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Shoreline, Lake Merced
On September 13, 1859 a duel was held near Lake Merced in San Francisco. The two men squaring off were U.S. Senator David Broderick, California's leading politician and Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court, David Terry, a hot-tempered Southerner. The dispute was over slavery and alleged slander. When the command to fire was given Broderick's pistol discharged prematurely into the dirt, Terry then calmly took aim and shot Broderick dead. The event so shocked the state that Terry had to flee the area and duels were from then on outlawed in California. Terry's temper caught up to him later in 1889 when he attacked a judge in Stockton and the judge's bodyguard shot him dead.
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