CELEBRATION OF THE CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF LINCOLN'S BIRTH.
Preparations—General Observance—President Roosevelt Lays
Corner-stone of Lincoln Museum at Lincoln's Birthplace—Extracts
from Addresses at Various Places—Closing Tribute 105
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.
[Illustration: 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."
[Illustration: UNITED BRETHREN CHURCH,
_At Lincoln City, Indiana, on the old Lincoln farm. The author, as
presiding elder, has officiated and preached in this church._]
[Illustration: 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._]
[Illustration: 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.
[Illustration: CAPTAIN JOHN W. LAMAR,
_Who knew Lincoln in Indiana_.]
[Illustration: MRS. CAPT. J. W. LAMAR,
_Yet living in Spencer County, Indiana, who remembers the Lincolns
in Indiana_.]
[Illustration: HONORABLE JAMES GENTRY,
_Son of proprietor of Gentryville, Indiana. Both knew Lincoln in
Indiana_.]
[Illustration: 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."
The late Philip Clark, of Mattoon, Illinois, an old-time friend of
Lincoln, is reported to have said: "We were together one night in a
country neighborhood, when some one proposed that we all go to church,
close by, to hear the Rev. John Berry preach a temperance sermon. After
listening intently, Abe remarked to me that that subject would some
time be one of the greatest in this country."
In the year 1847, Lincoln made a number of temperance addresses and
circulated a total abstinence pledge, urging persons to sign it. Among
those who signed the pledge presented by Mr. Lincoln were Moses Martin
and Cleopas Breckenridge, who are still living. Recently I wrote to
Mr. Martin, asking him to furnish for this book a statement concerning
his recollections of Lincoln and his temperance speech. He promptly
answered, as follows:
"EDINBURG, ILLINOIS, January 14, 1909.
"MR. J. T. HOBSON, DEAR SIR:—I heard Abraham Lincoln lecture on
temperance in 1847, at the South Fork schoolhouse. He came out
from Springfield. He had gotten up a pledge. It was called the
Washingtonian pledge. He made a very forcible lecture, the first
temperance lecture I ever heard, and the first one ever delivered
in our neighborhood. It was in the grove, and a large crowd came
out to hear the lecture. Lincoln asked if any one had anything
to say, for it or against it, while he circulated the pledge, he
would hear from them. My old friend, Preston Breckenridge, got
up and made a very forcible talk. He signed the pledge, and all
his children. Cleopas was his son. Nearly every one there signed
it. Preston went out lecturing. I usually went with him and
circulated the pledge copied after Abraham Lincoln's pledge. It
read as follows: 'Whereas, the use of intoxicating liquors as a
beverage is productive of pauperism, degradation, and crime, and
believing it is our duty to discourage that which produces more
evil than good; we, therefore, pledge ourselves to abstain from
the use of intoxicating liquors as a beverage.' When I signed
Lincoln's pledge I was about nineteen years old. I am now eighty
years old.
"MOSES MARTIN."
At my request, Mr. Martin kindly sent his picture for this book.
Cleopas Breckenridge, who is referred to in Mr. Martin's letter, is
living, in his seventy-third year, at Custer, Illinois. As he has
furnished a statement for other publications, he writes that he prefers
not to furnish it again. It may be said, however, that he was ten years
old when Lincoln, by permission, wrote his name under the pledge, then
placing his hand on the little boy's head, said, "Now, sonny, you keep
that pledge, and it will be the best act of your life." In his long
life, subject to many temptations, Mr. Breckenridge has faithfully kept
his pledge made at Mr. Lincoln's temperance meeting.
On the 29th of September, 1863, in response to an address from the Sons
of Temperance in Washington, President Lincoln said:
"If I were better known than I am, you would not need to be told
that, in the advocacy of the cause of temperance you have a friend
and a sympathizer in me. When I was a young man—long ago—before
the Sons of Temperance as an organization had an existence, I,
in a humble way, made temperance speeches, and I think I may say
that to this day I have never, by my example, belied what I then
said.... I think the reasonable men of the world have long since
agreed that intemperance is one of the greatest, if not the very
greatest, of all evils among mankind. This is not a matter of
dispute, I believe. That the disease exists, and that it is a very
great one, is agreed upon by all. The mode of cure is one about
which there may be differences of opinion."
It is true that President Lincoln, during the awful pressure of the
Civil War, signed the Internal Revenue Bill, (H. R., No. 312,) to raise
money from various sources to support the Government, among which was
the licensing of retail dealers in intoxicating liquors. This bill
was warmly discussed. Some years ago, I read these discussions in the
"Congressional Record," of May 27, 1862. Senators Wilson, Pomeroy,
Harris, and Wilmot opposed the licensing of the sale of intoxicants in
the strongest manner. Mr. Lincoln threatened to veto the bill, but, as
a war measure, and, acting under dire necessity, with the assurance
that the bill would be repealed when the war was over, he reluctantly
signed the bill, July 1, 1862. Up to this time, however, the bill has
never been repealed. There have been some changes made, among which
the word "license" was changed to "special tax," but the import is
practically the same.
CHAPTER VIII.
Lincoln as a Prohibitionist
Major J. B. Merwin and Abraham Lincoln—They Together
Canvass Illinois for State Prohibition in 1854-55—Lincoln's
Arguments Against the Saloon—Facts Omitted by Lincoln's
Biographers—President Lincoln, Generals Scott and Butler
Recommend Merwin's Temperance Work in the Army—The President
Sends Merwin on a Mission to New York the Day of the
Assassination—Proposition for Freedmen to Dig Panama
Canal—Lincoln's Last Words to Merwin—Merwin's Characteristic
Address at Lincoln's Tomb—"Lincoln, the Christian
Statesman"—Merwin Living at Middlefield, Connecticut.
It will, no doubt, be of interest to here introduce a man who, perhaps,
knew Mr. Lincoln as well as any man now living. It is Major J. B.
Merwin, of Middlefield, Connecticut, who is now eighty years old. He
is a noted educator and lecturer. He formerly resided in St. Louis,
Missouri, and was the founder of "The American Journal of Education,"
in that city in 1867. Since that time he has written much and lectured
widely on educational and literary subjects.
Learning of his associations with Mr. Lincoln, that they together
campaigned the State of Illinois for State prohibition in 1854-55,
I wrote Mr. Merwin for some items relative to his acquaintance and
associations with the great emancipator. In his reply, Mr. Merwin said:
"I mail you a very brief résumé of my connection with Mr. Lincoln
from 1854 on, up to the day he was assassinated. This will answer
your query and request, I think, fully. Of course the address made
at the tomb of the great, dear man, on May 26, 1904, was greatly
abridged for lack of space, but many essential points you will be
able to gather from what I send you. And I am glad to do this, for
nearly all his biographers ignore both his prohibition and his
religious work and character."
From what Mr. Merwin furnished, as stated in his letter, the following
facts are here presented:
Mr. Merwin, then a young man, was a temperance lecturer in Connecticut,
in 1851, during which year he and Neal Dow both addressed the
legislature in behalf of State prohibition. A resident of Springfield,
Illinois, then visiting in Hartford, being interested in the question,
gained admittance to this legislative session, and was much pleased
with Mr. Merwin's presentation of the subject. He afterward took it
upon himself to invite Mr. Merwin to visit Springfield and deliver
the same address before the Illinois Legislature. The invitation was
accepted, and the following winter Mr. Merwin began a temperance
campaign in Illinois. His first address was made at the capital.
At this time the legislature was considering the submission of the
prohibition question to the people, and as the question met with great
opposition from the leaders of the two political parties, who feared
to jeopardize the liquor interests, the speaker from the East was not
permitted to address the legislature as a body, and spoke instead in
the representative hall.
It was at this meeting that he first met Lincoln, who was immediately
touched by the young speaker's words and enthusiastically accepted
his message. Mr. Lincoln invited Mr. Merwin home with him that night,
but, knowing nothing of the character of the man, Mr. Merwin asked the
advice of a friend, who said, "Most certainly, if Mr. Lincoln invites
you, go." Mr. Merwin says: "We were barely inside his door, and even
before he asked me to be seated, he wanted to know if I had a copy of
the Maine law with me. I had, and we spent until four o'clock in the
morning discussing its features." The matter of a prohibition canvass
was outlined, and Mr. Lincoln volunteered to put the whole matter
before Richard Yates, afterwards Illinois' war governor, but who was
then Grand Worthy Patriarch of the Sons of Temperance. Mr. Yates was
quick to see the strength of the new idea, and himself arranged the
first series of rallies where Lincoln and Merwin spoke.
The meeting at Jacksonville was presided over by Richard Yates. Among
the places at which they spoke were Bellville, Bloomington, Peoria,
Edwardsville, and Decatur. Mr. Lincoln's political friends were alarmed
for him because of his radicalism on the temperance question, and made
a combined effort to silence him, but he continued in the fight.
Prohibition did not carry in its submission to the people, but it is
said that the votes of forty counties were changed in favor of State
prohibition.
After the campaign of 1854-55, Mr. Merwin's friendship with Lincoln
continued without a break up to the latter's assassination. Soon after
the commencement of the war, Mr. Merwin's unceasing advocacy of the
great reform won him personal recognition, and it was suggested by
prominent military men that he should be officially appointed, and
be permitted the freedom of the camps in the interests of personal
temperance work, need of which was widely evident. What President
Lincoln and Generals Scott and Butler wrote on the back of the
recommendation, as endorsements, is here given. Mr. Merwin has the
original manuscript:
"If it be ascertained at the War Department that the President has
legal authority to make an appointment such as is asked within,
and Gen. Scott is of opinion it will be available for good, then
let it be done.
"July 17, 1861. A. LINCOLN."
"I esteem the mission of Mr. Merwin to this army a happy
circumstance, and request all commanders to give him free access
to all our camps and posts, and also to multiply occasions to
enable him to address our officers and men.
WINFIELD SCOTT,
"July 24, 1861. _Department of Virginia._"
"The mission of Mr. Merwin will be of great benefit to the troops,
and I will furnish him with every facility to address the troops
under my command. I hope the Gen'l commanding the army will give
him such official position as Mr. Merwin may desire to carry out
his object.
"August 8, 1861. B. F. BUTLER, _Maj-Gen. Com'd'g._"
The testimonial to the warm appreciation of Mr. Merwin's usefulness
in the army as a temperance worker is signed by Isaac N. Arnold, O.
H. Browning, Charles Sumner, Alexander W. Randall, W. A. Buckingham,
Richard Yates, James Harlan, Alexander Ramsey, A. B. Palmer, John F.
Potter, J. L. Scripps, Lyman Trumbull, Henry Wilson, J. R. Doolittle,
Austin Blair, Thomas Drummond, James W. Grimes, Samuel J. Kirkwood,
Timothy O. Howe, David Wilmot, and more than one hundred others. They
comprise those of governors, senators, congressmen, and postmasters.
In 1862, President Lincoln again wrote a special order to facilitate
his work at the front, as follows, the original still being in Mr.
Merwin's possession:
"Surgeon General will send Mr. Merwin wherever he may think the
public service may require.
"July 24, 1862. A. LINCOLN."
Throughout the war Mr. Merwin was in close personal touch with the
nation's executive, and had a passport, given him by Mr. Lincoln, which
admitted him to the White House at any time, day or night, except
during the session of the cabinet. On the day of his assassination the
President had Mr. Merwin to dine with him, and that afternoon sent him
on an important mission to New York.
It will be a matter of interest to many to know that Mr. Lincoln
looked very favorably upon a proposal that had been made for the
excavation and completion of the Panama Canal by means of the labor
of the freedmen. Those close to the President at the time were aware
of the fact that he favored the plan, and it was for the purpose of
securing the views of Horace Greeley, of the New York _Tribune_, and
other molders of public thought, in regard to the plan, that he called
Major Merwin to the White House on the fatal Friday, April 14, 1865,
the day that he was shot. After the President had explained this
business to Mr. Merwin, perhaps recalling again those stirring times
ten years before, when he had campaigned with him, he said, "After
reconstruction, the next great question will be the overthrow of the
liquor traffic."
That evening Mr. Merwin was on his way to New York, and the following
morning, as he stepped from the train in that city, he heard the
terrible news of the assassination at Ford's Theater, the night before.
Mr. Merwin says that Mr. Lincoln talked freely with him on the
overthrow of the liquor traffic, and it is his strong conviction that
if his life had been spared, even a decade, he would have emphasized
his lifelong devotion to the temperance cause with an open and decisive
championship of State and National prohibition. The slavery issue had
come unforeseen into his life and swept him heart and soul into the
very vortex of that terrific struggle. As he often expressed it, "there
must be one war at a time," and the one that called him first was not
of his own choosing in point of order.
The abridged address on "Lincoln as a Prohibitionist," delivered by
Major Merwin at the Lincoln Monument, at Springfield, Illinois, May 26,
1904, which he furnished for this book, is here given. It was printed
in the _New Voice_, Chicago, June 16, 1904, to which I am indebted for
a number of the foregoing items, some of which were marked by Major
Merwin with a blue pencil.
After a brief introduction by Mr. Alonzo Wilson, chairman of the State
Prohibition Committee, Mr. Merwin, standing on one of the steps of the
stairway of the monument, with a beautiful flag covering a part of the
balustrade, said:
"We stand to-day in the heart of the continent, midway between the
two oceans, within the shadow of the monument of the man who made
more history—who made greater history than any other person, than
all other persons who lived in the nineteenth century! A leader
of the people, who was great in their greatness, who carried
their burdens, who, with their help, achieved a name and a fame
unparalleled in human history. He broke the shackles of four
millions of slaves. He saved to the world this form of government,
which gives to all our people the opportunity to walk, if they
will, down the corridors of time, arm in arm with the great of
all ages, sheltered and inspired by the flag which has become the
symbol of hope and of freedom to all the world!
"In God's good providence, I came to know him—here in his humble
home in Springfield, in 1854, and before he had come to be the
hero, beloved, glorified, known and loved by all who love liberty.
It was in the autumn of 1854. I was a young man full of all the
enthusiasm of those first Neal Dow triumphs in New England.
Accepting the invitation of friends, I came to Illinois, where the
campaign for State prohibition was getting under way. I reached
Springfield, and one night had the privilege of speaking in the
old State House, where, with legislators and townspeople, I found
an appreciative audience.
"After my address, there were calls of 'Lincoln! Lincoln!
Lincoln!' and turning, I saw, perhaps, the most singular specimen
of a human being rising slowly, and unfolding his long arms and
his long legs, exactly like the blades of a jack-knife. His hair
was uncombed, his coat sleeves were inches shorter than his shirt
sleeves, his trousers did not reach to his socks. First I thought
there was some plan to perpetrate a 'joke' on the meeting, but in
one minute, after the first accents of the pathetic voice were
heard, the crowd hushed to a stillness as profound as if Lincoln
were the only person present, and then this simple, uncouth man
gave to the hushed crowd such a definition of law, its design and
mission, its object and power, such as few present had ever known
or dreamed. Among the points he made were the following:
"Mr. Lincoln asked, 'Is not the law of self-protection the first
law of nature; the first primary law of civilized society?' 'Law,'
he declared, 'is for the protection, conservation, and extension
of right things, of right conduct; not for the protection of evil
and wrong-doing.'
"'The State must, in its legislative action, recognize in the
law enacted this principle—it must make sure and secure these
endeavors to establish, protect, and extend right conditions,
right conduct, righteousness. These conditions will be secured and
preserved, not by indifference, not by a toleration of evils, not
by attempting to throw around any evil the shield of law; never by
any attempt to license the evil.'
"'This sentiment of right conduct for the protection of home, of
state, of church, of individuals must be taken up and embodied
in legislation, and thus become a positive factor, active in
the state. This is the first and most important function in
the legislation of the modern state.' Proceeding, Mr. Lincoln
said: 'This saves the whole, and not a part, with a high, true
conservatism through the united action of all, by all, for all.
The prohibition of the liquor traffic, except for medical and
mechanical purposes, thus becomes the new evangel for the safety
and redemption of the people from the social, political, and moral
curse of the saloon, and its inevitable evil consequences of
drunkenness.'