USA > Arkansas > Biographical and pictorial history of Arkansas. Vol I > Part 14
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The leaders of the whig party, with great unanimity, centered on Robert Crittenden, whose name became the rally- ing cry of the clans from the center to the circumference of the territory. He, too, had a lineage written high on the crest of Kentucky's great name. The physical man was moulded in the perfection of human symmetry ; his eye sparkled in the brilliancy of animation springing from a lofty nature; he possessed dauntless courage and stood high on the roll as one of the most accomplished orators America ever produced. Each had a rival worthy of his steel, and defeat meant no re- proach in such a contest. When the smoke of battle cleared away it disclosed a majority of one thousand nine hundred and fifty-six for Sevier.
Jackson's popularity was then at its flood, and no talent, how- ever great, could stem its tide in Arkansas. In connection with this ever memorable race, tradition has left us one of her mournful, yet touchingly beautiful, legends, which in pagan Rome or classic Greece would deify and immortalize the name of Crittenden. His lofty pride and high ambition to serve his country, founded on and supported by delicate and acute mental organism, finally gave way under the distress caused by defeat and released his great soul from earthly bondage on the 18th of December, 1834, at Vicksburg, whither he had gone to argue a great case with Sargeant S. Prentiss.
In 1835 Sevier was elected to congress without opposition, so firmly was his influence and popularity now established. On the 22d of March, 1836, James Buchanan introduced a bill in the senate of the United States providing for the admis- sion of Arkansas, and on the 16th of June following she was admitted into the Federal compact. This led the way to the national senate, and Sevier, and William S. Fulton were elected without opposition, Sevier drawing the long term. He was again elected in 1842 and 1848. During the greater part of President Polk's administration he was chairman of the com- mittee on foreign relations. He resigned his seat in the senate in 1848 to accept the appointment as plenipotentiary extraordi- nary to Mexico in connection with Justice Clifford of the su- preme court of the United States, and they negotiated the treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo by which we acquired vast pos-
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sessions from Mexico. On his return home he contracted a disease at Vera Cruz which resulted in his death on the 31st of December, 1848, in the forty-seventh year of his age.
He was buried in Mount Holly cemetery, and the legisla- ture of Arkansas, to the everlasting honor of the State, builded a monument to the memory of her noble son. His accom- plished daughter, Miss Annie, married the gallant soldier Gen- eral Thomas J. Churchill, now one of our ex-governors, His son, Ambrose H. Sevier, married one of the granddaughters of Governor Fulton.
He died in the meridian of a useful life and a splendid fame without any spot on his noble escutcheon.
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 illustrat- ing 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 saddle-
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bags 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 con- ceived 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 ont, 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 un-
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expected merriment. The verdict was for Judge Sneed's client. This was genius overriding and supplanting law and fact. These powers inade him a great criminal lawyer, and com- manded 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 lat- ter; 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.
DANIEL RINGO.
FIRST CHIEF JUSTICE OF ARKANSAS, 1836-1844.
Judge Ringo never felt an inspiration prompting him other- wise than to the full discharge of what he conscientiously re- garded as a duty. He was slow, plodding, and as methodical as clock-work, and was never in his life known to be in a hurry. Fortunately he was elevated to the bench at a time when the docket in that court was not large and the business admitted of abundant time for research and deliberation.
Hon. Alfred M. Wilson, who was United States district attorney under him eight years after he was elevated to the Federal bench, says he would critically scrutinize every account against the government, and if it happened to vary the fraction of a cent from accuracy it had to be recast before he would certify to its being correct. He waseminently a self-educated man, born in the frontier settlements of Kentucky about 1800, · where facilities for acquiring an education were of the most primitive and meager character, and often beyond the reach of the poor. He joined the Kentucky colony at Batesville in
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ELECTRO LIGHT
DANIEL RINGO.
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1820, but did not remain there long before moving to Clark county, where the first employment in which we know him to be engaged was that of deputy clerk of the district court under Colbert Baker first, and next under Thomas S. Drew, who was subsequently governor of the State. He succeeded Governor Drew as clerk of the district court, in 1825, and was elected three times to the office, but resigned in 1830, be- fore the expiration of his third term. His subsequent career is admirably told by Brother Clark.
Whilst acting in the capacity of deputy, and subsequently as principal clerk, he conceived the idea to master the legal pro- fession, and went about it in that quiet, methodical way pecu- liar to the German race, and accomplished the arduous task without aid from extraneous sources.
From the best information obtainable he came to the bar in 1830, about the time he resigned the office of clerk. As Brother Clark well says, he had no opinion until after patient and laborious research. He sounded the channel, discovered the current of authority, and then cast anchor. Such a jurist is always conservative and safe, if he does not magnify the im- portance of some special branch of the law until it dwarfs the relation that other branches sustain to the due administration of justice. Technical pleading at common law, often the re- verse, instead of the perfection of human reason, grew to be a Upas tree in the way of that broad and liberal expansion de manded by the necessities of an enlightened age.
The suit for emancipation from this evil and divorce from the now antiquated jargon which we inherited from our feudal an- cestors was long pressed in both hemispheres before relief came.
Judge Ringo has been charged, not without much force, with following too tenaciously the senseless technicalities of the com- mon law, but he should not be saddled with too much respon- sibility in that direction. His genius was not creative, his mind was moulded to follow, not to blaze out the bearings of an in- tricate science, and in his effort to keep within the sphere of trodden paths, he sometimes mistook the application to the pre- judice of reason and justice.
Arkansas, though originally not a common-law country, had, to a great extent, lost her once splendid opportunity to become
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emancipated from the objectionable features of that immense body of civil polity, before Judge Ringo ever read a law book. When we acquired the territory of Louisiana, the Code Na- poleon founded on the Roman civil polity furnished the rule of action and measure of right.
The territorial government of Missouri, in 1816, abolished that system and introduced the common law, Arkansas then being a county belonging to that jurisdiction. The best oppor- tunity that ever presented itself to break away from the evils of both systems then occurred, but the average legislator does not enjoy the ken necessary for such achievement.
The same criticism applied to Judge Ringo, for adhesion to technical obstruction may, with greater or less force, be ap- plied to all the judges who administered the common-law sys- tem of pleading in Arkansas. The fault was not so much in the judge as in the system.
Judge Ringo pursued the even tenor of his way with as little jar and friction as possible ; lived and acted to the end a con- servative and philosophic life, with stoic and heroic resignation to the inevitable. When his troubles came in the declining years of a well-spent life, to the outer world he appeared the embodiment of that Socratic philosophy which admonishes man to do the best he can under all conditions, and then let consequences take care of themselves. The most beautiful and touching part of the grand old man's life shone forth in Chris- tian splendor in his declining years, when confronted by pov- erty and other misfortunes. After passing the patriarchal age of three score and ten he faced the accumulated storms of life with moral and sublime heroism, indicating a splendor and wealth of heart and mind belonging only to the highest type of man, which outshine all the idols of ambition. He died on the 3d of September, 1873.
Eulogy on the life of the late ex-Chief Justice Daniel Ringo, delivered at the Bar of the Supreme Court, at the May Term, 1878 .- By SOL. F. CLARK.
May it please the court :
At a meeting of the bar of this court, held upon the death of Hon. Judge Ringo, Brother Gallagher was appointed to the
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sad and melancholy office I am now performing, but death claimed him before the discharge of that duty, and my broth- ers have kindly appointed me to present their resolutions to this court.
I have felt that I should come short of the exigencies of the occasion if I fail to give suitable expression of the deep feel- ings and sentiments his death has awakened in the profession.
Among the men of note in the early history of our State there are few whose names stand out in bolder and more familiar characters than that of Daniel Ringo. Though a native of Kentucky, he was of German extraction, and the characteristics of his mind attested his German origin. He came to this State in the year 1820, and after sojourning in Little Rock for a time, he settled in Arkadelphia, in Clark county. There he commenced the study of his profession.
Judge Ringo was emphatically the architect of his own fortune. Poor and friendless he had to make his way alone. Ilis own ingenuity and industry were his only resources for means of support during his legal pupilage. We find him serving as justice of the peace, then as deputy clerk, and finally he was elected clerk of the circuit court of that county, and served nearly three terms as such.
Tradition in that locality reports him as a young man of commanding personal appearance and highly agreeable man- ners. At what particular time he came to the bar is not known, but about the year 1830 he removed to Washington, Hemp- stead county, with the view of establishing himself there in the practice of law. The profession of law has never been noted as a very lucrative one, and the tides which lead to sudden fortune seldom flow in the direction of young be- ginners. . But in his commencement at Washington, he mani- festly exhibited qualities which inspired confidence, for we soon find him a partner of the venerable Edward Cross, now a prominent and honorable citizen of this State, and in the midst of an extensive business. From this date Judge Ringo rose rapidly to distinction and to as high honors as the State could bestow.
About the year 1833, breaking up his connections in Hemp- .stead, he formed a copartnership with the Hon. Chester Ash-
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ley and removed to Little Rock. He soon took rank here among the ablest men in the State. We find his name con- stantly associated with such names as Ashley, Fowler, Trapnall, Pike and Crittenden, men who would have done honor to the profession in any State, and who have never been excelled in the history of the Arkansas bar. A lucrative practice rewarded his exertions here, and he continued in the same until in 1836, when, upon the admission of the State into the Union, the legislature elected him the first chief justice, and as such he presided over this honorable court the first eight years of its existence.
Politically, under the old regime, Judge Ringo was always a whig, and in November, 1844, the majority of the legislature being democratic, in a contest for re-election he was beaten on the score of his political opinions by Hon. Thomas Johnson.
The opinions of Judge Ringo, while presiding over this court, are familiar to us all, and need no comment. They are a monument to his memory, of which the ablest of us might feel prond. That noble structure which constitutes our judi- cial system had its foundations laid by that court, and its decisions during his term comprise no insignificant part of that structure. In a State which was highly democratic, the political opinions of Judge Ringo were continually adverse to his promotion to office or station, and from the time he ceased to be chief justice he lived a private life, quietly pursuing his profession in connection with his brother-in-law, the Hon. Frederick W. Trapnall, until after the presidential election of 1848, when upon the death of the Hon. Ben Johnson, judge of the United States district court for the district of Arkan- sas, his name and influence pointed him out as the suitable man to fill that vacancy, and he received the appointment of President Taylor to that position. The duties of that office he continued to perform until the State seceded from the Union, and the war between the States made it necessary for him to resign. The district was divided at the time of his appoint- ment, and the new western district was organized by congress, and he was assigned to the duty of holding the courts of both. This largely increased his labors, as well as his usefulness, for not only did the administration of the intercourse law with the
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Indian tribes west come within his jurisdiction, but it became necessary for him to organize the judicial system of the west- ern district. It is no fulsome praise to say that Judge Ringo's judicial labors, while conducting those courts, were highly creditable to himself, and conferred honor upon the district and the country. After the war, being somewhat enfeebled with age and shattered in fortune, he did not seek again public station, nor take any part in the political strifes which followed, but pursued a quiet life until called to his final rest, which sad event took place on the 3d day of September, 1873. Many of us were familiar with his last and declining years. Undoubt- edly Judge Ringo was one of our ablest judges. It may be said of him, that in his time he was the organizer of two systems of jurisprudence which are now the prevailing sys- tems of Arkansas and familiar to us all. He was not a bold, nor a speculative, nor a rapid thinker, but he was an able and a logical one. As a reasoner, his conclusions were always founded upon facts. Above all his contemporaries his style and method was inductive. His generalizations were always the result of observation and experience. From facts he always reasoned up to principles - from effects to causes, and seldom ever assumed hypothetically positions from which to speculate or theorize. Indeed his imagination was not strong enough to betray him into hasty generalizations. No person ever charged him with jumping at conclusions. With that class whose opinions are, like hand-grenades, ready- made to throw in all directions, he had no sympathy. With him, until investigation and inquiry had done their utmost, he had no conclusions to make or opinions to give. In his moral and social relations the character of Judge Ringo was one al- together to be admired and emulated. As remarked by one of his early associates, now living, the venerable Mr. Woodruff : " As a man and citizen he had few equals, and no superiors." Honesty and humanity, tempered with prudence, were his most prominent characteristics. In his demeanor toward others no man ever manifested a more refined sensibility. Unosten- tatiously polite, he was everywhere the same genial gentleman, the same agreeable companion, and the same steady friend. And no man was ever a more complete master of that philoso-
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phy which teaches submission to all the conditions of our social life. He never rebelled against the inevitable, nor murmured against the decrees of fate. Always alive to the sufferings of others, his own he was ever prone to bear in silence. Even in his last days - when bowed with age, so well was he master - to use a homely phrase - of not being disagreeable, that everywhere and in all circles he was a welcome guest. But notwithstanding his proverbial caution, he was not exempt from sorrows and afflictions which embittered his declining years. Misfortunes, domestic and otherwise, gathered around him. The friends and kindred of his earlier days had mostly departed, and he seemed alone, like some tall tree bereft of the sheltering forest, and left alone to battle with the winds of winter. Without a murmur or a sigh he bore these in secret, and never paraded his misfortunes in public or to the annoyance of his friends.
But, brothers, what is death but a friend come to rescue us from our sorrows and calamities. Our departed brother had passed into the sere and yellow leaf - had almost reached the bounds which nature had allotted to mortality. He had ac- complished his work and has gone to lie down - to rest in the fold where sleep the myriads who have gone before him. And we are admonished that we too, one by one, must pass over the stage and go down into the shadowy mists, we know not whither. Death, my brothers, conquers life, but when he has done his work there is nothing more to conquer. Over the good name and works of our departed brother he can have no power, but even while we gather up the trophies of departed friends, and would fain inscribe their virtues upon ever-endur- ing monuments, we cannot close our minds to the sad reflec- tion that we are in the presence of a mightier conqueror than death. Although time perpetuates all things he obliterates all things. The brightest names inscribed on the temple of fame, as well as the most enduring monuments which man erects to perpetuate the glory of his race, crumble before our eyes and fade into the ocean of eternity.
Even as we gaze upon the morn, Her face is paled o'er with age. We worship at the shrine of youth, And lo ! she turns to wrinkled age.
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JUDGE TOWNSHEND DICKINSON.
Judge Dickinson was a native of the State of New York, an educated gentleman and polished scholar. He came to Ar- kansas soon after the territorial government was organized, and settled at first in Lawrence county. In 1821 he removed to Batesville, Independence county, where he continued to reside until 1851. He was small and slender, weighed one hundred and twenty-five pounds, had dark gray eyes and auburn hair. His voice was musical and rung like the clearest sound of metal. He was a fluent, eloquent and polished speaker, and never tired an audience. Those who knew him say he was a cogent reasoner; his published opinions as a jurist speak for themselves. In 1823 he was elected to the territorial legisla- ture, and that body elected him prosecuting attorney for the third circuit, a position he seems to have held six years. His promotion was rapid ; in 1836 he was elected to, and served in the constitutional convention of that year, and he was elected to the first State legislature which convened on the 12th of September, and that legislature elected him to a seat on the supreme bench.
James Moore, a wealthy, cultured gentleman of Irish . extrac- tion, immigrated from Vermont, first to Missouri, and then to Arkansas, and settled at Batesville in 1814, with four or five more families. Moore had three accomplished daughters, all of whom became the wives of prominent citizens of the territory ..
John Miller, the father of Governor W. R. Miller, married Clara. Thomas Curran, a native of Ireland and near relative to John Philpot Curran, the celebrated Irish orator, married another daughter who bore him a son, James Curran, who be- came one of the ablest lawyers of his age. Judge Dickinson married Mariah. Thomas Curran and wife died early in life, leaving their orphan son, only ten years of age, to the care of Judge Dickinson, who educated and trained the brilliant youth well for the bar. Judge. Dickinson moved to Texas about 1851, and was accidentally drowned about 1860. He was noted for his great fondness for race-horses, and love for the turf, in which he freely indulged like General Jackson.
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