Biography of S G Sneed, Arkansas *********************************************************** Submitted by: Joy Fisher < > Date: 18 Dec 2007 Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm *********************************************************** 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.