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Volume 8, Issue 19 - Feature #1849

Mabel Oakes Murder - 1910...

That''s an interesting question... Who owned land near Oakes' north of Alva? AND... Who owns the Oakes' land now? <br><br> Why Moman Pruiett took the side of the prosecution? I am not quite sure of that yet, but his father-in-law (Hon. August T. Sniggs was living in Alva, Oklahoma, Woods County during that time. The "Law Enforcement League (Law and Order League)" made Pruiett an offer he couldn't refuse. The League was one of Pruiett''s chief hecklers. During the defense of Jim Stevenson, Judge Maben, and Agnes Gilbert, Moman had broken the morale of the League. The League persauded that they couldn't beat Moman Pruiett, decided to enlist him (Pruiett) and made Pruiett an offer of $3,000 in cash back in 1910, to engage him to go to Woods/Woodward to act as special prosecutor in the N. L. Miller vs. State of Oklahoma murder trial.<br><br> In Howard K. Berry's book about Moman Pruiett (He Made It Safe To Murder - The Life of Moman Pruiett), there is a picture of Moman and his wife, Leda Sniggs Pruiett. Leda and Moman were married on July 7, 1903 in Leda's hometown of Alva. Leda was Moman's second wife and their marriage lasted forty-one years until her death in 1944. Leda Sniggs was the daughter of August T. Sniggs of Alva, Oklahoma Territory, and the sister of his junior law partner Victor Sniggs. <br><br> This information came from a book written about Moman Pruiett (<i>He Made It Safe To Murder</i>) by Howard K. Berry, pages 346-352.<br>

NW Okie (a.k.a. Linda McGill Wagner) - 2006-05-14 12:31:03

Moman Pruiett compiled the most impressive record of success in death penalty cases of any lawyer in America. From 1900 to 1935, he defended 343 persons accused of murder as found on pag 614-615 of the <a href="http://llr.lls.edu/volumes/v33-issue2/uelman.pdf" target="new">Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review</a> when he was excluded as a candidate for Lawyer of the Century. Three-hundred four of his clients were acquitted?not one was executed. <b>Why did he help prosecute N.L. Miller?</b> Were his clients part of bands like the <i><a href="http://www.dssi.unimi.it/dipstoria/mg/papers/Fennin%20Mark,%20Breaking%20the%20Circle%2022.pdf" target="new">Southern Tenant Farmers Union</a></i>? <br><br> <small>Also See Gerald F. Uelmen, Moman Pruiett, Criminal Lawyer, CRIMINAL DEFENSE, May-June 1982, at 35. See also Pruiett?s autobiography, MOMAN PRUIETT, CRIMINAL LAWYER (1944).</small> <br><br> <b>Do you have any information about the Oaks' land North of Alva, OK? </b> Who owned land near there and who owns Oaks' and the surrounding land now?

Hooked - 2006-05-13 23:26:40

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