those who differed from him in opinion.




THE TURNER CONTROVERSY.


Towards the end of May, 1850, William E. Turner, who had been
appointed Judge of the Eighth Judicial District of the State by the
first Legislature which convened under the Constitution, made his
appearance and announced that he intended to open the District Court
at Marysville on the first Monday of the next month. We were all
pleased with the prospect of having a regular court and endeavored,
as far as lay in our power, to make the stay of the Judge with us
agreeable. I had been in the habit of receiving a package of New York
newspapers by every steamer, and among them came copies of the New
York "Evening Post," which was at that time the organ of the so-called
Free-soil party. When Judge Turner arrived, I waited on him to pay my
respects, and sent him the various newspapers I had received. He had
lived for years in Texas, and, as it proved, was a man of narrow
mind and bitter prejudices. He seems to have had a special prejudice
against New Yorkers and regarded a Free-soiler as an abomination. I
have been told, and I believe such to be the fact, that my sending
him these newspapers, and particularly the "Evening Post," led him
to believe that I was an "Abolitionist"--a person held in special
abhorrence in those days by gentlemen from the South. At any rate he
conceived a violent dislike of me, which was destined in a short time
to show itself and cause me great annoyance. What was intended on my
part as an act of courtesy, turned out to be the beginning of a long,