ARKANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY,Volume 14 (Autumn 1955), p. 225
"WATERBOUND IN ARKANSAS"
BY H. M. MCIVER
Part II
"BEE" SMITH"
"Bee" Smith was a man seldom seen in public places, and a man that was little heard of, the reason for which you will see later. He was well educated in a college of law and then sent to England for a finishing course. He as born and reared in New Orleans and had just finished his education and opened his law office in New Orleans when the Civil War broke out. He went to the army and served until the surrender. He then came back to New Orleans and opened his law office. Conditions had changed considerably when he came back. He found the courts and all political offices ruled by the Republicans and carpetbaggers, with half the offices filled by Negroes, and ignorant Negroes were serving on the jury.
Upon the trial of his first important case, the opposing attorney, who was a carpetbagger, spent most of is time directing uncomplimentary remarks at "Bee" Smith. Smith asked the court for protection and failed to get it. Finally, when the attorney persisted in roasting and abusing Mr. Smith, Mr. Smith came up with a heavy chair and crashed down upon the attorney's head and broke his neck.
In the excitement that followed, Mr. Smith went downstairs, got on his horse and rode away. When we came to Arkansas in 1880 he was living on the hill up from Walnut Bayou on the Laynesport road, raising and selling bees and honey. This accounts for his nickname, "Bee."
- He and my father got to be awfully good friends. His only luxury was
his library of choice books. He was well read and well informed on about
all subjects. He let his hair grow long, and his beard was heavy and completely
covered his face. He had built a big log two-story house, and lived there
alone.
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