingly simple, and is contained in this frank avowal of Broderick at Napa, that he set out upon the canvass with the resolve to abstain from personal remarks; and that it was not until after Gwin had ridiculed him at Nevada and Forest Hill, and said that he dared not present himself before the people, that he was roused to tell what he knew. Since that time he had said that Gwin was "dripping with corruption," and had given proofs of the statement. Had Broderick made the first attack, although his chance of escaping the toils would have not been lessened, the charge of prevarication could not have been brought against him. In his desire to have the campaign not a per- sonal one, he placed himself still further in the power of his enemies.
The election occurred on the 7th of September, and
63 Sac. Democratic Standard, Aug. 1, 1859. The Standaad commented upon this statement, that Broderick had declared unequivocally that the matter was arranged between himself and Gwin. In regard to that, there must have been a first mediator. If not Ferguson, no one has ever told who he was. Broderick's was not the only voice to condemn the killing of Ferguson as a political murder. It was notorious. E. D. Baker, who pronounced his funeral oration, more than hinted at it. 'If I were, under any circumstances, an ad- vocate for a duel, it should be at least a fair, equal, and honorable duel,' said Baker; and under the circumstances it was enough. Rev. Benton, in a dis- course on the death of Ferguson, said: 'This duel grew primarily out of a political difference and discussion in the midst of a social scene. It is only the latest and not the first duel fought in our state that has had a similar origin, and a political significance. If I am not mistaken, political reasons were at the bottom of the duels between Denver and Gilbert, Broderick and Smith, Gwin and McCorkle, Washington and Washburn-others, also, it may be-and finally Johnston and Ferguson.'
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SLAYING OF BRODERICK.
the chivalry were triumphant. On the following day Terry resigned his seat on the supreme bench, which he had occupied for four years,"+ to violate the consti- tution and laws he expounded, and was sworn to obey, by challenging to mortal combat Broderick, United States senator. The provocation was the utterance of an unfriendly sentiment three months before, under the exasperation of injurious remarks by Terry in open convention. To remove all the objections made to fighting Perley, a social equal, and a day after the close of the campaign, were selected.
It is true that Broderick, or that any man, could have declined a duel on legal and moral grounds. But to have done so would have subjected Broderick to the sneers of his enemies, and to the contempt of some of his political friends, who were anxious that he should show an unterrified front to the foe. They had great confidence in his skill with the pistol, this being a part of his education acquired after coming to California, in order to place himself on a social level with the duelling southrons ; and he himself is said to have re- plied to one who feared for him, "Never fear; I can shoot twice to Terry once."
But he was not a duellist at heart, and moreover did not wish to kill Terry. If he had that kind of enmity against any man, it was toward Gwin. Therefore he hesitated about his reply to the challenge, which made his officious seconds only the more eager to have him fight. Said the Bulletin: "It appeared to be a com- mon belief among those who recognize the code, that he had to fight them all. Perhaps not in detail, per- haps not one after another, but when he presented his breast to the pistol of Terry, it would seem that he braved the whole concentrated hate of those who felt aggrieved by his attacks. Few believed that if he had escaped that issue he would have been left unmo- lested by others. Such appear to have been his own
64 Terry had been defeated in the nominations in convention, and had but a few weeks to serve, therefore his sacrifice was immaterial to him.
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POLITICAL HISTORY.
dying convictions; and although he was conscious of the feeling of his adversaries, he seems to have suc- cumbed under the belief at last that, in his own person, either by Terry or some one else, he was to be made a sacrifice." What wonder that he hesitated about his answer.
However, destiny and the duel were allowed to have their way. A meeting was arranged to take place in San Mateo county, ten miles from San Francisco. Broderick's seconds were Ex-congressman McKibben and David D. Colton, of Siskiyou county. Terry's were Calhoun Benham and Thomas Hayes. The first meeting on the 12th was interrupted by the officers of the law; but on the following morning the parties again met and proceeded to the final act. Every care was apparently taken to place the combatants on an equality, except as to choice of position, which was Broderick's, as were also the terms. His seconds had stipulated that there should be no more firing after the giving of the word "one-two." Two circum- stances were against Broderick. First, he was ill and weak, and consequently nervous; second, his pistol was quicker on the trigger than Terry's. When the word was given, before it reached a level, it was dis- charged, and the ball struck the earth in a direct line with, but some distance from, his antagonist, who stood cool and firm-so cool that he noted exactly where his ball struck his adversary's breast. In a moment more Broderick sank to the ground, mortally wounded, and Terry went to breakfast with his friends.65 The vic-
65 It was said that Broderick was nervous, but all his actions, his com- pressed lips, and rigid muscles showed that his nervousness was not the result of fear, but of intense resolution. Terry, meanwhile, stood erect, without a wink or a motion, like a man who made human slaughter a profession. As the seconds stepped back and Colton gave the word, the principals raised their pistols, which they held pointed to the ground. On the rise, Broderick's weapon went off, the ball striking the ground a few feet short of his opponent. The next instant, Terry, who had fully raised his weapon, discharged it and exclaimed: 'The shot is not mortal, I have struck two inches to the right.' Broderick suddenly turned a few inches, and was seen to brace himself for a moment, then gradually lowered himself down to a reclining position on the ground, and then fell over at full length. He did not speak a word during this time. While Broderick thus fell, still clasping his pistol, Terry stood
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A VILE MURDER.
tim was conveyed to the house of Leonidas Haskell, at Black Point, where after lingering three days, he expired on the 16th, having said but little after the first few hours, and that little chiefly the incoherent mutterings of a semi-consciousness. Among his broken sentences were these: "When I was struck, I tried to stand firm, but the blow blinded me and I could not," to Colonel Baker. To others he said: "They killed me because I was opposed to the extension of slavery, and a corrupt administration." How soon the significance of these words became apparent !
What a strange thing is the public-stupid and stolid, or wild with unreasoning rage! For months it had been known that Broderick would have to fight one or more duels. All the world looked on as at a play; wondering, hissing, applauding, but waiting ex- citedly for the catastrophe. When it came, had the heavens fallen the on-lookers could not have been more surprised apparently. What, Broderick killed! Oh, infamous! Show us the scoundrel who has defied the laws; who has murdered the purest man among us. Let him be punished! So the sheep bleated, leaving the destroyer with the mark of Cain upon his brow to go free. Everything connected with the murdered senator seemed a surprise. No sooner was Broderick dead than he was a lion.66 The faults of his career
with arms folded till his seconds advanced, and with them he left the field unharmed. Broderick regretted the physical condition which had made him seem to falter. S. F. Bulletin, Sept. 19, 20, 1859. Now mark the impotence and baseness of the law in the hands of this great high-priest of the law. Terry was arrested, and admitted to bail in the sum of $10,000. The trial was put off, and in June 1860 he applied for a change of venue, on the ground that he could not have a fair and impartial trial in S. F., because of his course during the active existence of the vigilance committee. The change of venue was granted by Judge Hager, to Marin county. On the day set for trial, the witnesses, being becalmed on the bay, and not arriving promptly, the prose- cuting attorney moved a nolle prosequi, and the farce was ended. Tuthill, Hast. Cal., 567-8.
66 Said the Alta of Sept. 24, 1859: 'The chase is done. The quarry is laid low, and the dogs have gone to kennel. David C. Broderick is no more ! He was the hunted lion, and they who have forced him into the quarrel which made a sacrifice of his life were the hungry pack of jackals that now, from the dark corners to which they have retired, are contemplating their foul deed of murder. There is enough in this melancholy affair to call for the bitterest condemnation that the tongue can utter or the heart can feel.
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POLITICAL HISTORY.
were seen to be the results of his origin, his early or- phanage, and his youthful associations; but the man himself stood revealed as one whom God had endowed with personal incorruptibility, a grave, earnest, hon- est, brave man, who in the midst of unparalleled cor- ruption in his own party, kept his hands clean and his record straight. By his tragic death his errors were expiated, and all at once California recognized the truth that in the balance of power held by her "brave young senator" against the encroachments of slavery had lain her safety. By the hand of that power he lay dead, and Broderick in his grave was
There is enough to justify us in heaping maledictions upon the authors and aiders in this foul tragedy, but we will forbear.' The Bulletin of Sept. 16th said: 'Not for many years has the popular heart been so thoroughly moved as it was this morning when it became generally known that Mr Broderick had breathed his last. Since the early days of Cal. Mr Broderick has played a prominent part in her politics. His name was familiar to all. Rugged and positive as his character undoubtedly was, he possessed no half-way friends or foes. With the former he was almost worshipped; with the latter he was undoubtedly feared as well as hated-but at the same time respected. His friends and followers are stricken down by the blow that felled their leader and champion to the earth; while many of those who were his enemies while living, shocked by his untimely cutting off, express sincere sorrow and deep regret at his death. Thousands of others, who heretofore have not taken part for or against him, now see only his murdered and bleeding form, recall only his haughty contempt of danger, and mourn his loss as a public calam- ity of the heaviest import.' Baker, at his obsequies, said: 'Fellow-citizens, the man that lies before you was your senator. From the moment of his election, his character has been maligned, his motives attacked, his courage impeached, his patriotism assailed. It has been a system tending to but one end, and that end is here. And what was his crime? Review his history; consider his public acts; weigh his private character; and before the grave encloses him forever, judge between him and his enemies. As a man to be judged in his private character, who was his superior ? It was his boast that- and amid the general license of a new country, it was a proud boast-that his most scrutinizing enemy could fix no single act of immorality upon him. Temperate, decorous, self-restrained, he passed through all the excitements of California unstained. No man could charge him with broken faith or vio- lated trust. Of habits simple and inexpensive, he had no lust of gain. He overreached no man, he withheld from no man his just dues. Never, never, in the history of the state, has there been a citizen who has borne public relations more stainlessly in all these respects than he.' After speaking of his public life, the eulogist concluded: 'Of his last hours I have no heart to speak. He was the last of his race. There was no kindred hand to smooth his couch, or wipe the death-damps from his brow; but around that dying bed, strong men, the friends of early manhood, the devoted adherents of later life, bowed in irrepressible grief, and like the patriarchs of old, lifted up their voices and wept.' S. F. Alta, Sept. 21, 1859. For comments on Broderick's death, see S. F. Bulletin, Sept. 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 1859, and March 8, 1860; Saxon's Five Years, etc., 15-18; S. F. News; N. Y. Sunday Times, in Yreka Union, Feb. 10, 1866; Parkinson, Pen Por- tracts, 52; Cal. Jour. Sen., 1861, 826-7.
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THE DEAD CHAMPION AVENGED.
more a king than ever he could have hoped to be in life. His great, solemn, burning, aspiring soul went marching on as did John Brown's in December follow- ing, to a victory greater than even he had ever con- ceived; for the party which had warred on him so re- lentlessly, as the representative of freedom, was dead and damned in California forever and forever!
Wilson Flint, who had been opposed to him in pol- itics, but who had his confidence, said: "He came back here to be a republican in 1860, because there was no other way to break down the pro-slavery party and save the union. He told me that it was not in the power of Mr Douglas, or all the democrats of the north, to resist the insidious tyranny of the federal administration under Mr Buchanan. If the demo- cratic party succeeds to power this time, the union is gone. There is no resource but to defeat that party- to break it up. It has performed its mission ; it must go to history."
The pro-slavery party, with its lynx eyes, saw this conviction in Broderick. They dreaded his organizing power, and so doomed him, as they doomed many an- other man afterward. Said Terry, in that speech which roused the resentment of Broderick, speaking of the anti-Lecompton party in California: "A miser- able remnant of a faction, sailing under false colors, trying to obtain votes under false pretences. They have no distinction they are entitled to; they are the followers of one man, the personal chattels of a single individual, whom they are ashamed of. They belong, heart and soul, body and breeches, to David C. Brod- erick. They are yet ashamed to acknowledge their master, and are calling themselves, forsooth, Douglas democrats. ... Perhaps I am mistaken in denying their right to claim Douglas as their leader. Perhaps they do sail under the flag of Douglas, but it is the banner of the black Douglas, whose name is Frederick, not Stephen." These utterances show conclusively the
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POLITICAL HISTORY.
reason of the hate which pursued Broderick. But everything was altered by the pistol of Terry.
Broderick's obsequies were the most imposing that had yet been seen in San Francisco. The eloquent Baker delivered an oration filled with pathos and eulogy, and few were found, if their hearts did not respond, bold enough to utter opposing sentiments. The conscience of the people had been galvanized into life, and from their threatening frown political assas- sination shrank abashed. When the news reached New York the funeral solemnities were repeated there, the procession being two miles in length which followed the catafalque drawn by eight gray horses caparisoned in rich black velvet. The oration was pronounced by John W. Dwinelle, who referred to the fact that Broderick's friends had advised him to spend his vacation in Europe, thus: "A less brave or less conscientious politician would have evaded the struggle of the coming election in California, in which he could have hardly hoped to succeed. Not so with Broderick. He not only renounced the cherished pleasure of his life, but accepted the alternative, al- though he clearly saw defeat in the issue, and death in the vanishing point of the vista. ... Against all the weapons that would surely seek his life, he could not even hope to stand; it was even almost hoping against hope to expect that he could defer the per- sonal sacrifice until after the political contest had been terminated. ... 'You will see me no more,' was his mournful prediction to a friend who grasped his hand for the last time on the departing steamer. Alas, how his heart was wrung to utter those words of hopeless farewell ! So when the death-bolt reached him, and his mournful presentiment was fulfilled, how noble was the feeling which prompted him to suppress all personal resentment, and to ex- press only the regret that the leadership of his party was struck down with him: 'Let my friends take courage by my example, and, if need be, die like me.
737
BRODERICK'S SUCCESSOR.
Let it not be believed that my death resulted from a few idle words, or from anything but my political position."" He said in the senate: "When I come here next winter, if I should live so long and not re- sign in the mean time"-showing how his sensitive mind dwelt upon the "insidious tyranny " of the ad- ministration.
Said John W. Forney, in 1879, reviewing Brod- erick's life, the Kansas question, and Douglas: "They stood alone; and although there were more opposing votes among the democrats in the house, the south per- severed in their policy till the democrats were routed, horse, foot, and dragoons, in the elections; till they lost the presidency, and both houses of congress; till se- cession ripened into war, and war ended in defeat and the burial of slavery. But Broderick was saved the saddest sequel. He went to his final compt before his full ostracism and exclusion from the administration . . . . He worshipped freedom above all things, and I never saw him intolerant except when he doubted the in- tegrity of those who refused to see the truth as he saw it, and he firmly believed that all men must be wicked themselves who could not or would not reject the wrong as he did."
Rumor immediately became rife with speculation concerning the appointment of a successor to Broder- ick's place in the senate. It was even whispered that Terry would get the commission. There could hardly have been so bold an indecency contemplated. The appointment must now be of a man on whom no sus- picion could rest of enmity or intrigue toward the senator whose place he would take. Such a man was found in Henry P. Hann, 67 of Marysville, a pro-slavery democrat, but who had not been prominently before
67 Henry P. Hann came to Cal. across the plains in 1849, and settled him- self at Marysville, where he was soon after elected county judge. He died at the end of his first session in the senate, I believe at Jersey City. His widow returned to Cal. with their only surviving child, a daughter, Kate, later Mrs W. S. Dewey of S. F.
HIST. CAL., VOL. VI. 47
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POLITICAL HISTORY
the state as an adherent of Gwin. Mr Hann made the usual announcement to the senate, on the 13th of February, of Broderick's death. The manner of it, he said, was engendered "by the use of unguarded expressions by the deceased, personal in their charac- ter toward another distinguished gentleman.' He intimated, of course, that on the dead rested the odium of the encounter. Otherwise. Senator Hann's re- marks were kindly, even eulogistic. Douglas, who had prepared a eulogy, was prevented from delivering it by illness. Senators Crittenden, Seward, Foote, and Toombs made brief but friendly speeches. Said Toombs: "He conducted himself here, notwithstand- ing the many prejudices thrown around his name, which a partisan opposition had cast upon him,63 in such a way as to win my respect and admiration. I trusted him as a faithful, honest, and fearless senator, who never hesitated in the performance of his duty." Seward placed him "among the organizers of our American states," with such men as Winthrop, Wil- liams, Raleigh, Penn, and Oglethorpe, and imputed to him the honor, in a great degree, of shaping the free and loyal public sentiment of California.
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