Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1861-02-20
Reception of the President Elect!
THE JOURNEY FROM SPRINGFIELD,
Incidents on the Route
ARRIVAL AT INDIANAPOLIS!


A special train. preceded by pilot engine, |
left Springfield at eight o'clock Tuesday morn
ing, containing Mr.. Lincoln and suite. The party,
from all we can learn, was a very pleasant one
and Mr.. Lincoln was in his best anecdotal mood. |
About twenty miles this side of Springfield
party of boys had built rail fence across the |
track, for the purpose of stopping the railsptter
to get sight of him, and they chose regular
campaign documents to effect their purpose. Of
course the obstruction was removed by the pioneer
train and caused no delay to the regular one.
Along the line at every station crowds were as
sembled to see the President elect and he gener-
ally showed himself and made short speeches,
graded by the length of time that the train stop
ped.
At the State line the Committee of the In
diana Legislature met him, and General Steele of
the Senate welcomed him in a neat speech, to
which Mr.. Lincoln responded in general terms.
At Lafayette the train was welcomed by sa-
lutte of thirty-four guns, but it passed on to the
crossing, where the bulk of the crowd had Assem-
bled, where a stay of about ten minutes was
had. Mr.. Lincoln was introduced to the people,
and spoke for few minutes. He alluded to the
vast Improvements of the country since he had
first visited it thirty years ago-then a compare
tive wilderness-now highly cultivated garden,
teeming with wealth and the fruits of the highest
civilization. A few hours before he had left his
home, where every face he saw in the crowd sur
rounding him was familiar but now, in the sea
of upturned faces, he could not recognize single
one, except as citizens of a common country
whose interests were identical In the former
days it took weeks to accomplish what could now
be done in as many hours.
At Thorntown he was betrayed into an anecdote
to illustrate point. and the train started before
he got to the place where the laugh came in, and
the people were left to wonder what the meaning
might be. He was apologizng for not making a
speech. He had heard of man who was a can
didate for county Office, who owned horse that
he set great store by, but he slow animal
and sure footed. He had canvassed extensively
with a good chance for the nomination. On the
morning of the day of the convention, he
mounted his favorite to go to the county seat,
but in spite of whip and spur, his horse Jagged on
the road, biting at every bush, and when he
arrived late in the evening, the convention
was over and he was defeated. So of him,
if he stopped at every station to make stump
speech he would not arrive at Washington until
the Inauguration was over The Thomtown
folks only heard the first part of the story, where
the candidate was urging his steed to pass the
juicy bushes. He laughed over the cutting short
of his yarn, and when the train arrived at Le5a-
non he was jocularly told that some of the Thorn
town folks had followed the train on foot, and
were painting outside to hear the conclusion OF
the story. He told it over -humoredly to
the crowd at Lebanon. Every station along the
road had its crowd-all anxious to see the man
whose election to the first Office in the gift of
free people has been the cause whether with rea-
son or not of the distracted state of the country
! ARRIVAL AT INDIANAPOLIS.
From an early hour in the morning our streets
5 were thronged with people, and the active poll
tcians were industrious in their preparations for
the arrival of the train which was freighted with
0 their 3bpes of Office. The wind blew strong W
to noon, and the request of the Council that flags
: be suspended from the windows and raised on the
e house tops was not very generally responded to
4 In the afternoon the wind luled and some of the
, business houses and the hotels spread their bunt
ing to the breeze, and few flags were suspended
y across Washington street, but even up to the re
: ception hour there was no general decoration
r The people, however, poured in and the main
: street was thronged. The military and fire com
panies began to move to their positions early and