OLD MAN SNOW

Mr. Williams did not know where Old Man Snow came from. Though he was called "Judge" Snow, he was not a judge or lawyer.

His name was Dave, and he branded D-Bar-S or D-Cross-S. He had a good herd of sorrel horses, when Mr. Williams came, so must have been in the country some time. He said the reason I never knew a Snow was that through he had about a dozen girls, he had only two boys. I think he said Mrs. Snell was a Snow, but not sure. Mrs. Snow was a sister to Old Sol Barron, who later had a horse ranch out in the Shive community and went on to Fisher County, a famous character, usually called "Barnes." Understand that the Snow girls were pretty. That the Snow boys were dead.   One, Ed or George, went to New Mexico long ago and was killed by Indians.

(There was a famous lawsuit in the old days, always called the Snow Case. A land suit. Have seen the papers but do not remember the details. He built and operated Snow’s Mill, which processed cottonwood and other lumber.  He said that the old house across the creek where the dental clinic now is, was built at least partly of lumber from this mill. It was situated near the Leon between Pecan and Alexander Creek. One Sunday we went down in that country. Have a photo of Mr. Williams pointed with his cane to where the mill was. Possibly some rock work still there. Among his descendants was a grandson, named David Kemp. Mr. Williams said he was originally a pretty good boy, but got to associating with a fellow named Hisaugh and got really bad. Killed Mr. Smith on the southeast corner of the square. Was arrested, tried at Gatesville, given a death penalty, which the governor changed to a life term. Did not finish out that sentence. Because a sheriff in New Mexico, killed a sheriff, etc. Mr. D. Barkey, of Carlsbad, New Mexico, in writing the book, "Mean as Hell, "included a letter I had written him about the killing, without my permission. He got into trouble about the book, and I became a little uneasy myself. During the year of the Centennial, 1955, I was told a young fellow in a suede suit was looking for me. Met him at the foot of the stairs, and he said he was a descendant of Snow and had been taken down to see the place, and said "I read the book" and saw my letter. I invited him home to lunch, and told him I had meant no harm, etc. and he said he just to know more of the history, and told me a good story about Kemp himself. He was a young doctor, Ainsworth, at Houston and was interested in history and was getting up a collection of books. Uncle Sid Ross said he attended the trial at Gatesville, and that David Kemp told him, he didn’t know there was such a thing as an appeal. That when they tried a man down on the river, they just hung him, and there was no appeal. Mr. Jack Moon, who ran the hotel at Gatesville, told me of Kemp’s jumping out of the upper story window of the court house, when the death sentence was pronounced, broke his ankles, and was captures by citizens who through down on him with rifles.)