The Bloomfield times. [volume] (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1867-187?, 1873-06-24
An Incident in LinooIn's Early Life.

An Incident In LinooIn's Early Life.
CTRANGELY enough, the, murder of
~ Mansfield 7. Walworth by his son re-
calls the story of Abraham Lincoln's duel.
The mother of Frank Walworth is the
daughter of Colonel John J. Hardin, who
saved Mr.. Lincoln from the remorse which
would have overshadowed his life if he had
killed General Shields. Colonel Hardin
was prominent whig politician, and was
esteemed "the bravest man in Illinois. He
was killed at the battle of Buena Vista,
and in his death fairly earned the distinc-
ton which his admiring friends had given
him while living. Mr.. Lincoln was his in
innate friend, and both men were gifted
with large sense of humor, which they
turned to good account.
The hostile meeting between Mr.. Lincoln
and General Shields was brought about in
this way: A witty young lady wrote
communication for one of the Springfield
papers, in which there were several pas
sages which the General was pleased to
consider as personally offensive. He was
testy Irishman, who had a great deal of
troublesome dignity, and could never ap-
preciate joke at his own expense. He
forthwith went to the newspaper Office and
demanded the name of the correspondent,
and, this being refused, he gave the editor
three days in which to make up his mind,
either to refer him to the writer or to take
whipping himself. The poor man was
greatly distressed. He did not like to be
guilty of the ungallant act Of betraying his
lady correspondent and he did not care to
have a fight with General Shields who was
much stronger man. In this dilemma he
came to Mr.. Lincoln and told him of his
trouble. The lawyer took the matter into
consideration, but he could think of no
stratagem for the relief of his friend At
last he said to him, "When Shields comes
around with his club tell him that Abe
Lincoln wrote that letter." The editor
acted upon the suggestion, and when the
irate politician appeared, ready to carry his
threat into execution, he was politely re-
quested to call upon Abraham Lincoln for
satisfaction.
This put new face on the matter. Gen.
eral Shields knew better than to come fool
ing about Mr.. Lincoln with his cane. He
was at that time great, long armed mus
cular fellow, good-natured, but resolute,
and when the occasion demanded he could
deal such blows with his fist that made his
antagonist think that rail-splitting was his
pastime. If he had been attacked by Gen.
eral Shields, and had supposed that it
would add anything to the humor of the
fight, he would have bent his assailant over
his kee and administered punishment after
the manner of conscientious mothers. But
after all his threatening and bluster Gen
eral Shields could not back out withoutsub-
jecting himself to the ridicule of his towns
men, SO he concluded to challenge Mr..
Lincoln. The challenge was accepted, but
to the great dismay of the challenger
Abraham named long swords as the weap-
ons. He had no skill in the use of the
sword, but with his tremendous reach of
arm and great muscular strength he could
have cut off General Shields head before
he got himself into position for one of his
scientific thrusts.
The time and place of meeting were
agreed upon. Mr.. Lincoln went to the
ground early with his second, and there
being some bushes in the plat selected for
the fight, he set to work to clear them away
with Ratchet. While he was engaged at
this, other gentlemen came ON the field,
and they were SO stuck with the ludicrous
scene that they could not refrain from
laughter Just then Colonel Hardin ap-
peared, and, appreciating the humorous
situation, he appealed to both parties not
to make fools of themselves with such eff
feet that they went home without fighting.
Mr.. Lincoln often said afterwards that
his participation in this affair was the
meanest act of his life.
Colonel Hardin, although peacemaker
on this occasion, was man of great cour-
age and most chivalrous bearing At the
breaking out of the Mexican war he was
put in command of the First Illinois Vol
unteers, and died on the battlefield of Bu-
ena Vista, as already stated.
eB- The original Ravels are all alive,
but the youngest is more than sixty years
old. When this troupe was last in the