THE RAIL-SPLITTER

FOOTPRINTS
OF
ABRAHAM LINCOLN

PRESENTING

Many Interesting Facts, Reminiscences
and Illustrations Never Before
Published

BY
J. T. HOBSON, D.D., LL.B.,
Author of "The Lincoln Year Book."

Nineteen Hundred and Nine
The Otterbein Press
Dayton, Ohio

Copyright, 1909, by J. T. Hobson

THE AUTHOR.

DEDICATION

To all my Kindred, Friends, and Acquaintances among
whom are Fellow Ministers, Teachers, Students,
Pupils, Parishioners, though Widely
Scattered, and to All Who Cherish
the Memory of
Abraham Lincoln
The Apostle of Human Liberty, Who Bound the Nation
and Unbound the Slave, This Little Volume
is Respectfully Dedicated by
THE AUTHOR

INTRODUCTION

Everything pertaining to the life of Abraham Lincoln is of undying interest to the public.

It may at first appear unnecessary, if not presumptuous, to add another volume to the already large number of books in Lincoln literature. Hitherto efforts have been made by the biographer, the historian, and the relic-hunter to gather everything possible connected with the life of Lincoln.

If an apology is needed in presenting this volume to the public, it may be said that it has fallen as a rare opportunity to the author, during the passing years, to gather some well-authenticated facts, reminiscences, and illustrations which have never before appeared in connection with the history of this great man.

Like many others, I have always taken great interest in the life and work of Abraham Lincoln. There are some special reasons for this, upon my part, aside from my interest in the lives of great men, and the magnetic charm which surrounds the name and fame of the most eminent American and emancipator of a race.

The name, "Abraham Lincoln," is connected with my family history, and with one of my first achievements with pen and ink. Because of an affliction in early life, I was, for two or three years, unable to attend the public schools. At home I learned to make figures and letters with slate and pencil, as other writing material was not so common then as now. The first line I ever wrote with pen and ink was at home, at the age of ten, under a copy on foolscap paper, written by my sainted mother, "Abraham Lincoln, President, 1861."

After the birth of John the Baptist, there was considerable controversy among the kinsfolk as to what name he should bear. The father, old Zacharias, was appealed to, and when writing material was brought him, he settled the matter by writing, "John." On the 7th of May, 1863, when a boy baby was horn in our old home, the other children and I were very anxious to know what name would be given the little stranger. We appealed to father. He did not say, but called for the old family Bible, pen and ink. He turned to the "Family Record," between the Old and the New Testaments. I stood by and saw him write, with pen and blue ink, the name, "Abraham Lincoln Hobson."

I was born in due time to have the good fortune to become acquainted with a number of persons who personally knew Mr. Lincoln in his early life in Indiana, and heard them tell of their associations with him, and their words were written down at the time. I am also familiar with many places of historic interest where the feet of Abraham Lincoln pressed the earth. I resided for a time near the old Lincoln farm in Spencer County, Indiana, on which the town of Lincoln City now stands. I have often visited the near-by grave of Nancy Hanks Lincoln, the "angel mother" of the martyred President; have stood by the grave of Sally Grigsby, his only sister, at the Little Pigeon Cemetery, one mile and a half south of the Lincoln farm; have been in the Lincoln home at Springfield, Illinois; have seen Ford's Theater building, in Washington, where he was shot; have stood in the little rear room, in the first story of the house across the street, where he died; have been in the East Room of the White House, where his body lay in state; and have reverently stood at his tomb where his precious dust rests in peace in Oak Ridge Cemetery, at Springfield, Illinois.

This volume can hardly claim the dignity of a biography, for many important facts in the life of Mr. Lincoln are omitted, the object being to set forth some unpublished facts, reminiscences, and illustrations to supplement larger histories written by others. However, it was necessary to refer to some well-known facts in order to properly connect the new material never before in print. It was necessary, in some instances, to correct some matters of Lincoln history which later and more authentic information has revealed.

The illustrations were secured mainly for this publication, and none, so far as I know, except the frontispiece, has ever appeared in any other book on Lincoln. I am indebted to a number of persons who have assisted me in securing information and photographs, most of whom are mentioned in the body of the book.

This being the centennial year of Abraham Lincoln's birth, it is with feelings of genuine pleasure and profound reverence that the opportunity is here given me to exhibit some "footprints" from the path of one whose life is imprinted in imperishable characters in the history of the great American republic. The excellent principles and noble conduct that characterized his life should be an inspiration to all. As Longfellow says:

"Lives of great men all remind us

We can make our lives sublime,

And, departing, leave behind us

Footprints in the sands of time."

J. T. Hobson.

Lake City, Iowa, February 19, 1909.

ILLUSTRATIONS

• [Abraham Lincoln].
• [The Author].
• [Jacob S. Brother], who when a boy lived in the Kentucky Lincoln cabin.
• [United Brethren Church] on Indiana Lincoln farm.
• [Rev. Allen Brooner], an associate of Lincoln in Indiana.
• Mr. and Mrs. [Captain Lamar], who knew Lincoln in Indiana.
• Honorable [James Gentry], of Indiana.
• [Elizabeth Grigsby], one of the double wedding brides in Indiana.
• [Ruth Jennings Huff], daughter of Josiah Crawford.
• [Rifle Gun] owned jointly by Lincoln and Brooner in Indiana.
• [David Turnham], the Indiana Constable, and wife.
• [George W. Turnham], son of David Turnham.
• [William D. Armstrong], defended by Lincoln in 1858.
• [Hannah Armstrong], who boarded Lincoln; he later defended her son.
• [Walker and Lacey], associated with Lincoln in the Armstrong case.
• [Moses Martin], still living, signed Lincoln's temperance pledge in 1847.
• Major[ J. B. Merwin], still living, campaigned Illinois with Lincoln for prohibition in 1854-55.
• Rev. [R. L. McCord], who named Lincoln as his choice for President, in 1854.
• Site of the [old still-house] in Indiana, where Lincoln worked.
• [Triplets], yet living, named by Abraham Lincoln.
• [House] in which Lincoln died.
• [Lincoln's mill].

CHRONOLOGY

• Born in Hardin (now Larue) County, Kentucky, February 12, 1809.
• Moved to Spencer County, Indiana, in 1816.
• His mother, Nancy, died October 5, 1818, aged 35 years.
• His father married Sarah Bush Johnson, 1819.
• Moved to Illinois, March, 1830.
• Captain in Black Hawk War, in 1832.
• Appointed postmaster at New Salem, Illinois, in 1833.
• Elected to Illinois Legislature in 1834, 1836, 1838, 1840.
• Admitted to the bar in 1837.
• Presidential elector on Whig ticket, 1840, 1844.
• Married to Miss Mary Todd, November 4, 1842.
• Elected to Congress in 1846, 1848.
• His father, Thomas, died January 17, 1851, aged 73 years.
• Canvassed Illinois for State prohibition in 1855.
• Debated with Stephen A. Douglas in 1858.
• Nominated for President at Chicago, May 16, 1860.
• Elected President, November 6, 1860.
• Inaugurated President, March 4, 1861.
• Issued call for 75,000 volunteers, April 15, 1861.
• Issued Emancipation Proclamation, January 1, 1863.
• His address at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, November 19, 1863.
• Renominated for President at Baltimore, June, 1864.
• Reëlected President, November 8, 1864.
• Reinaugurated President, March 4, 1865.
• Shot by John Wilkes Booth, April 14, 1865.
• Died April 15, 1865.
• Buried at Springfield, Illinois, May 3, 1865.

CONTENTS

Footprints of Abraham Lincoln

CHAPTER I.

Lincoln's Birth and Early Life in Kentucky

Unpromising Cradles—Site of the Log Cabin—Tangled History Untangled—Jacob S. Brother's Statement—Speaking with Authority—The Lincolns Move to Knob Creek—The Lincoln Farm Association.

It has been said truly that God selects unpromising cradles for his greatest and best servants. On a cold winter night, a hundred years ago, in a floorless log cabin, the emancipator of a race was born. Like the Redeemer of mankind, there was "no room" in the mansions of the rich and the great for such a child to be born.

Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks, natives of Virginia, were married by Rev. Jesse Head, a minister of the Methodist Church, June 12, 1806, near Beechland, Washington County, Kentucky. They settled at Elizabethtown, Hardin County, where their first child, Sarah, was born, February 10, 1807. In 1808 they moved to a farm containing one hundred and ten acres, on the south fork of Nolin Creek, two miles south of Hodgenville, Hardin County, and fifty miles south of Louisville. Hodgenville afterward became, and is now the county-seat of Larue County, as that part of the territory now embraced in Larue County was set off from Hardin County in 1843. Here, on the twelfth of February, 1809, Abraham Lincoln was born.

The Hodgenville and Magnolia public highway runs through the farm. The site of the old log cabin in which Lincoln was born is about five hundred yards west of the road, and a short distance from the well-known "Rock Spring." The old Kirkpatrick mill, on Nolin Creek, is but a short distance away. The cabin, of course, is no longer in existence, although various publications have printed pictures of it, as though it were still standing on the original spot. Misleading statements have also been published that the original cabin has been placed on exhibition in various cities. Other publications, with more caution, have pictured it as the alleged log cabin in which Lincoln was born.

Evidence is here introduced to untangle tangled history. Jacob S. Brother, now in his ninetieth year, resides at Rockport, the county-seat of Spencer County, Indiana, on the Ohio River, fifteen miles south of Lincoln City, the site of the Lincoln farm in Indiana. Mr. Brother is a highly-respected Christian gentleman. I have known him for many years. On the thirtieth of March, 1899, when visiting him, he incidentally told me that his father purchased the Lincoln farm in Kentucky, and that the family lived in the cabin in which Abraham Lincoln was born. On the eighth of September, 1903, I again visited him, and, at my request, he gave a fuller statement, which I wrote out, and then read it to him, all of which he said was correct, and is here submitted:

"My name is Jacob S. Brother. My father's name was Henry, but he was generally known as 'Harry.' I was born in Montgomery County, Kentucky, March 8, 1819. In the year 1827, when I was eight years old, my father purchased the old farm on which Abraham Lincoln was born, in Kentucky. He purchased it of Henry Thomas. We lived in the house in which Lincoln was born. After some years, my father built another house almost like the first house. The old house was torn down, and, to my knowledge, the logs were burned for fire-wood. Later he built a hewed log house, and the second old house was used as a hatter-shop. My father followed the trade of making hats all his life. The pictures we often see of the house in which Lincoln was born are pictures of the first house built by my father. He died in the hewed log house, and my youngest brother, Joseph, was born in the same house three weeks after father's death. Some time after father's death, mother, I, and the other children moved to near St. Joe, Missouri. The brother born on the Lincoln farm enlisted in the Southern army, and was captured at Lookout Mountain, and taken to Camp Morton, Indianapolis, as a prisoner. My oldest brother, George, who was a surgeon in the Union army, went to Washington City to see President Lincoln, in order to get a reprieve for his brother. Among other things, he told the President that his brother and he (the President) were born on the same farm. I do not know how much weight this had with the President, but my brother was reprieved. I left Missouri to avoid going into the Confederate army, and came to Rockport, Indiana, in 1863, where I have ever since resided."

At the time of this interview, I had with me some newspaper and magazine articles, with illustrations, descriptive of the old Lincoln farm in Kentucky, including the "Rock Spring," Nolin Creek, the old watermill, Hodgenville, and other places, which were read and shown the old gentleman. He was perfectly familiar with all the points named, and mentioned a number of other items. When the name of the creek, near the farm, was pronounced with the accent on the first syllable, he said, "We always pronounced it No-lin´" (with the accent on the second syllable). All these statements are entitled to credit, as there could have been no object in making any false representations.

When Abraham was about four years old the Lincolns moved from the Rock Spring farm to a farm on Knob Creek, in the eastern part of what is now Larue County. Here a little boy, younger than Abraham, was buried.

Of late years considerable interest has been given to Lincoln's birthplace. "The Lincoln Farm Association" has been organized and incorporated, and the farm purchased by a group of patriotic citizens who believe that the people of our country should, through affiliating with the organization, develop the farm into a national park, embellished by an historical museum. Mrs. Russell Sage has contributed $25,000 for this purpose, and others are contributing. It is hoped that this most worthy enterprise may be successful, and thus further honor the immortal emancipator, and that the place will be dedicated to peace and good will to all, where North, South, East, and West may find a common ground of pride and fellowship.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

CHAPTER II.

The Lincolns Move to Indiana

Early Hardships—"Milk Sickness"—Death of Lincoln's Mother—Henry and Allen Brooner's Recollections—Second Marriage of Thomas Lincoln—Marriage of Sarah Lincoln—Redmond P. Grigsby's Recollections—Death of Sarah Grigsby—Mrs. Lamar's Recollections—Captain Lamar's Interesting Reminiscences—Honorable James Gentry Interviewed.

Thomas Lincoln moved with his family to southern Indiana in the fall of 1816. There were two children, Sarah and Abraham, the former nine, and the latter seven years old. The family located in what was then Perry County. By a change in boundary made in 1818, that part of the county was made a part of the new county of Spencer. The location was one mile and a half east of where Gentryville now stands, and fifteen miles north of the Ohio River. The town of Lincoln City is now located on the farm, and is quite a railroad connecting point. Here the family lived fourteen years. The county was new, and the land was not of the best quality. The family was subject to the toils and privations incident to pioneer life. Lincoln, long afterward, in referring to his early days in Indiana, said they were "pretty pinching times."

Peter Brooner came with his family to the same community two years before, and Thomas and Betsy Sparrow, who reared Mrs. Lincoln and her cousin, Dennis Hanks, came one year later than the Lincolns.

A peculiar disease, called "the milk sickness," prevailed in the community in 1818. Thomas and Betsy Sparrow, Mrs. Lincoln, Mrs. Brooner, and others died of this disease near the same time. Thomas Lincoln, having learned the carpenter and cabinet-maker's trade in Kentucky, made all their coffins from green lumber sawed with a whip-saw. Their bodies were laid to rest on the little hill a few hundred yards south of the Lincoln home.

Peter Brooner had two sons, Henry and Allen. I became acquainted with these brothers twenty-two years ago. I was pastor of a church at Dale, three miles from Lincoln City, two years, near where Allen lived, and of a country church near where Henry lived. I was frequently at their homes. They both knew Abraham Lincoln quite well. The Thomas Lincoln and Peter Brooner homes were only one-half mile apart. Henry was five years older, and Allen was four years younger than Abraham. "Uncle Henry," as he was always called, gave me the following items, which I wrote at the time, and have preserved the original notes:

"I was born in Breckenridge County, Kentucky, February 7, 1804. We came to Indiana in 1814, when Allen was one year old. No man has lived longer in the State than I have, for I have lived in it ever since it became a State, and before. The Lincoln family came to Indiana two years later, and we lived one-half mile apart. During my mother's last sickness, Mrs. Lincoln often came to see her, and died just one week after my mother's death. I remember very distinctly that when Mrs. Lincoln's grave was filled, my father, Peter Brooner, extended his hand to Thomas Lincoln and said, 'We are brothers, now,' meaning that they were brothers in the same kind of sorrow. The bodies of my mother and Mrs. Lincoln were conveyed to their graves on sleds. I often stayed all night at Thomas Lincoln's. Dennis Hanks and his sister Sophia lived with Thomas and Betsy Sparrow, and at their deaths Dennis and his sister heired the estate. I helped drive up the stock on the day of the sale of the property. Dennis Hanks married Lincoln's step-sister. I often went with Lincoln on horseback to Huffman's Mill, on Anderson Creek, a distance of sixteen miles. He had a great memory, and for hours he would tell me what he had read."

Henry Brooner died April 4, 1890, two years after the above statements were given, at the age of eighty-six. Everybody loved and respected "Uncle Henry." Reference will be made in another chapter to further statements made by him on the same occasion.

Allen Brooner was nine years younger than his brother Henry. He was born in Kentucky, October 22, 1813. He was a minister in the United Brethren Church more than fifty years. Among other items, he gave me the following, which were written at the time:

"During my mother's last sickness, Mrs. Lincoln, the mother of Abraham Lincoln, came to see her. Mother said, 'I believe I will have to die.' Mrs. Lincoln said, 'Oh, you may outlive me.' She died just one week from the death of my mother. This was in October, 1818. I was five years old when mother died. I remember some one came to me in the night and told me my mother was dead. Thomas Lincoln made mother's coffin, and sawed the lumber with a whip-saw to make the coffin. She was taken on a sled to the graveyard on a hill, one quarter of a mile south of where Lincoln City now stands. Old man Howell took the corpse. He rode the horse hitched to the sled, and took me up, and I rode on the horse before him. I remember that his long beard bothered me. We did not have wagons in those days. The first wagon I ever saw, my father made, and it had wooden tires."

Reference will be made again to some facts stated by this associate of Abraham Lincoln. "Uncle Allen" died at his old home, near Dale, Spencer County, Indiana, April 2, 1902, in his eighty-ninth year, respected by all. I am indebted to his daughter, Mrs. Sarah Knowlton, for his photograph, taken at seventy-five years of age.

Nancy Hanks Lincoln died October 5, 1818, when her daughter Sarah was eleven and her son Abraham was nine years old. Abraham's mother had taught him to read and write, and, young as he was, he wrote for an old minister, David Elkin, whom the family had known in Kentucky, to come and preach his mother's funeral. Some time after, the minister came and the funeral was preached at the grave where many people had gathered. The minister stated that he had come because of the letter he had received from the little son of the dead mother. As I have stood by that grave, in my imagination I have seen that primitive congregation—the old minister, the lonely husband, and the two motherless children, Sarah and Abraham, on that sad occasion.

After the death of Thomas and Betsy Sparrow, Dennis Hanks and his sister Sophia became inmates of the Lincoln home.

For many years Mrs. Lincoln's grave was neglected. But few persons were buried at that graveyard. In 1879, Mr. P. E. Studebaker, of South Bend, Indiana, erected a marble slab at the grave, and some of the citizens of Rockport enclosed it with an iron railing. Later a larger and more appropriate monument has also been placed at the grave, and several acres surrounding, forming a park, have been enclosed with an iron fence. The park is under the control of an association which has been incorporated.

In December, 1819, Thomas Lincoln went to Kentucky and married a widow, Sarah Bush Johnston, whom he had known there before coming to Indiana. She had three children, John, Matilda, and Sarah. She was a most excellent woman, and proved worthy of a mother's place in the home of Thomas Lincoln. Dennis Hanks married one of the daughters, and Levi Hall married the other.

In August, 1826, at the age of nineteen, Sarah Lincoln, or Sally, as she was commonly called, was married to Aaron Grigsby, the oldest of a large family of boys. Learning that Redmond D. Grigsby resided near Chrisney, Spencer County, Indiana, I called upon him October 18, 1898. After being introduced by a friend, I asked him, "What relation were you to Aaron Grigsby, who married Abraham Lincoln's sister?" "He was my oldest brother, sir," answered the old gentleman. He said he was born in 1818, and was at that time eighty years old. He said that he and Lincoln were often thrown together, he at the home of his brother and Lincoln at the home of his sister. Mr. Grigsby said that when Abraham would start off with other boys, he had often heard Sally admonish him as to his conduct. Then Abraham would say, "Oh, you be good yourself, Sally, and Abe will take care of himself." We shall have occasion to refer to Mr. Grigsby again. He still resides at Chrisney; is now ninety years of age and quite feeble.

Sally Grigsby died in childbirth January 20, 1828, less than two years after her marriage. Her body sleeps in the old Pigeon Creek Cemetery, one mile and a half south of where her mother is buried.

Mrs. Lamar, the wife of Captain Lamar, who resided at Buffaloville, a short distance east of Lincoln City, said to me, in her home, September 8, 1903:

"I remember old Tommy Lincoln. I sat on his lap many times. I was at Sally Lincoln's infare dinner. I remember the night she died. My mother was there at the time. She had a very strong voice, and I heard her calling father. He awoke the boys and said, 'Something is the matter.' He went after a doctor, but it was too late. They let her lay too long. My old aunt was the midwife."

Mrs. Lamar is still living in Spencer County, Indiana. At the same time, I interviewed Captain John W. Lamar. I copied the date of his birth from the record in his Bible. He was born December 9, 1822, and although but a small boy when the Lincolns removed to Illinois, he remembers Abraham Lincoln quite well. At the time of my interview, I had a clipping from the Indianapolis News of April 12, 1902, containing some items pertaining to his recollections of Lincoln, which were read to him. The clipping is as follows:

"Captain J. W. Lamar, of Buffaloville, Spencer County, a delegate to the Republican State Convention, knew Abraham Lincoln when the latter lived in Spencer County. He is past eighty years old, but his memory is keen, and he is unusually vigorous for a man of his age. He is six feet tall, broad-shouldered, with flowing white hair and beard, making him one of the picturesque figures of the convention crowd. Lincoln is his favorite theme, and he delights to talk of him.

"'I well remember the first time I saw Abe,' he said. 'My father took me to Troy, at the mouth of Anderson River, to do a little trading, and Lincoln was at that time working at the ferry. Dressed in the frontiersman's coon-skin cap, deerskin shirt, and home-made trousers, he was indelibly impressed upon my memory as being one of the gawkiest and most awkward figures I ever saw. From that time on I saw him very often, as he lived near, and worked for my father frequently. He and my father and his father all helped to build the old Pigeon meeting-house , near which Abe's only sister, Sally, was buried. Tom Lincoln, Abe's father, often did odd jobs of carpentering for us.

"'One day, about a year after I first saw Lincoln, my father and I went over to old Jimmy Gentry's store, where the town of Gentryville now stands. When we got there, I noticed Lincoln out by an old stump, working very industriously at something. On going nearer, I saw that he was figuring or writing on a clapboard, which he had shaved smooth, and was paying no attention to what was going on around him. My father remarked to me then that Abe would be somebody some day, but, of course, did not have any idea how true his words would come out.

"'Many times have I seen him studying at odd moments, with a book or something to write on, when others were having a good time. That was what made him so great.

"'In August, before the spring that the Lincoln's left for Illinois, a township election was held at a log house near where the town of Santa Fe now stands.... All the men in the neighborhood were gathered there, and conspicuous among them was one, Sampson, a braggart and bully. He was storming around, praising a horse he had.

"'"Why," said he, "I ran him four miles in five minutes this morning, and he never drew a long breath!"

"'Abe, who was sitting on a rail fence near me, remarked quietly to him, "I suppose, though, Mr. Sampson, he drew a good many short ones."

"'This was just the opening Sampson was looking for, so he began to bluster up to Lincoln. After standing abuse for a few minutes, Abe told him to hush up or he would take him by the nape of the neck and throw him over the fence. [At this point the old captain interrupted my reading, and said, "Lincoln did not say he would throw him over the fence, but said he would throw him into a pond of water near by.">[ This had an effect, and Sampson shut up, because he knew Abe could, and would do what he said.

"'My father's house was on the road between Gentryville and the nearest trading-point on the Ohio River, at Troy. To this place the settlers took their deer and bear hides, venison hams, and other game, for which they received clothes, powder, and other necessary articles. Lincoln and his father had constructed a wagon for old man Gentry, made entirely out of wood, even to the hickory rims to the wheels.

"'This they loaded with produce, and started for Troy. Arriving at my father's house, a rain had swollen the creek near there, so that they decided to stay all night, and wait for the water to subside. During the night wolves stole nearly all the venison from the wagon. That which belonged to the Lincolns was not touched, however; it was in the bottom of the wagon. My father was a very serious man, and scarcely ever smiled, but Abe, with his droll ways and pleasant humor, always made him laugh.

"'A great grief, which affected Abe through his life, was caused by the death of his only sister, Sally. They were close companions, and were a great deal alike in temperament. About a year after her marriage to one of the Grigsbys, she died. This was a hard blow to Abe, who always thought her death was due to neglect. Abe was in a little smoke-house when the news came to him that she had died. He came to the door and sat down, burying his face in his hands. The tears trickled through his large fingers, and sobs shook his frame. From then on he was alone in the world, you might say.'"

In addition to the foregoing interesting reminiscences, the captain related to me other important items, some of which are here given as he related them:

"Old Si Crawford, the man who loaned Lincoln the book which was damaged, was my uncle. I remember one time Lincoln came to our place when my father was sitting on a shaving-horse, doing some work. Other boys and I were standing near by. Mr. Lincoln, addressing us, said, 'Well, boys, what have you learned to-day?' No one answering, he said, 'I wouldn't give a cent for a boy who doesn't know more to-day than he knew yesterday.' This remark greatly impressed me, and I have never forgotten it.

"Old Uncle Jimmy Gentry, who founded the town of Gentryville, kept a store there. He was somewhat illiterate. I remember hearing him and Major Daniels talking, when the major asked him what per cent. he was making on the sale of his goods. Uncle Jimmy replied, 'God bless your soul, I don't know anything about your per cent., but I know when I buy an article in Louisville for a dollar, and sell it in Gentryville for two dollars, I double my money every time.'"

Captain Lamar died November 4, 1903, a little more than two months after my visit to him, at the age of eighty-one. Mrs. Lamar is still living in Spencer County.

The same day, after leaving the Lamars, I called upon the Honorable James Gentry, at Rockport. He was the son of James Gentry, the founder of Gentryville. He was born February 24, 1819, and was ten years younger than Lincoln. He related much about Lincoln, some things which will be found in another chapter. He repeated the story about his brother, Allen Gentry, and Lincoln taking a flatboat, loaded with farm products, down the Ohio River to New Orleans, the attack of the negroes and how they were driven away. Mr. Gentry said, "If ever a man was raised up by Providence, it was Lincoln, for he had no chance." Mr. Gentry was elected on the Democratic ticket to the Indiana Legislature of 1871. He gave me his picture, reproduced herein, but it represents him much younger than when I saw him. He died May 3, 1905, at the age of eighty-six.

CHAPTER III.

Indiana Associates and Incidents

The Double Wedding—One of the Brides Interviewed—"The Chronicles of Reuben"—Josiah Crawford's Daughter—The Lincoln-Brooner Rifle Gun—David Turnham, the Indiana Constable—The "Revised Statutes of Indiana."

Reuben Grigsby had quite a family of sons. Aaron, the oldest, who married Lincoln's sister, and Redmond D., the youngest, have already been mentioned. Two sons, Reuben and Charles, were married the same day, the former married in Spencer County and the latter in Dubois, the adjoining county on the north. A double infare dinner was given at old Reuben Grigsby's, the day following the marriages. The Grigsbys were regarded as belonging to the "upper ten" class in those days, for they lived in a two-story hewed-log house.

On the sixth of April, 1899, I met Elizabeth Grigsby, commonly called "Aunt Betsy," one of the brides, the widow of Reuben, Jr., at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Justin Banks, near Grandview, Spencer County. She was in her eighty-seventh year. She was cheerful, and bright in her mind, and had a good knowledge of current events. I requested her to give me a sketch of her life, and stated that it might prove useful and interesting as a matter of history. She thought that, perhaps, what I said might be true, and cheerfully gave the following:

"My father, Ezekiel Ray, was born in Ireland, and came to America at the age of three years, and his father settled in Tennessee. My father and a number of others, among them Mr. Grass and Mr. Lamar, came to Indiana, and settled where Grandview now stands. My father died when I was five years old. I had one sister and five brothers. I was next to the youngest child. My mother remained a widow, and died twelve years after the death of my father. I had sixty acres of land left to me, my part of father's estate.

"I was married to Reuben Grigsby on the 15th of April, 1829, before my seventeenth birthday, which was June 1, following. Charles, my husband's brother, was married the same day. We had infare dinner at the home of my husband's father, Reuben Grigsby, three miles south of Gentryville. My husband and I arrived about two hours before the other couple arrived. John Johnston, Abraham Lincoln's step-brother, told a story about a mistake made by the brothers in going to bed upstairs that night, which led to a fight between himself and William Grigsby, a brother of the two who were married. This story told by John Johnston occasioned the writing of 'The Chronicles of Reuben,' by Abraham Lincoln, a short time afterward. I saw Lincoln at my father-in-law's two days after our marriage. He was not a good looking young man.

"Sally Lincoln, Abraham's only sister, married Aaron Grigsby, my husband's oldest brother, but that was before my marriage. I never saw her, for she died about three years after her marriage. I have seen Thomas Lincoln, but was not acquainted with him. My husband and Abraham Lincoln attended the same school. My husband never had a sister that he thought more of than he did of Sally Lincoln.

"After our marriage on Thursday, we moved to my place, where Grandview now is. I have been a member of the United Brethren Church about forty-five years. My husband joined the church about eight years before I joined. He was a class-leader for many years. He died sixteen years ago last January. I have raised eight children, but only four are living, one son and three daughters.

"I am not much account any more, but I am still here. My health has been better the past winter than common. My eyesight is good. I have never used spectacles, but I have trouble sometimes in threading a fine needle. My teeth are all gone, except two old snags. I am living on my farm of forty acres, two miles northwest of Grandview. I have a house of four rooms. I rent my farm and three rooms, reserving one room for myself. I do my own cooking, and eat alone."

"Aunt Betsy" died March 27, 1901, two years after the interview mentioned, in her eighty-ninth year. Her picture, secured for this book, through her daughter, Mrs. Enco, residing in Spencer County, is a good one.

"The Chronicles of Reuben," mentioned by "Aunt Betsy," were written in scripture style, but no copy has been preserved. Thomas Bunton, an aged citizen of Gentryville, told me that he remembered hearing the "Chronicles" read when he was a boy. Redmond D. Grigsby told me, in my interview with him, that he was in possession of them for some time, but they were lost or destroyed. He said the "Chronicles" were no credit to Mr. Lincoln. Those purporting to be the "Chronicles" in Herndon and Weiks' "Life of Lincoln," were written by Herndon as remembered by Mrs. Crawford, the wife of Josiah Crawford. Dr. W. S. Bryant, of Dale, told me, some years ago, that he accompanied Herndon, in 1865, to the Crawford place, when the "Chronicles" were written as before stated. It had then been thirty-six years since they were written.

The Grigsbys were much irritated when the "Chronicles" were written, and have protested against their becoming a matter of history. It is alleged that they were written to humiliate the Grigsbys for slighting Lincoln in the invitations to the infare. The account of the fight between John Johnston and William Grigsby is mentioned in full in Lamon's "Life of Lincoln," but whether all the details there mentioned are true no one can say.

The day I visited Captain and Mrs. Lamar, already referred to, at their request, I visited the captain's cousin, Mrs. Ruth Jennings Huff, residing in Buffaloville. She was the only surviving child of Josiah Crawford. She said she was the middle child of five children, three brothers and one sister. She showed me a corner cupboard made by Thomas Lincoln and his son Abraham for her father. Her father died about thirty years before my visit. In the distribution of the property among the children, among other things, she chose the cupboard. After telling many things she had heard her parents say about Lincoln, I ventured to ask if she ever heard of the "Chronicles of Reuben." Her quick, characteristic reply was, "Lord, yes; I've heard mother tell it a thousand times." Mrs. Huff died at the residence of her son, S. H. Jennings, in Rockport, Indiana, December 26, 1906, in her eightieth year. Mr. Jennings is the present owner of the cupboard referred to, and he writes me that he would not part with it for any reasonable price. I am indebted to him for a good photograph of his mother.

In the latter part of the 'twenties, Abraham Lincoln and Henry Brooner walked to Vincennes, Indiana, a distance of more than fifty miles, and while there they purchased a rifle gun in partnership for fifteen dollars. They hunted for game on their way back home. When the Lincolns moved to Illinois in 1830, Mr. Brooner purchased Mr. Lincoln's interest in the gun. He kept it until 1872, when he presented it to his adopted son Samuel, on the day of his marriage. I purchased the gun of Samuel Brooner, September 7, 1903. Of course, the gun was originally a "flint-lock." It was changed to shoot with percussion caps. John F. Martin, now living at Dale, in his seventy-eighth year, and a son-in-law of Henry Brooner; John W. Kemp, now sixty-three, a justice of the peace, born and reared on a farm adjoining Henry Brooner, and Samuel Brooner, each made oath as to their knowledge of the gun. I have known all these persons for more than twenty years, and know their testimony to be first class. The gun is now in possession of John E. Burton, of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.

Nearly all the Lincoln biographies mention the fact that Lincoln often read and studied the "Revised Statutes of Indiana," which he borrowed of David Turnham, a constable, who lived near the Lincolns in Indiana. Mr. Turnham's father and family came to Indiana and settled in Spencer County, in 1819. Turnham and Lincoln went hunting together and attended the same school, although Turnham was six years older, as he was born August 2, 1803. "The Revised Statutes," besides containing the constitution and laws of Indiana, contained the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. No doubt it was in this book that Lincoln first read those important documents. Mr. Turnham gave the book to Mr. Herndon in 1865, when he was gathering material for the "Life of Lincoln." After being in several hands, the book is now said to be in possession of W. H. Winters, librarian of the New York Law Institute.

Twenty years ago I visited the home of David Turnham's widow, now deceased, who knew Mr. Lincoln, and I was well acquainted with the two sons, John J. and George W., who then resided at Dale. David Turnham died August 2, 1884, at the age of eighty-one. I am under obligation to my esteemed friend, George W. Turnham, now of Evansville, Indiana, for information concerning his father, for a copy of Lincoln's letter to his father, found elsewhere in this book, and for his father's and mother's pictures, which have never before appeared in any publication.

CHAPTER IV.

The Emigration to Illinois

Preparations for Removal—Recollections of Old Acquaintances—The Old Indiana Home—Blocks from the Old House—The Cedar Tree—More Tangled History Untangled—Mr. Jones' Store—Various Experiences in Illinois—Recollections of an Old Friend.

After residing in Indiana fourteen years, and having rather a rough experience, Thomas Lincoln, through the inducements of others, concluded to move to Illinois. Abraham was now twenty-one years old. The farm products were sold to David Turnham. The family started March 1, 1830. Other families accompanied them.

Expressions made to me, and written at the time by different persons who remembered the departure of the Lincolns, are here given:

Allen Brooner said: "I remember when the Lincoln family left for Illinois. Abraham and his step-brother, John Johnston, came to my father's to trade a young horse for a yoke of oxen. The trade was made. John Johnston did most of the talking."

Redmond D. Grigsby said: "I was twelve years old when the Lincolns left for Illinois. I helped to hitch the two yokes of oxen to the wagon, and went with them half a mile."

James Gentry said: "I was eleven years old when the Lincoln family started to Illinois. They stayed at my father's the night before they started."

Mrs. Lamar said: "I remember when the Lincolns left for Illinois. All the neighbors went to see them start. All the surroundings, to my mind, are as plain as things are now in my kitchen."

The old Indiana house, built by Thomas Lincoln, in 1817, was torn down, and the logs shipped away, many years ago, except one log. Isaac Houghland, a reliable man and merchant of Lincoln City, was in possession of this log, and stated to me that a man by the name of Skelton said he would make oath that it was one of the logs of the old Lincoln house. Mr. Houghland kindly gave me two blocks, which I saw his son chop from the log.

A cedar-tree stands near where the Lincoln house stood. A number of unreliable stories concerning this tree have been told in various Lincoln biographies, magazine and newspaper articles. Some state that the tree was planted by Abraham Lincoln; others, that James Gentry planted the tree the day the Lincolns started to Illinois, in honor of his friend, Abraham. James Gentry, many years ago, purchased several hundred acres of land around and including the Lincoln farm. He told me, in the interview before mentioned, that he planted the cedar-tree in 1858. I wrote that fact in his presence, and have preserved the original paper on which it is written. The tree was planted twenty-eight years after the Lincolns vacated the premises. Some of the citizens of Lincoln City do not know the true history of the tree. Some yet believe Lincoln planted it, and hundreds of visitors have almost stripped the tree of its twigs and branches with the same delusive idea. Here is more "tangled history untangled."

William Jones kept a store at Gentryville some years before, and at the time the Lincolns went away, Abraham often worked for Mr. Jones, and read newspapers at the store. Before leaving he bought thirty-five dollars' worth of goods from Mr. Jones to sell on the way out to Illinois. He wrote back that he doubled his money on the investment. Mr. Jones was born in Vincennes, Indiana, January 5, 1800. He was a member of the Indiana Legislature from 1838 to 1841. He was killed while in command as colonel of the Fifty-third Indiana Regiment, at Atlanta, Georgia, July 22, 1864. I gather these facts, mainly, from an article furnished a newspaper by Captain William Jones, of Rockport, Indiana, a son of Colonel William Jones. I knew Captain Jones at Dale, many years ago.

The Lincolns were about two weeks on their journey to Illinois. They first settled near Decatur. Thomas Lincoln moved a time or two after, and finally settled on Goosenest Prairie, near Farmington, in Coles County, where he died January 12, 1851, at the age of seventy-three. Lincoln's step-mother, whom he loved very dearly, died April 10, 1869, in her eighty-first year, and four years after the death of her famous step-son.

After his removal to Illinois, Abraham Lincoln did not remain much of the time at home. I shall not follow his history here in detail. His rail-splitting proclivities; his Black Hawk War record; his experience as a merchant and postmaster; his career as a lawyer; his election at various times to the Illinois Legislature; his election to Congress; his marriage, and many other matters of history are found in most any of his numerous biographies. Whatever reference may be made to any of these periods in his history will be for the purpose of introducing new material.

The following, relative to some of Lincoln's early experiences in Indiana, was related to me by one of Lincoln's early Indiana friends, Allen Brooner:

"I went to Illinois in 1835-36. Most of the time I was there I worked at the carpenter trade at Petersburg. We were getting out timber for a mill. The owner made me 'boss.' At that time Abraham Lincoln was postmaster at New Salem. He was also keeping a store at the time. While I was there, Lincoln made a mistake in his own favor of five cents in trading with a woman. When he discovered his mistake, he walked two and a half miles to correct the mistake. The county surveyor came to see Lincoln while I was out there, and wanted to make him his deputy. Lincoln said, 'I know nothing of surveying.' 'But,' said the surveyor, 'they tell me you can learn anything.' Not long afterward I saw Lincoln out surveying. When Lincoln would hand me my mail he would often inquire about the Spencer County people and the old acquaintances. In his conversation he always put the best construction on everything."

UNITED BRETHREN CHURCH,

At Lincoln City, Indiana, on the old Lincoln farm. The author, as presiding elder, has officiated and preached in this church.

JACOB S. BROTHER.

Still living at Rockport, Indiana. When a small boy lived with his father's family in the cabin in which Abraham Lincoln was born.

REV. ALLEN BROONER.

An old associate of Lincoln in Indiana. Their mothers died one week apart, and are buried at same place.

CHAPTER V.

Lincoln Visits the Old Indiana Home

Lincoln an Admirer of Henry Clay—A Whig Elector—Goes to Indiana—Makes Speeches—Old Friends and Old—Time Scenes—Writes a Poem.

In 1844, Henry Clay was a candidate for President of the United States, on the Whig ticket. Abraham Lincoln was a great admirer of Mr. Clay, and referred to him as his "beau-ideal of a statesman." He was placed on the Whig ticket as presidential elector, and made speeches in favor of Mr. Clay's election. During the canvass he visited his old home and acquaintances in Indiana for the first time since he left, fourteen years before, and it was his only visit to the home of his youth.

On the 22d of October, 1898, Thomas Bunton, then seventy-five years old, said to me: "I heard Lincoln speak in Gentryville in 1844. I saw him coming to the place of meeting with Mr. Jones. I heard Lincoln say, 'Don't introduce me to any one; I want to see how many I can recognize.' He went around shaking hands, and when he came to me he said, 'This is a Bunton.'"

Captain Lamar said, at the time of my visit to him already mentioned: "At the close of Lincoln's speech, near Buffaloville, he said, 'Friends and fellow-citizens, I may never see you again, but give us a protective tariff and you will some day see the greatest nation the sun ever shone over.' While saying this he pointed to the east and, raising his hand, he closed the sentence pointing to the west. From the speaking I went with him to Si Crawford's for dinner. He talked much about old times, places, and people familiar to him in other days. The last words Abe said to me were these, 'You are comparatively young, God bless you, I may never see you again.'"

Mr. Lincoln was so impressed by his visit to the old home that he wrote a descriptive poem, which is published in some of the Lincoln biographies. The following letter, written in 1846, explains why he wrote the poem:

"The piece of poetry of my own which I allude to I was led to write under the following circumstances: In the fall of 1844, thinking I might aid to carry the State of Indiana for Mr. Clay, I went to the neighborhood in that State in which I was raised, where my mother and my only sister are buried, and from which I had been about fifteen years. That part of the country is, within itself, as unpoetical as any spot of the earth; but still, seeing it and its objects and inhabitants aroused feelings in me which were certainly poetry, though whether my expression of these feelings is poetry is quite another question. When I got to writing, the change of subject divided the thing into four little divisions, or cantos, the first only of which I send you, and may send the others hereafter."

"My childhood's home I see again,

And sadden with the view;

And still, as memory crowds my brain,

There's pleasure in it, too.

"Q memory! thou midway world

'Twixt earth and paradise,

Where things decayed, and loved ones lost,

In dreamy shadows rise;

"And, freed from all that's earthly vile,

Seem hallowed, pure, and bright,

Like scenes in some enchanted isle,

All bathed in liquid light.

"As dusky mountains please the eye,

When twilight chases day;

As bugle notes that, passing by,

In distance die away;

"As leaving some grand waterfall,

We, lingering, list its roar;

So memory will hallow all

We've known, but know no more.

"Near twenty years have passed away

Since here I bid farewell

To woods and fields, and scenes of play,

And playmates loved so well;

"Where many were, but few remain,

Of old, familiar things;

But seeing them to mind again

The lost and absent brings.

"The friends I left that parting day,

How changed! as time has sped

Young childhood grown, strong manhood gray,

And half of all are dead.

"I hear the loud survivors tell

How naught from death could save,

Till every sound appears a knell,

And every spot a grave.

"I range the fields with pensive tread,

And pace the hollow rooms,

And feel (companions of the dead),

I'm living in the tombs."

CHAPTER VI.

Lincoln and the Armstrong Case

Famous Law Cases—The Clary Grove Boys—The Wrestling Contest—Jack and Hannah Armstrong—Trial of Their Son for Murder—Lincoln's Tact and the Acquittal—Letters from the Surviving Attorney in the Case—More Tangled History Untangled—Unpublished Facts Connected with Parties in the Case.

Lincoln, as a lawyer, was employed in a number of noted cases involving great interests. One was the defense of a slave girl, Nancy, in 1841, in the Supreme Court of Illinois, who, through him, was made free. At this time Mr. Lincoln was only thirty-two years of age. The case excited great interest, and the decision forever settled the few traces of slavery which had then existed in southern Illinois.

Another case was the Central Illinois Railroad Company against McLean County, Illinois, tried at Bloomington. This case was decided in favor of the railroad. Mr. Lincoln received from the company a fee of $5,000, the largest fee he ever received.

Another suit in which he was employed was the McCormick Reaper Patent case, tried in 1857, in Cincinnati, Ohio. Here Mr. Lincoln first met the Honorable Edwin M. Stanton, who was employed on the same side of the case. Mr. Stanton treated Mr. Lincoln with great disrespect. Mr. Lincoln overheard him, in an adjoining room, ask, "Where did that long-armed creature come from, and what can he do in this case?" He also declared if "that giraffe" was permitted to appear in the case he would throw up his brief and leave it. He further referred to Lincoln as a "long, lank creature from Illinois, wearing a dirty linen duster for a coat, the back of which the perspiration had splotched with stains that resembled the map of a continent." As there were a number of attorneys on both sides, it was ordered that only two speeches be made on each side. This order would exclude either Lincoln or Stanton, as there were three attorneys on that side of the case. At Lincoln's suggestion, Stanton quickly decided to speak. Mr. Lincoln was greatly disappointed, for he had made much preparation. Four years later, Mr. Lincoln was inaugurated President of the United States, and he chose Mr. Stanton as a member of his cabinet, and they were close friends during the Civil War.

The most celebrated case in which Mr. Lincoln figured was the Armstrong case, in 1858. All the Lincoln biographers refer to it, and as I have some unpublished facts in reference to it and some of the parties connected with the case, it is here presented at length.

There was near New Salem a band of young men known as the "Clary Grove Boys." The special tie that united them was physical courage and strength. Every newcomer of any great strength had to be tested. So Lincoln was required to go through the ordeal of a wrestling match. Seeing that he could not be easily floored, Jack Armstrong, their champion, was chosen to lay Lincoln on his back. Many gathered to witness the contest, and a number of bets were made. After quite a spirited engagement, Lincoln won, and was invited to become one of the company. Jack Armstrong declared, "Abe Lincoln is the best man that ever broke into the settlement," and he became a lifelong, warm friend of Lincoln.

Some time after the scuffle, Lincoln found a home, for a time, with Jack Armstrong, where he read and studied. Armstrong was a farmer, and a poor man, but he saw genius struggling in the young student, and welcomed him to his cabin home and rough fare. Mrs. Armstrong, a most excellent woman, learned to respect Mr. Lincoln, and befriended him in many ways.

About twenty years after Lincoln's stay in the Armstrong home, William D. Armstrong, commonly called "Duff," a son of Jack and Hannah Armstrong, became involved in a difficulty. He was somewhat wild, and was often in bad company. One night, in August, 1857, in company with a wild crowd, he went to a camp-meeting, where a row ensued, in which a man named Metzker received injuries from which he died three days later. Young Armstrong and another young man, Norris, were arrested, charged with murder, and put in jail. The community was greatly stirred over the matter and demanded the speedy punishment of the prisoners. A short time after "Duff" was placed in jail, his father, Jack Armstrong, died, and his last request was for his wife to sell everything she had to clear "Duff." Mrs. Armstrong engaged two lawyers at Havana, Illinois, and Lincoln, hearing of her troubles, wrote her the following letter:

"Springfield, Ohio, September 18, ——.

"Dear Mrs. Armstrong:—I have just heard of your deep affliction, and the arrest of your son for murder. I can hardly believe that he can be guilty of the crime alleged against him. It does not seem possible. I am anxious that he should have a fair trial, at any rate; and gratitude for your long-continued kindness to me in adverse circumstances prompts me to offer my humble services gratuitously in his behalf. It will afford me an opportunity to requite, in a small degree, the favors I received at your hand, and that of your lamented husband, when your roof afforded me grateful shelter without money and without price.

Yours truly,

Abraham Lincoln."

The first act was to secure a postponement and a change in place of trial. The trial was held at Beardstown, in May, 1858, only two years before Mr. Lincoln was nominated for President of the United States, and the case was watched with great interest. Norris had already been convicted and sent to the penitentiary.

"When the trial was called the prisoner was pale and emaciated, with hopelessness written on every feature. He was accompanied by his half-hoping, half-despairing mother, whose only hope was in a mother's belief of her son's innocence, in the justice of the God she worshiped, and in the noble counsel, who, without hope of fee or reward upon earth, had undertaken the case."

A statement of the trial is here taken, with a few changes, from Barrett's excellent "Life of Lincoln":

"Mr. Lincoln sat quietly by while the large auditory looked on him as though wondering what he could say in defense of one whose guilt they regarded as certain. The examination of the witnesses for the State was begun, and a well-arranged mass of evidence, circumstantial and positive, was introduced, which seemed to impale the prisoner beyond the possibility of extrication. The strongest evidence was that of a man who belonged to the rough element, who swore that at eleven o'clock at night he saw Armstrong strike the deceased on the head, that the moon was shining brightly, and was nearly full, and that its position in the sky was just about that of the sun at ten o'clock in the morning, and that by it he saw Armstrong give the mortal blow.

"The counsel for the defense propounded but few questions, and those of a character which excited no uneasiness on the part of the prosecutor—merely, in most cases, requiring the main witness to be definite as to time and place.

"When the evidence of the prosecution was ended, Lincoln introduced a few witnesses to remove some erroneous impressions in regard to the previous character of his client, who, though somewhat rowdyish, had never been known to commit a vicious act; and to show that a greater degree of ill feeling existed between the accuser and the accused than the accused and the deceased.

"The prosecutor felt that the case was a clear one, and his opening speech was brief and formal. Lincoln arose, while a deathly silence pervaded the vast audience, and in a clear, but moderate tone, began his argument. Slowly and carefully he reviewed the testimony, pointing out the hitherto unobserved discrepancies in the statements of the principal witness. That which had seemed plain and plausible, he made to appear as a serpent's path. The witness had stated that the affair took place at a certain hour in the evening, and that, by the aid of the brightly-shining moon, he saw the prisoner inflict the death blow."

At this point Mr. Lincoln produced an almanac, which showed that at the time referred to by the witness there was no moon at all, and showed it to the jury. He then said that the principal witness had testified to what was absolutely false, and declared his whole story a fabrication. Lincoln had told no one of his discovery, so that it produced quite a sensation.

"An almost instantaneous change seemed to have been wrought in the minds of the auditors, and the verdict of 'not guilty' was at the end of every tongue. But the advocate was not content with this intellectual achievement. His whole being had for months been bound up in this work of gratitude and mercy, and, as the lava of the overcharged crater bursts from its imprisonment, so great thoughts and burning words leaped from the soul of the eloquent Lincoln. He drew a picture of the perjurer, so horrid and ghastly that the accuser could sit under it no longer, but reeled and staggered from the court-room, while the audience fancied they could see the brand upon his brow. Then, in words of thrilling pathos, Lincoln appealed to the jurors, as fathers of sons who might become fatherless, and as husbands of wives who might be widowed, to yield to no previous impressions, no ill-founded prejudice, but to do his client justice. As he alluded to the debt of gratitude he owed the boy's dead father and his living widowed mother, tears were seen to fall from many eyes unused to weep. It was near night when he concluded by saying that if justice was done,—as he believed it would be,—before the sun should set it would shine upon his client a free man.

"The jury retired, and the court adjourned for the day. Half an hour had not elapsed when a messenger announced that the jury had returned to their seats. All repaired immediately to the court-house, and while the prisoner was being brought from the jail, the court-room was filled to overflowing with citizens of the town. When the prisoner and his mother entered, silence reigned as completely as though the house were empty. The foreman of the jury, in answer to the usual inquiry from the court, delivered the verdict of 'Not guilty.'

"The widow dropped into the arms of her son, who lifted her up, and told her to look upon him as before, free and innocent. Then with the words, 'Where is Mr. Lincoln?' he rushed across the room, and grasped the hand of his deliverer, while his heart was too full for utterance. Lincoln turned his eyes toward the west, where the sun still lingered in view, and then, turning to the youth, said, 'It is not yet sundown, and you are free.' An eye-witness says: 'I confess that my cheeks were not wholly unwet by tears as I turned from the affecting scene. As I cast a glance behind, I saw Abraham Lincoln obeying the divine injunction, by comforting the widowed and the fatherless.'"

A story has been reported that the introduction of an almanac in the Armstrong trial was a piece of trickery on Lincoln's part; that an almanac of 1853 was used with all the figure 3's changed to 7's. This was not necessary, for the almanac of 1857 answered the purpose, and, besides, Mr. Lincoln was not a dishonest lawyer.

Others have claimed that no almanac was used at all in the trial. George Cary Eggleston, a noted author, is reported as putting a discount on it, and intimates that the story arose from an incident connected with a trial in the early 'fifties at Vevay, Indiana, witnessed by himself and his brother Edward, the author of the "Hoosier Schoolmaster," and other popular novels. He says his brother, in writing the novel, entitled "The Graysons," exercised the novelist's privilege, and attributed this clever trick to Abraham Lincoln in the days of his obscurity.

Part First of Honorable J. H. Barrett's "Life of Lincoln" was prepared for the press in June, 1860, just after Mr. Lincoln's nomination for the presidency, and only two years after the Armstrong trial, and there the trial is mentioned in full, with the almanac incident. How does the George Cary Eggleston account jibe with these facts? His brother Edward simply stated an historical fact in attributing the almanac incident to Lincoln, and it was not the exercise of a novelist's fancy.

In order to secure additional facts in the Armstrong case, I recently wrote to the postmaster at Havana, Illinois, for the names of the lawyers, if yet living, who were associated with Mr. Lincoln in the case. The following letter was received, which is here given for its historic value:

"Havana, Illinois, August 22, 1908.

"Rev. J. T. Hobson, Dear Sir:—Your letter directed to the postmaster of this place, dated August 18, 1908, was handed to me by the postmaster, Mr. Oscar Harpham, and he requested me to answer your letter.

"You ask for the names of the lawyers in Havana, who, in connection with Abraham Lincoln, defended Duff Armstrong in the Circuit Court of Cass County, Illinois, held in Beardstown, in 1858. In answer, I will state that the undersigned, Lyman Lacey, Sr., was one of the two lawyers who was employed to defend said Armstrong. Our firm name was Walker and Lacey, and we were practicing law in Havana, Mason County, Illinois, at the time in partnership, and had been so engaged at the time of the trial since 1856. Mr. Walker's given name was William. In 1865, Mr. William Walker removed to Lexington, State of Missouri, where he practiced law, and was county judge part of the time, and, a few years ago, died.

"I am the only attorney who practiced and was employed to defend Armstrong, yet alive. I am in the practice of law now, and am in good health, and on the 9th day of May last was seventy-six years old. Was about twenty-six years old at the time of trial of the Armstrong case in Beardstown, and my partner, some years older than myself, was the senior member of our firm. He attended the trial in Beardstown with Lincoln. I was not present, but stayed at home in the office in Havana.

"Mason and Cass counties join, and the crime of killing Metzker, for which Armstrong was indicted, took place in Mason County, and the indictment against Armstrong was found in this county, and a change of venue was taken to Cass County, which was in the same judicial district.

"I was well acquainted with Hannah Armstrong, mother of "Duff," with whom Lincoln had boarded in Menard County, which also joins Mason, when he was a young man, and before he was a lawyer, That was the reason Lincoln would not charge anything for defending her son. Our firm, Walker and Lacey, did not charge her anything for our services. "Duff" could not pay. His mother employed us and Lincoln. Lincoln and our firm consulted together about the defense, and Walker assisted at the trial.

"I would be glad to give you any information in regard to the trial and the parties in the Armstrong case. It was quite celebrated, and things have been told that were not true.

"In regard to myself, in 1873 I was elected judge of the Circuit Court, and elected three times afterwards, and served in all twenty-four years. By appointment of the Supreme Court of this State, I served twenty years on the Appellate Court bench. I retired from the bench in 1897.

Yours very truly,

"Lyman Lacey, Sr."

After receiving the above letter, I wrote to Judge Lacey for additional information, and, in reply, received another letter containing interesting data, which here follows:

"Havana, Illinois, September 1, 1908.

"Rev. J. T. Hobson, Dear Sir:—Your letter of August 26th, was duly received, and contents noted. I wish to state to you that William Duff Armstrong was duly and jointly indicted with James H. Norris in the Circuit Court of Mason County, Illinois, for the murder of Metzker, October 3, 1857. Hugh Fullerton, of Mason County, was State's attorney and prosecutor, and is long since deceased. Norris was unable to employ an attorney, not having the necessary means. According to the laws of Illinois, in such case the circuit judge appoints an attorney at law to defend him, and the attorney is obliged to defend the prisoner without compensation. Accordingly the court appointed William Walker, my law partner, to defend Norris, which he did. Norris was tried before a jury of twelve men in Mason County, and said jury, on the 5th of November, convicted him of manslaughter, and fixed the time he should serve in the penitentiary as eight years, and the judge sentenced him to serve that time in the penitentiary at hard labor, which he did, less time gained by good behavior.

"William Duff Armstrong was granted a change of venue, November 5, 1857, to Cass County, Illinois, and was tried the next spring. William Walker and myself were employed by Hannah Armstrong and Duff to defend him in Cass County, Illinois. I cannot state for certain whether 'Aunt Hannah' first sought the advice and help of Lincoln, or whether Lincoln first volunteered his services, but my recollection is that she first sought his aid. I understood after the trial of Duff that Mr. Lincoln told her he would make no charge for his services, because, he told her, she had spent more time, while he boarded with her, in darning his stockings and mending his clothes, than he had in defending her son in the trial, and as she never charged him anything, he would not charge her for his services.

"You know that 'Old Abe,' as he was called, was a humorous kind of a man. At one time when I was in Beardstown, at a term of court, looking after the Armstrong case, Lincoln was also there, and the judge, who had to come down on a steamboat from Pekin on the Illinois River, was long delayed. Lincoln and myself were at the same hotel in Beardstown, waiting for the judge, when Lincoln became very uneasy, and walked backward and forward, slowly, at the door of the hotel, when finally he spelled out—'t-e-j-u-s, t-e-j-u-s,' pronouncing the word as spelled twice.

"In regard to the almanac question, there was a witness who testified that after eleven o'clock, when the moon was shining brightly, he saw Duff Armstrong strike Metzker with a club. Lincoln and my partner, William Walker, introduced the almanac of 1857, showing that the moon set before eleven o'clock, which proved that the witness was swearing to a falsehood as regarded the shining of the moon. Now some one started the story that the almanac introduced was not one of the date of 1857, but of a former date showing the setting of the moon before eleven o'clock.... My partner, Walker, would have told me about it if such a trick had been performed at the trial, but he never did. Some years ago, I examined an almanac of 1857, which showed the setting of the moon was before eleven o'clock, and that it was the right almanac to introduce. A year or two before Duff Armstrong died, I had a conversation with him in Mason City, Mason County, Illinois, and he said there was no truth in the story that an almanac of a different date than 1857 was introduced. The above charge is untrue, and is what I referred to in my former letter....

"I practiced law with Herndon in the 'fifties and the 'sixties, and he often talked to me about Lincoln, whom he liked very much, and afterward wrote his history. [Herndon was Lincoln's law partner twenty years.]

"At the time of the Armstrong trial, Lincoln was not looked upon as the great man he is to-day, only that he was a very good and successful lawyer. No one ever dreamed that he would be President. He was a man of great common sense, and an amusing story-teller. He knew how to please the common people, and everybody liked him personally.

Yours truly,

"Lyman Lacey, Sr."

Miss Ida M. Tarbell says, in McClure's Magazine, that Lincoln told the jury in the Armstrong case that he was not there as a hired attorney, but to discharge a debt of gratitude. Duff Armstrong said: "Uncle Abe did his best talking when he told the jury what true friends my father and mother had been to him in the early days. He told how he used to go out to Jack Armstrong's and stay for days; how kind mother was to him; and how, many a time, he had rocked me to sleep in the old cradle."

J. M. Hobson, now in his eighty-first year, and who, for many years, has resided in Winterset, Iowa, recently informed me that he was acquainted with "Aunt Hannah." She was married the second time to Samuel Wilcox. She died in Winterset, August 15, 1890, at the age of seventy-nine.

Mr. Hobson further said: "The son that Lincoln took an interest in was here fifteen or sixteen years ago. His name was William, but they called him "Duffy." We had a revival meeting at our church, and he attended. I took an interest in him, and tried to get him to be a Christian. He did not make a start then, and I do not know whether he did later or not."

Duff Armstrong was a soldier in the Civil War, and died a widower, in 1899, at his daughter's, near Easton, Mason County, Illinois.

"Aunt Hannah" has a number of relatives in Winterset, Iowa, among them Mrs. Martha McDonald, her step-daughter and daughter-in-law. She was first married to Robert, a son of "Aunt Hannah." He died several years ago. I am indebted to Mrs. McDonald, through J. M. Hobson, for the excellent picture of "Aunt Hannah" in this book, also for the picture of "Duff," taken late in life, as an every-day farmer. He was Mrs. McDonald's step-brother and brother-in-law.

CAPTAIN JOHN W. LAMAR,

Who knew Lincoln in Indiana.

MRS. CAPT. J. W. LAMAR,

Yet living in Spencer County, Indiana, who remembers the Lincolns in Indiana.

HONORABLE JAMES GENTRY,

Son of proprietor of Gentryville, Indiana. Both knew Lincoln in Indiana.

ELIZABETH GRIGSBY,

One of the brides of a double wedding in Indiana which caused Lincoln to write the "Chronicles of Reuben."

CHAPTER VII.

Lincoln's Temperance Principles

Promise Made to His Mother—Writes a Temperance Article Before Leaving Indiana—Mr. Wood and Mr. Farmer—Did Lincoln Sell Whisky?—His Great Temperance Address—Testimony of Associates—Moses Martin's Letter—The Internal Revenue Bill.

It is well known that Abraham Lincoln was strictly a temperance man. His early training was on that line. In his maturer years, while a member of Congress, when urged by an associate to drink on a certain occasion, he said, "I promised my precious mother only a few days before she died that I would never use anything intoxicating as a beverage, and I consider that promise as binding to-day as it was on the day I made it."

Among his first literary efforts, at his boyhood home in Indiana, was to write an article on temperance. William Wood, living near by, was Lincoln's chief adviser in many things. He took a political and a temperance paper, and Lincoln read them thoroughly. He expressed a desire to try his hand at writing an article on temperance. Mr. Wood encouraged him, and the article was written. Aaron Farmer, a noted minister of the United Brethren Church, often stopped with Mr. Wood, who was a zealous and devoted member of the same church. Mr. Herndon and other Lincoln biographers are mistaken in saying that Aaron Farmer was a minister of the Baptist Church. Henry Brooner told me that he joined the United Brethren Church at a grove meeting held in that part of the country by Aaron Farmer, in the fall of 1827.

Lincoln's temperance article was shown Mr. Farmer by Mr. Wood, and he was so well pleased with it that he sent it to an Ohio paper, in which it was published. Lincoln, at this time, was seventeen or eighteen years old. I was acquainted with James, Andrew, Robert, and Charles, aged sons of William Wood, all of whom knew Lincoln. They have all passed away. In the year 1888, I officiated at the funeral of Mrs. Nancy Armstrong, one of Mr. Wood's daughters, at her home, which was the old home of her father, where Lincoln was always a welcome visitor. William L. Wood, a grandson of Lincoln's adviser, now living at Dale, and whom I have known for many years, says his grandfather was a temperance worker.

Mr. Farmer had a literary turn of mind, and published a paper called Zion's Advocate, at Salem, Indiana, in 1829, but this was about two years after Lincoln's temperance article was written. The United Brethren Church organ, the Religious Telescope, now published at Dayton, Ohio, was first published at Circleville, Ohio, in 1834, but this was still later. Query: In what paper in Ohio was Lincoln's temperance article printed? Mr. Farmer died March 1, 1839, while serving as presiding elder of the Indianapolis District. William Wood, Lincoln's old friend and adviser, died at Dale, Spencer County, Indiana, December 28, 1867, at the age of eighty-three.

Mr. Lincoln has been charged with selling whisky at New Salem, Illinois. Let us examine the facts and his own statement. In 1833, he and Mr. Berry bought out three groceries in New Salem. Berry was a drinking man and not a suitable partner for Lincoln. At that time grocery stores usually kept whisky on sale, so the firm had quite a stock of whisky on hand, along with other commodities. Drinking was common then. Even some ministers of the gospel would take their "dram." It appears that Lincoln trusted Berry to run the business. It is doubtful if Lincoln himself sold whisky, although his name was connected with the firm. The firm failed. Berry died, leaving Lincoln the debts to pay.

Mr. Douglas, in his debates with Lincoln, twitted him as having been a "grocery keeper" and selling whisky. In replying, Lincoln jokingly said Mr. Douglas was one of his best customers, and said he had left his side of the counter, while Douglas stuck to his side as tenaciously as ever. When Lincoln laid aside his jokes he declared that he never sold whisky in his life. (See Chapter IX.)

Mr. Lincoln often "preached" what he called his "sermon to boys," as follows: "Don't drink, don't gamble, don't smoke, don't lie, don't cheat. Love your fellow-men, love God, love truth, love virtue, and be happy."

On the 22d of February, 1842, he made a strong address before the Washingtonian Temperance Society, in the Second Presbyterian Church, Springfield, Illinois, in which he said: "Whether or not the world would be vastly benefited by a total and final banishment from it of all intoxicating drinks, seems to me not now an open question. Three-fourths of mankind confess the affirmative with their tongues, and, I believe, all the rest acknowledge it in their hearts."

Leonard Swett, who, for eleven years was associated with Lincoln in law in the Eighth Judicial District of Illinois, said, "Lincoln never tasted liquor, never chewed tobacco or smoked."