The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1860-08-15
ANorHER HANKS IN THE FIELD.


nominee for President which, as our readers |
will see, takes different view of that Grail |
splitting business "thirty years ago" as well
as of other things stated in his recent letter. |
The letter is copied from the Decatur lii |
nois) Magnet: 81 e
EDIToR OF THE MAaNET-Dear SIR. In |
the last week issue of the Chronicle I noticed
a letter signed "John Hanks" which is 50 ex-
traordinary in many of its features that feel
called upon to give it brief notice. ags
John Hanks is my younger brother, and
Abe Lincoln is my cousin. have known
both John and Abe from their earliest child. |
hood. Since brother John has committed
himself to the Decatur politician, who is usleg
him as a tool to speculate in certain old rails
(that know cousin Abe never made), have
great fears that brother John, like cousin Abe,
has fallen into bad hands, and that a man by
nature made for good man, but who always
needed protecting counsellors, may be by his
bad associations entirely ruined. have
known the entire history of both brother John
and cousin Abe, and all that stuff in the let
ter published in the Cronicle is stuff, miserable
stuff, and although poor brother Johns name
is signed to it. / know that he even yet does
not know what is In it; much less did he ever
write it. It is the work of men pnscrupulous
in the means that they may use in gulling
honest people.
In Johns letter find long and pathetic
allusion to cousin Abe's early and hard life
That may be poetical, but there is but little
of it true. In Abe's young days he was sim
ply wild, hdruna Scaruns boy, and jumping
and wrestling were his only accomplishments.
His laziness was the cause of many mortifca-
tions to me; for, as 1 was aO older boy than
either Abe or John, I often had to do Abe's
work at uncle's, when the family were all sick
with the ague from eating watermellons, and
Abe would be frolicking around the country
neglecting them. In those early days we all
saw hard times; yet a young man who was
energetic and Industrious could dress himself
comfortably, and have plenty of plain, good
food to eat. have often felt ashamed of
cousin Abe in seeing him full grown man,
gadding around the country barefoot, with his
toes outrageousfy spraddled out by the mud
and instead cf his reading his books as broth
er John, through the Decatur politician, SO
POLITICALLY tells us, he would be rowdying around
with pack of wild, young men. well re-
member when he went courting one OF Major
Warnick's daughters, in this county, his boots
were so miserbly bad that his feet were frosted,
and he had to lay up at Major Warnick's fer
two weeks, and have the old lady nurse and
doctor his feet.
am fully persuaded that brother John is
taking the strange course that he is now pur-
suing for the purpose of making little money
out of rail speculation, and if could for
one moment think that the Decatur sharpers,
in whose hands he has placed himself, would
not cheat him out of every cent of money,
would not spoil the speculation by telling the
facts.
The facts in regard to those rails are these :
The little farm that John and Abe made the
rails to fence contained ten acres. About i've
years after this little farm was fenced, the en-
tire fence was burned up; to my certain knowl-
edge, for hauled the rails to fence it the sec
ond time; Lewis 81. Ward, who now resides in
this county, witnessed the fire that burned the
rails, and he is willing to make affidavit OF this
fact.
/ I lived within two miles and half of this
Lincoln farm from the time it was first set
tied up to 1857, and during these early times
our farmers were subj ject to be visited by de-
wasting fires, and knoao that the fence around
i the Lincoln farm was consumed at least three
times. And know that after the Lincoln
family had left the farm that the fence was
again burned, and that Shelf Whitley and
Daniel McDahiels made the rails and refenced
it
think, and am almost certain, that the
rails that are now being worshiped all over the
North as Lincoln rails, were made by poor Bill
Strickland, who is now poor, blind, helpless,
and in the Macon county poor-house. And If
these philanthropic Republicans would allow
me to make one suggestion, it would be to
help Door Bill Strickland, who really did make
the rails; and who is as honest as Abe or any
body else that ever mounted rail, instead of
spending their money over his rails.
As cousin. Abe bending the "Honest Abe
politician" that is new title for him. When
he first came to Illinois, know that he was
a strong Democrat, [ always thought that
he turned Wing afterwards because he had
>, - ofr nd rho
heard him in 1856, in the court house at De
catur, made speech, in which he asserted
that he would continue to "agitate the subject
of negro slavery so long, as was heard the
crack of the lash upon the yellow girls back,
did not feel like he was either very honest
or very patriotic, for suppose that he said
for the purpose Of catching Abolition votes.
know that cousin Abe cared nothing about
cutting the throat of the old Whig party the
very moment that he could make anything by
building up new party. And never sup
posed that he cared one cent as to what the
principles of the new party should be only so
it was fixed that he could get Office.
e Now as to cousin Abe's running fatboats,
that amounts to Just this; Some young fellows
had cut raft to run down to JimtowD, and
Abe, for the fun of the thing, went along, in
stead of staying at home and attending to his
own work, that was needing him very much
That is the extent of his fatboating.
If cousin Abe can honestly get good Office
want to see him do so; but these abominable
lies which are being told of him by politicians
who pretend to be his friends, | repel as q
, family insult.
In my own homely way, have told the
. above as it occurred for the benefit Of my
: honest neighbors and acquaintances, and
3 want you to publish it just as it is. may
trouble you again. CHARLES HANKS.
Too BAp-Portraits of all Presidentia
candidates are usually in demand, but the Ii
thographers who got up "Old Abe" complain