The comet. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1877-1882, 1879-03-08
A PERSONAL SKETCH. AND A
LAW SPEECH.
REPORTED BY PHILOS CO1fETOSE FOR
THE COMET
oITRoNNELvILLE sNAILoR.

|
INK Citronnellyille Snailoris a lawyer of Sout
Mississippi. would locate him more pal
ticularly if 1 could. But although hay
'h been intimately acquainted with him fo
IN twenty years and encounter him whereve
l go in this country, still 1 have never beer
M able to tell exactly whore he lived, or wha
ho he fed on, and never succeeded in finding
any body who could. The rural newspa
pers when they report the proceedings OF
j. Circuit Courts in the various counties have
ly adopted rule of mentioning the names
and locations of all the attending lawyers.
When they come to Uitronellevile Snailor
they put him down as scattering"
Citronnellville came to this country about
:. 20 years ago, and first set up as lawyer in
Williamsburg, Covington county. No
body knew where he came from, or when,
}, where, or how he ever got knowledge of
n law He had no books then and he has
Y never had any since. Four times u year he
Is III the habit of making pilgrimage to
Jackson, and spending week or ten days in
the State Library, where he has access to all
the Reports from the different States as
J well as all the leading textbooks in his
profession. During these few days he
manages to store his mind with the points
necessary i'll his practice and when he
once gets legal principle safely nestled
down in his mental storchouse it is there
forever. He never forgets anything, and
he is exceedingly quick TO learn and COM
prehend.
1t was not long before he began to scat
ter over half dozen counties. He was on
hand at every term of the Circuit Court,
and went into good practice at once He
was puzzle to the lawyers and a curiosity
TO the common people. The first consid-
cred that he was necessarily deficient in the
law seeing that he had no books and appar-
emily never read, and the second looked
upon HIM as an eccentric nterloper; but
when they met him before a court OF a Jury I
he proved very troublesome, especially to
the parties of the first part. lie showed
from the start that he Ike know great deal +
more law than the average lawyer, and
sometimes he startled the biggest among
them with the depth and ingenuity of his
argument and his skillful marshalling of j,
authorities. One prominent characteristic :
OF Snaior is his perfect unscrupulosity in !.
the conduct of law suit He considers
that all Is fair in war, politics and law As
f,NpI Iowa hat,
tenanced. point gained by the expert
of a principle of law docs .
him great deal more good than if he had Il
won it honestly. =
In all countries there are attorneys who :,
are not legal encyclopedias, and Snailor has :,
a good knack of measuring the calibre of =,
m antagonist. | have known him, when
ne had no fear of the opposing counsel, de- y
lberately and with malice afo9ethought to =
set about weaving a string of perversions =
If legal principles and bogus quotations VI
rom bogus authorities, and 10 win his case r.
~ it too. He would laugh immoderately u
'ver triumph of this sort, and enjoy it far o'
more than he did victory won in the old I'll
colonial way. When aslz9 if he was not III
fraid the other fellow would pick him up "
Pick up, HI! he would say. "Why, no
hat d--d idiot don't know the distinction on
etween writ and a subpoena. lie is as III
rainless as a mud-cat. If you thumped III
i'm on the head-so-it would sound loud III
r than seedless squash" On
Upon one OCCASION just after the war, Tilt
nailor was employed to defend darky
amed jake for stealing hog before JUS up
ce's court in tho extreme Southwestern Go
orncr of Coylngton county. A young L
.wyer came out from the coast to
tend the court, and as he was just begin wa
ing in the business, consented to appear ou'
n the part of the prosecution This is a mes
COW country" and the Justice knew vastly he
lore about cattle than he did about law. pre-
e was not familiar with law books, or any sof
her kind of books for that matter. His the
rly education never extended beyond slay
re,din', writin and 'rithmetic," and long fly.
susc had made him exceedingly rusty in on
esc primary branches. Snailor .oked at hou
10 JuSllceJ anu lie LOOK tlle le3tSuTc OF Ine Ktd'
)posing counsel. put
The case was called: the testimony intro to
iced Half dozen witnesses identified cha
e hog in the po. session of the defendant we,
he proof WAS clear and overwhelming that Is I
Ike had stolen the hog. cen
Mr.. Blank rose to open the case, and said uon
ere was hardly room for an argument as tur'
e proof was SO positive. His Honor could Nat
It possibly have doubt as TO the guilt of The
e accused in the face of half dozen un- chal
ipeaebed witnesses that the hog was found ton
his possession and fully identified lie tegr
Il not consider that it was necessary to .
nsume his honor's valuable time in arp1l- will
ents upon it, In all Of his reading and am
notice he had never encountered so plain sOuI
ease. Therefore. his honor had no choice man
It 10 commit the prisoner for trial at the mos
rcuit Conrt. His speech was tame and of
out five minutes long. thril
Snailor rose. ''If your honor please" thro
began, unfolding a heavy bundle of man. Lew
cript notes, Il have been familiar with beer
g nature and facts of this case for several sidu