who thereupon proceeded to rob them, but was frightened from his purpose by a pohce officer, McDonald, brought to the spot by their cries. Rand made his escape; but was captured next morning and brought before One-eyed Riley. It appears that the robber and the judicial drink-seller were friends having: business relations, the former beino; a tenant of the latter, who, besides, was in arrears about $100 for rent. Rand was liberated on his own recognizance by Riley, and when the case came up for examination it was dismissed with little formality.
In June 1850 a fracas occurred among the judges at Marysville, in which contemptuous words, fines, and arrests were freely bandied, and weapons drawn by dignitaries seated on their bench in open court. Then the crowd without took the matter up, marched from the house of one belligerent justice to that of another, midst cheers and groans and the firing of pistols. Finally the mob dispersed, the excitement died away and nobody was hurt.
It was not an uncommon occurrence for attorneys and officers of the court during a trial to fall into disputes, become heated, pass the lie back and forth, and draw pistols. I know of one instance which occurred in the recorder's court at Sacramento as late as May 1856, in which a quarrel between the defendant's counsel and a testifying police officer threatened to involve the whole court-room in a fight. Peace being at length restored, the judge fined the attorney, who had given the policeman the lie direct, $100 for contempt of court; but an apology from the offender, in which the court was assured that the words were spoken in the heat of the moment, and with no intended indignity to the court, brought a speedy remission of the fine.
The Laura D. Fair trial is interesting in its psy
