to which
I assented; and all the terms and preliminaries were arranged and
agreed upon. At that time there were two daily lines of stages leaving
Marysville for Sacramento, and you and your friends were to go down
the Sacramento road to a point below Bear River in advance of the
stages, and I was to select a suitable place for the meeting. Judge
Barbour and his friends were to follow us in one of the coaches and I
was to hail the driver as he approached the place of meeting. You
and your adversary were to be stationed one hundred yards apart, each
armed with as many Colt's revolvers as he chose to carry; to fire
upon each other at the word, and to advance at pleasure and finish the
conflict. Our party was promptly on the ground according to agreement;
and when the first coach came in sight I hailed the driver and found
that Judge Barbour and his friends were not aboard, and the coach
passed on a little below us and turned out of the road and stopped.
Soon after the other coach came in sight, and I again hailed the
driver, who stopped the coach, and Judge Barbour instantly jumped out,
and in a very excited manner said that he was going forward to the
other coach, and called on the passengers "to take notice, that if
that d----d rascal" (pointing to you) "attacked him he would kill
him." I stepped in front of Judge Barbour and said: Hold! Judge Field
will not attack you, sir; remarking at the same time to Mr. Fairfax
that this was strange conduct on the part of his friend, and not in
accordance with our understanding and agreement; that each party was
to bear his portion of the responsibility of the meeting which was to
take place between them. Mr. Fairfax appeared both astonished and
mortified at the pusillanimous conduct of his principal, who seemed
determined to rush forward to the other coach; and I requested him to
wait until I could go back and consult you in the matter, for I was
afraid that you might possibly be provoked to make the attack. When
I returned to you and explained what had been said at the coach, you
asked if it would be proper for you to make the attack. I told you
most decidedly not; to let the coward go, and he would never annoy or
trouble you again. Mr. Fairfax, who possessed a nice sense of honor,
and was a gallant and accomplished gentleman, was so disgusted and
mortified at the conduct of his principal that he left him and came
over and joined our party, and after taking breakfast with us at
Ni