here we breakfasted, and thence
returned to Marysville.[1]

The conduct of Barbour on the ground, after his fierce and savage
terms at the outset, produced a great deal of merriment and derision;
and some very sharp squibs appeared in the newspapers. One of them
gave him great annoyance, and he inquired for its author. I told the
editor of the paper in which it appeared that if it was necessary to
protect the writer, to give my name, although I did not write it, or
know beforehand that it was to be written.

On the following morning, whilst in front of my office gathering up
kindling-wood for a fire, and having my arms full--for each man was
his own servant in those days--Barbour came up and, placing a cocked
navy revolver near my head, cried out, "Draw and defend yourself." As
I had not observed his approach I was taken by surprise, but turning
on him I said, "You infernal scoundrel, you cowardly assassin--you
come behind my back and put your revolver to my head and tell me to
draw; you haven't the courage to shoot; shoot and be damned." There
were at least ten witnesses of this scene; and it was naturally
supposed that having advanced so far he would go farther; but as soon
as he found I was not frightened, he turned away and left me. It is
impossible to express the contempt I felt for him at that moment for
his dastardly conduct, a feeling which the spectators shared with me,
as they have since often stated.[2]

I do not give these details as having any importance in themselves;
but they illustrate the semi-barbarous condition of things in those
early days, and by comparison show out of what our existing condition
has been evolved, and how far we have advanced. I give them also for
the reason that Barbour afterwards wrote a letter to Turner, which
the latter published, referring to the affair, in which he boasted
of having given me a "whipping." How far his boast was warranted the
above facts show.

For a long time afterwards he expressed his bitterness towards me in
every possible way. He did not take Turner's plan of expelling me from
the bar; but he manifested his feelings by adverse rulings. In such
cases, however, I generally took an appeal to the Supreme Court, and
in nearly all of them procured a reversal. The result was that he
suddenly changed his conduct and commenced ruling the other way. While
this was his policy, there was hardly any position I could take in
which he did not rule in my favor. At las