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Judge. He was defeated for the nomination, though making a strong race and lacking only a few votes of the number required to nominate. In 1889 he was a member of the State Senate, and was chosen as Speaker. On the death of Judge Folkes, in 1890, he was nominated for the vacancy on the first ballot over a number of opponents, and at the August election he was elected Judge for a term of four years. On the appointment of Chief Justice Lurton as United States Circuit Judge, Judge Lea was elected as his successor as Chief-Justice, and is now serving in that capacity.

Chief-Justice Lea does not attempt to make a display of his learning, or to gain reputation by the writing of long opinions. He thinks the multiplication of reports in late years a great evil, and he writes opinions in only the cases where they will be valuable as precedents. His opinions are usually short, but they go straight to the point of the case and lay it bare. The statement of the holding of the court and the reasons leading to it is always lucid, and shows the strong common-sense he has.

He has been serving as presiding judge only a few weeks; but these have sufficed to show that he is possessed of good administrative capacity, and is a worthy successor of the distinguished men who have gone before him.

John Louis Taylor Sneed was born in Raleigh, N. C., in 1820. He was named for his grandfather, then Chief-Justice of North Carolina. He is of English descent, though Irish blood is mingled in his veins. His mother dying when he was very young, he became a member of the family of an uncle, Stephen K. Sneed, who shortly afterward removed to West Tennessee. After reaching manhood, he began the study of law, being admitted to practice in 1843, opening an office at Memphis. In 1845 he was a member from Shelby County of the Lower House of the General Assembly. On the call for volunteers for the Mexican War, he enlisted. He served with credit throughout the war, and reached the rank of captain. In 1851 he was elected by the Legislature Attorney-General for the Memphis Judicial District, resigning in 1854 to become a candidate for Attorney-General of the State. He was elected and served with acceptability for five years. After retiring from that office, he was the unsuccessful Whig candidate for Congress in his district. On the breaking out of the war, Governor Harris appointed him Brigadier-General in the Provisional Army of Tennessee; but on the mustering of the troops into the Confederate service, he was not given a commission. He then enlisted as a private, and served until 1863, when he was appointed by Governor Harris commissioner on the part of Tennessee to settle its affairs with the Confederate States. This work occupied him until the end of the war. He resumed the practice of law at Memphis. When he became a candidate for Supreme Judge in 1870, his handsome appearance and