Volume 060-3 - July 2006 (6 pages)

oo through gravel from nearby Deer Creek, and with their daily poke visited Caldwell’s general store for his outrageously-priced goods. Nevada City pioneer Benjamin Avery (a journalist from New York who later became California’s state printer, edited the Overland Monthly magazine and ended his career as U.S. Minister to China), once wrote of Caldwell’s Upper Store: “I found it a square canvas shanty, stocked with whisky, port, mouldy biscuit and gingerbread; the whisky four bits a drink, the biscuits a dollar a pound.” Decent boots ran about $40 a pair, onions fetched $1.50 a pound and shovels $16 each. Following the winter of 1849-50, the Fairfax-SnowdenKeyser threesome separated. Charlie remained at Nevada City to work for William Morris Stewart at the Coyote Diggins; Snowden became the first alcalde at Nicolaus and Keyser assumed the same office in Eliza—both in Yuba County. Fairfax, who had acquired a mule and wagon on a shopping trip to Sacramento, hauled Stewart’s dirt down to Deer Creek and washed it through a sluice box. But by the fall of 1850, as Stephen Field was mounting his campaign for state assembly, Fairfax relocated to Marysville and renewed his association with Uncle Richard and Phil Keyser. In July 1851, Fairfax, Field and Stewart attended the State Democratic Convention in Downieville—selecting party candidates for the fall election and celebrating California’s first Independence Day since statehood. It was there, on July 5, that a woman known as Juanita was hanged for the death of popular local ™ miner Frank Cannon. fr \ Field—with Fairfax and Stewart in the crowd at Juanita’s “trial’—tried to intervene in the proceedings, but was shouted down after he reportedly yelled, “Gentlemen of Downieville, you cannot hang a woman! Think, I beg of you! Our fair California has been one of the sisterhood of states not ten months. Her fame is worldwide. Would you have it rolled off the world’s tongue that California men are coward enough to—” A spectator shouted, “Ah, the hell with him,” and the trial continued until the inevitable guilty verdict was returned. On November 4, 1856, Charlie Fairfax was elected state supreme court clerk, and on September 1, 1857, Stephen Field was elected to the supreme court as an associate justice. The two friends would work together for the next several years—a bond originally established in Sutter County in early 1852 when District Judge William Barbour and Stephen Field were set to face each other in a duel. Fairfax served as Barbour’s second, while Gordon Mott (later an associate justice of the Nevada State Supreme Court) volunteered to assist Field. Both Field and Barbour insisted that the other had offered the challenge, but Field acquiesced and agreed to let himself be designated the challenger and Judge Barbour the challenged. Barbour then sent his second, Charlie Fairfax, to visit Field’s second, Gordon Mott. The terms demanded NCHS Bulletin July 2006 by Barbour were, according to Field’s account, “The place, a room twenty feet square . . . the weapons, Colt’s revolvers and Bowie knives; that the two principals so armed were to be placed at opposite sides of the room with their faces to the wall; that they were to turn and fire at the word, then advance and finish the conflict with their knives.” And according to at least one account, the room in question was to be a darkened warehouse. Field called Barbour’s bluff and agreed to the terms, whereupon the judge changed his mind, agreed to drop the clause about Bowie knives and named a remote spot in nearby Sutter County as the “field of honor.” On the following morning Field and Mott rode out to the designated site in their respective carriages and waited for Barbour and Fairfax to arrive together by public stage. When Barbour stepped out of the stage and saw Field and Mott waiting alongside the road, he announced that, as a seated judge he couldn’t possibly engage in a duel, and quickly jumped back on board and ordered the driver to take him to Sacramento. Fairfax, meanwhile, stood alone on the road, uncertain of what he should do or say until Field offered him a ride back to Marysville in his carriage. The two stopped for breakfast in Nicolaus and a friendship was cemented. In 1859, when Chief Justice David Terry stepped down from the state bench to duel U.S. Senator David Broderick at Lake Merced in San Francisco, Stephen Field was elevated to the top position on the state supreme court. In 1863, upon recommendation of the entire California congressional delegation, including Nevada City’s Aaron Sargent, Field was nominated by Abraham Lincoln for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. President Lincoln, of course, was a Republican and Field a Democrat, but Field was pledged to the Union and supported Lincoln’s antislavery philosophy. His nomination was affirmed by a voice vote on March 10, 1863, and he took the oath of office on May 20—a date chosen by Field because it was his father’s birthday. “T thought it would be gratifying to him to know that on the eighty-second anniversary of his birth his son had become a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States,” Field said. Justice Field served on the court from May 20, 1863 until December 1, 1897, establishing what was then the longest tenure for a supreme court justice. He is remembered for having authored several controversial minority opinions, but history records that many of his minority views were later embraced by future supreme courts. Stephen Field had an eye on the White House, but the Democratic party rejected his presidential ambitions in both 1880 and 1884. Later, Field yearned to be named Chief Justice following the death of Morrison Waite in 1888, but President Grover Cleveland—-who had bested him at the 1884 Democratic National Convention—selected Melville Fuller for the top post. With Cleveland back in office following the 1892 elec3

oo through gravel from nearby Deer Creek, and with their daily poke visited Caldwell’s general store for his outrageously-priced goods. Nevada City pioneer Benjamin Avery (a journalist from New York who later became California’s state printer, edited the Overland Monthly magazine and ended his career as U.S. Minister to China), once wrote of Caldwell’s Upper Store: “I found it a square canvas shanty, stocked with whisky, port, mouldy biscuit and gingerbread; the whisky four bits a drink, the biscuits a dollar a pound.” Decent boots ran about $40 a pair, onions fetched $1.50 a pound and shovels $16 each. Following the winter of 1849-50, the Fairfax-SnowdenKeyser threesome separated. Charlie remained at Nevada City to work for William Morris Stewart at the Coyote Diggins; Snowden became the first alcalde at Nicolaus and Keyser assumed the same office in Eliza—both in Yuba County. Fairfax, who had acquired a mule and wagon on a shopping trip to Sacramento, hauled Stewart’s dirt down to Deer Creek and washed it through a sluice box. But by the fall of 1850, as Stephen Field was mounting his campaign for state assembly, Fairfax relocated to Marysville and renewed his association with Uncle Richard and Phil Keyser. In July 1851, Fairfax, Field and Stewart attended the State Democratic Convention in Downieville—selecting party candidates for the fall election and celebrating California’s first Independence Day since statehood. It was there, on July 5, that a woman known as Juanita was hanged for the death of popular local ™ miner Frank Cannon. fr \ Field—with Fairfax and Stewart in the crowd at Juanita’s “trial’—tried to intervene in the proceedings, but was shouted down after he reportedly yelled, “Gentlemen of Downieville, you cannot hang a woman! Think, I beg of you! Our fair California has been one of the sisterhood of states not ten months. Her fame is worldwide. Would you have it rolled off the world’s tongue that California men are coward enough to—” A spectator shouted, “Ah, the hell with him,” and the trial continued until the inevitable guilty verdict was returned. On November 4, 1856, Charlie Fairfax was elected state supreme court clerk, and on September 1, 1857, Stephen Field was elected to the supreme court as an associate justice. The two friends would work together for the next several years—a bond originally established in Sutter County in early 1852 when District Judge William Barbour and Stephen Field were set to face each other in a duel. Fairfax served as Barbour’s second, while Gordon Mott (later an associate justice of the Nevada State Supreme Court) volunteered to assist Field. Both Field and Barbour insisted that the other had offered the challenge, but Field acquiesced and agreed to let himself be designated the challenger and Judge Barbour the challenged. Barbour then sent his second, Charlie Fairfax, to visit Field’s second, Gordon Mott. The terms demanded

NCHS Bulletin July 2006 by Barbour were, according to Field’s account, “The place, a room twenty feet square . . . the weapons, Colt’s revolvers and Bowie knives; that the two principals so armed were to be placed at opposite sides of the room with their faces to the wall; that they were to turn and fire at the word, then advance and finish the conflict with their knives.” And according to at least one account, the room in question was to be a darkened warehouse. Field called Barbour’s bluff and agreed to the terms, whereupon the judge changed his mind, agreed to drop the clause about Bowie knives and named a remote spot in nearby Sutter County as the “field of honor.” On the following morning Field and Mott rode out to the designated site in their respective carriages and waited for Barbour and Fairfax to arrive together by public stage. When Barbour stepped out of the stage and saw Field and Mott waiting alongside the road, he announced that, as a seated judge he couldn’t possibly engage in a duel, and quickly jumped back on board and ordered the driver to take him to Sacramento. Fairfax, meanwhile, stood alone on the road, uncertain of what he should do or say until Field offered him a ride back to Marysville in his carriage. The two stopped for breakfast in Nicolaus and a friendship was cemented. In 1859, when Chief Justice David Terry stepped down from the state bench to duel U.S. Senator David Broderick at Lake Merced in San Francisco, Stephen Field was elevated to the top position on the state supreme court. In 1863, upon recommendation of the entire California congressional delegation, including Nevada City’s Aaron Sargent, Field was nominated by Abraham Lincoln for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. President Lincoln, of course, was a Republican and Field a Democrat, but Field was pledged to the Union and supported Lincoln’s antislavery philosophy. His nomination was affirmed by a voice vote on March 10, 1863, and he took the oath of office on May 20—a date chosen by Field because it was his father’s birthday. “T thought it would be gratifying to him to know that on the eighty-second anniversary of his birth his son had become a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States,” Field said. Justice Field served on the court from May 20, 1863 until December 1, 1897, establishing what was then the longest tenure for a supreme court justice. He is remembered for having authored several controversial minority opinions, but history records that many of his minority views were later embraced by future supreme courts. Stephen Field had an eye on the White House, but the Democratic party rejected his presidential ambitions in both 1880 and 1884. Later, Field yearned to be named Chief Justice following the death of Morrison Waite in 1888, but President Grover Cleveland—-who had bested him at the 1884 Democratic National Convention—selected Melville Fuller for the top post. With Cleveland back in office following the 1892 elec3