Biography of S G Sneed, Arkansas

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Submitted by: Joy Fisher < >
        Date: 18 Dec 2007
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BIOGRAPHICAL AND PICTORIAL HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
BY JOHN HALLUM.
VOL. I.
ALBANY: WEED, PARSON'S AND COMPANY, PRINTERS.
1887.

Entered according to act of Congress in the year eighteen hundred and eighty-seven,
BY JOHN HALLUM, 
In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.


HON. S. G. SNEED.

  Judge Sneed came from Missouri about 1828, and located in the small village of
Fayetteville. Large and portly, fiery and impetuous, brave and generous to a fault,
always relishing wit and humor and yet ever ready to fight on a moment's warning, and to
tip a glass with his adversary the next; he was one of the most remarkable characters the
prolific frontier produced.

  He knew but little law, had learned that little by absorption from contact with men who
taught it in courts, and yet was a dangerous rival, a powerful adversary in the forum
where juries are judges - could divert their attention from the real issues, entertain
them, command their admiration, mould their judgment and dictate their verdicts. For
years he was the acknowledged rival of the laborious, methodical, earnest and logical
David Walker. Wit, humor of the most convulsing character, biting sarcasm, painful irony,
powerful ridicule, all with varied combinations adjusted with the skill of a master to
suit the emergencies of every case, made him a dangerous adversary in any forum admitting
the display of these abilities.

  With these fertile resources he cared but little for law before juries, and often
overwhelmed and bore down able adversaries whose capital was logic and law. We give an
instance illustrating the great versatility of his genius in this field, where no rival
ever ranked him. Judge David Walker, his great rival, relied on a logical and thorough
presentation of facts and law. In those days there were but few books; a pair of liberal
saddlebags and a grip-sack could accommodate a very respectable law library.

  Judge Walker came from Kentucky, and brought with him a rich treasure in the shape of
Pirtle's Digest, which contained a little of every thing, like a pawn-broker's shop. It
was a battery worked often on Judge Sneed, and he conceived a sovereign contempt for it.

  In 1835 Sneed had a bad case before a jury in Fayetteville, and Judge Walker had the
closing argument on him, with Pirtle to refute all his legal assumptions. It was no
trouble for Sneed to keep all of his batteries playing whilst he occupied the floor, but
to make his adversary cover himself with ridicule and confusion required diplomacy and
genius of high order. He had Pirtle's Digest (without the knowledge of Judge Walker),
taken from the table in the court-room, and carried to the judge's office, and there
left, because he knew when it was missed he would go for it, and give him an opportunity
to prepare the jury during his adversary's absence. To put Judge Walker on the look for
Pirtle he advanced untenable assertions as good law, and instantly his nervous adversary
began to look for Pirtle, but was informed that it had been returned to the office. This
information gave Walker momentum in the direction of the missing weapon.

  As soon as he got away from the door, Sneed told the jury he had gone after the book,
what he would read from it, and that when he took the floor to address them, he would
warm and loom up at first like the cock that flaps his wings before he crows, and then
open Pirtle and read with solemn measured emphasis, with index finger of the right hand
pointing to the comb of the house, and feet two feet four inches apart, and he said:
"Gentlemen, when he gets to that point I will stand up and say, 'Mr. Walker, what on
earth are you reading from,' and in reply he will bow to me as polite as a French
dancing-master, and  say, with a wave of the hand, 'Mr. Pirtle.'"

This preparation of the jury occurred whilst Walker was out, and when he addressed them,
he innocently followed up the line indicated by his adversary and caused convulsions of
laughter. This disconcerted and confused Judge Walker so much that he took his seat in
disgust, not knowing what had caused the unexpected merriment. The verdict was for Judge
Sneed's client. This was genius overriding and supplanting law and fact. These powers
made him a great criminal lawyer, and commanded a large clientage. In 1831 he was elected
prosecuting attorney for the Fayetteville district. In 1833 Judge Walker defeated him for
that office. In 1844 he was elected judge of his circuit by the legislature, and held the
office four years. In 1832 the Hon. Jesse Turner challenged Mathew Leeper to the field of
honor, and Judge Sneed acted as the friend of the latter; the details of this affair are
given in the life of Judge Turner. Mathew Leeper was an ardent democratic lawyer, sent by
General Jackson from Tennessee to Fayetteville as receiver of the land office. He was a
warm friend of Governor Fulton and Ambrose H. Sevier, who were always his guests when in
Fayetteville. Governor Fulton, in writing to his wife from Fayetteville in 1843, speaks
in terms of high eulogy of Mrs. Leeper's hospitality and refined culture. Mr. Leeper is
now living at an advanced age at Sherman, Texas. Judge Sneed moved to Austin, Texas, in
1850, and died there in 1883.