LITTLE ROCK. The largest city of Arkansas, State capital, and the county-seat of Pulaski County, 130 miles southwest of Memphis, Tenn.; on the Arkansas River, and on the Rock Island, the Choctaw, Oklahoma and Gulf, the Saint Louis Southwestern, the Saint Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern, and other railroads (Map: Arkansas, C 3). It is built on a rocky bluff, 50 feet above the river, which is here spanned by three railroad bridges and a county bridge. The streets are regular and finely shaded. Little Rock is the seat of Philander Smith College (Methodist Episcopal), the Arkansas Baptist College (colored), Maddox Seminary, Arkansas Military Academy, and of the medical and law departments of the Arkansas Industrial University. It has, besides the State Capitol, a United States court-house and a United States arsenal, the State penitentiary, State School for the Blind, the State Lunatic Asylum, and the State Deaf-Mute Institute, Children's Home, Old Ladies' Home, City Hospital, and Saint Vincent's Infirmary. There are the Marquand, Supreme Court, the State and collegiate libraries. The system of public parks includes about 100 acres, the most attractive parks being Glenwood, City and West End. Little Rock has large wholesale interests, and an important trade, by river and rail, in cotton, lumber, agricultural produce, and in its own manufactured products. The more important industrial enterprises include cotton gins and presses, with an extensive output of cottonseed oil and cake; foundries and machine-shops, railroad-shops, planing-mills. granite-quarries, cotton, twine, furniture, and stave factories, flouring-mills, brick and tile works, etc.
The government is vested in a mayor, elected every two years; a unicameral council, and administrative officials as follows: chiefs of police and fire department, city electrician, and police matron, appointed by the executive; city physician, street commissioner, superintendent of public works, and collector, elected by the council; and city clerk, attorney, and police judge, chosen by popular election. The municipal budget balances at over $250,000, the principal items of expense being about $80,000 for schools, $35,000 for the fire department, $30,000 for the police department, including amounts for police courts, jails, reformatories, etc., and $10,000 for the operation of the electric-light plant. Population, in 1860, 3727; in 1880, 13,138; in 1890, 25,874; in 1900, 38,307. Little Rock was settled in 1814. Six years later, with a population of less than 20, it became the seat of the Territorial Government, though it was not incorporated until 1831, when its population numbered about 500. During the Civil War it was captured September 10, 1863, by a Union force under General Steele. Consult Powell, Historic Towns of the Southern States (New York, 1900).
LITTLE TIBET. A province of Kashmir. See Baltistan.
LITTLETON, lĭt′t’l-ton. A town in Grafton County, N. H., 113 miles north by west of Concord; on the Ammonoosuc River and on the Boston and Maine Railroad (Map: New Hampshire, H 4). An elevated location and the superb scenery of the White Mountains contribute to its popularity as a summer resort. The great water-power from the river has developed the manufacturing interests, the principal products being whetstones, gloves, shoes, stereoscopic views, bobbins, and carriages. There is a public library, the building having been presented by Andrew Carnegie. The government is administered by town meetings. Littleton was settled in 1770, and was known as Apthorp until 1784, when it was incorporated under its present name. Population, in 1890, 3365; in 1900, 4066. Consult a sketch in the Granite Monthly, vol. v. (Concord, N. H., 1881).
LITTLETON, Sir Thomas (1402-81). Judge of the Common Pleas and author of The Tenures. He was born at Frankley Manor House, in the northern part of Worcestershire, in the year 1402. He was educated at the Inner Temple. His earliest public services were as escheator of Worcestershire, under-sheriff of Worcestershire, and recorder of Coventry. As reader to the Inner Temple he lectured on the Statute of Westminster II., De Donis Conditionalibus. In 1453 he became a sergeant-at-law. In 1455, a few days before the opening battle of the Wars of the Roses, he was appointed one of the King's sergeants; and he was reappointed in 1401, when Henry VI. was deposed and Edward IV. assumed the crown. While King's sergeant he had much experience of a judicial nature, being frequently in commissions of the peace, of oyer and terminer, and of assize. In 1466 he was made a judge of the Common Pleas. In 1470, when Henry VI. was restored, Littleton, like the other judges, was reappointed, and he was also reappointed in 1471, when Edward IV. displaced Henry VI. permanently. While judge of the Common Pleas he was in many commissions of oyer and terminer and of the peace, particularly for Worcestershire and counties to the west and north. In 1475 he was made by Edward IV. a Knight of the Bath. He died in 1481, and was buried in Worcester Cathedral. His tomb, prepared by himself, is still in existence; but part of the decoration, including a brass plate that contained Littleton's portrait, has disappeared. The famous treatise by which Littleton is best known, The Tenures, was written toward the close of the author's life, and gives a picture of the law of land under the feudal system. It is noted for accuracy and clearness. The first edition appeared in 1481 or 1482, being one of the earliest books printed in London, and the earliest treatise on English law printed anywhere. The printers of this edition were Lettou and Machlinia. The second edition was printed about 1483, in London, by Machlinia. The third edition was printed about 1490, at Rouen, by William le Tailleur. These editions and many others were in the original Law French. There have also been many editions in English. In 1628 appeared the celebrated commentary of Coke. There have been about twenty-five editions of Coke upon Littleton, and about ninety editions of The Tenures without the commentary. With or without commentary, The Tenures formed an important part of legal education for almost three centuries and a half. For biographical and bibliographical details, consult the introduction to the 1903 edition of The Tenures (Washington).
LITTLE TURTLE (?-1812). A celebrated Indian chief of the Miami nation, distinguished for his ability, shrewdness, and courage. He commanded the Indian force which defeated General Harmer on the Miami River in 1790, and that which defeated General Saint Clair at Saint
