Having, therefore, no knowledge upon which to
base her statement, her affidavit was entitled to no greater
consideration than if it had stated that it was made solely upon her
belief without any positive information on the subject.
Only the most violent of Terry's friends favored the wanton indignity
upon Justice Field, and his arrest, but they had sufficient influence
with the district attorney, Mr. White, a young and inexperienced
lawyer, to carry him along with them. The justice of the peace
before whom Sarah Althea had laid the information issued a warrant
on the following day for the arrest both of Justice Field and Neagle.
From this time this magistrate and the district attorney appeared to
act under orders from Mrs. Terry.
The preliminary examination was set for Wednesday of the following
week, during which time the district attorney stated for publication
that Justice Field would have to go to jail and stay there during the
six intervening days. It was obvious to all rational minds that Mrs.
Terry's purpose was to use the machinery of the magistrate's court
for the purpose of taking Judge Field to Stockton, where she could
execute her threats of killing him or having him killed; and if she
should fail to do so, or postpone it, then to have the satisfaction
of placing a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States in a
prisoner's cell, and hold him there for six days awaiting an
examination, that being the extreme length of time that he could be
so held under the statute.
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