The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-06-23 00:00:00

THE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE FOR THE
PRESIDENCY OF THE UNITED STATES.-

THRILLING EPISODE IN THE LIFE OF
" ABE LINCOLN." •
A correspondent of the Clevelaitd Plaindealet gals,
under this head :—As a Western man, I wish space to
give vent to my enthusiasm over the nomination of the ,
Hon. Abraham Lincoln for President of the United
States. Mr. Lincoln, or " Old Abe," as his friends
familiarly call him, is a self-made man. A Kentuckian
by birth, he emigrated to Illinois in his boyhood,
where he earned his living at the anvil, devoting
his leisure hours to study. Having chosen the
law as his future calling, he devoted himself
assiduously to its mastery, contending at every step
with adverse fortune. During this period of study,
he for some time found a home under the hospitable
roof of one Armstrong, a farmer, who lived in a log-
house some eight miles from the village of Petersburg,
Menard county. Here, clad in homespun, with elbows
out, and knees covered with patches, young Lincoln
would master his lessons by the firelight of the cabir,
and then walk to town for the purpose of recitation.
This man Armstrong was himself poor, but he saw the
genius struggling in the young student, and opened to
him his rude home, and bid him welcome to his coarse
fare. How Lincoln graduated with promise, how be
has mere than fulfilled that promise, bow honourably 1
acquitted himself alike on the battle-field, in defending
our border settlements against the ravages of savage
foes, and in the halls of our national legislature, are
matters of history, and need no repetition here. But
one little incident of a more private nature, standing
as it does as a sort of sequel to some things already
alluded to, I deem worthy of record. Some few years
since the oldest son of Mr. Lincoln's old friend Arm-
strong, the chief support of his widowed mother—the
good old man having some time previously passed from
earth—was arrested on a charge of murder. A young
man had been killed during a riotous melee, in the
night time, at a camp meeting, and one of his associates
stated that the death-wound was inflicted by young Arm-
strong. A preliminary examination was gone into, at.
which the accuser testified so positively that there seemed
no doubt of the guilt of the prisoner, and therefore he
was held for trial. As is too often the case, the bloody
act caused an undue degree of excitement in the public
mind. Every improper incident that had occurred in
the life of the prisoner—each act which bore the
least semblance of rowdyism—each school-boy quarrel
—was suddenly remembered and magnified, until they
pictured him as a fiend of the most horrid hue. As
taese rumours spread abroad, they were received as
gospel truth, and a feverish desire for vengeance seized
upon the infatuated populace, while only prison-bars
prevented a horrible death at the hands of a mob.
The events were heralded in the county papers, painted
in highest colours, accompanied by rejoicing over the
certainty of punishment being meted out to the guilty
party. The prisoner, overwhelmed by the circum-
stances under which he found himself placed, fell into
a melancholy condition, bordering upon despair ; and
the widowed mother, looking through her tears, saw
no cause for hope from earthly aid.
At this juncture, the widow received a letter from
Mr. Lincoln, volunteering his services in an effort to
save the youth from the impending stroke. Gladly wee
his aid accepted, although it seemed impossible for even
his sagacity to prevail in such a desperate case; but
the heart of the attorney was in his work, and he set
about it with a will that knew no such word as fail.
Feeling that the poisoned condition of the public mind
was such as to preclude the possibility of impannelliug
an impartial jury in the court having jurisdiction, he
procured a change of venue, and a postponement of the
trial. He then went studiously to work in unravelling
the history of the case, and satisfied himself that his
client was the victim of malice, and that the statements
of the accuser were a tissue of falsehoods. When the
trial was called on, the prisoner, pale and emaciated,
with hopelessness written on every feature, and accom-
panied 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 worshipped,
and in the noble counsel, who, without hope of fee or
reward upon earth, had undertaken the cause—took
his seat in the prisoner's box, and with a " stony firm-
ness " listened to the reading of the indictment. Lin-
coln sat quietly by, while the large auditory looked
on him as though wondering what he could say in
defence of one whose guilt they regarded as certain.,
The examination of witnesses for the State was
begun, and a well-arranged mass of evidence cir-
cumstantial and positive, was introduced, which
seemed to impale the prisoner beyond the possibility .
of extrication. The counsel for the defence 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
regard to the previous character of his client, who,
though somewhat rowdyish, had never been known to
esti-nit a vicious act ; and to show that a greater
degree of ill-feeling existed between the accuser and the
accused than the aecused and the deceased. The prose-
cutor felt that the case was a clear one, and his opening ,s
speech was brief and formal. Lincoln arose, while
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 crooked 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 with a slung-shot. Mr. Lincoln showed
that at the hour referred to, the moon had not yet ap-
peared above the horizon, and consequently the whole
tale was a fabrication. Au almost instantaneous change
seemed to have been wrought in the minds of the audi-
tors, 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 thought
and burning words leaped forth 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 tancied 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 ; and, as he alluded to th°
debt of gratitude which he owed the boy's sire,
tears were seen to fall from many eyes unused tq deep,
It was near night when he concluded by saying that, iE
justice were done-ras he helieyed it would' 'he--ebefore
the sin should set, it would shine upon his client a keg
man. The jury retired, and the court 0014.441 fqf
the day. Half an hour had not elapsed, when, as 116 Q
officers of the court and the volunteer attorney sat at
the tea-table of their hotel, a messenger announced
that the jury had returned to their seats. All repaired
immediately to the court-house, and while the priso-
ner was being brought from the gaol the court-Noll,
was filled to overflowing with citizens of the WM'
When the prisoner and his mother entered silence
reigned as completely as though the house were empty.
The foreman of the jury, i 4 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 ?" ho flashed 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." I confess that my cheeks were not wholly
unwet by tears, and I turned from the affecting- sceze-
As I cast a glance behind, 1 saw Abraham I.4ccoln
obeying the divine injunction, by comfortiAg the widowed
and the fatherless.

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Amongst the recent improve
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time
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live contrivance the Mlt
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's to quote the following interesting information
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_...;
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_.....0.2

Printed and Published by WALTER HENRY PEAT, °f ju4
8, Wesley-street, in the Parish of Toxteth-park, Ler or
Printing Establishments-3, Bnunewicit-sTaxiT (Co"
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JUNE 23, 1100: