Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1879-03-02
GOSSIP ABOUT LINCOLN.
What Ward Lamon Doesn't Tell About
Abe EnlOW.

What Ward Lamon Doesn't Tell About
Abe Enl0W.
indianapolis Journal.
The marriage certificate of Abraham
Lincoln's father and mother is now going
the rounds, having been discovered last
week and brought to The light by Ken
lucky lawyer named Browne. Inh let
ter to Gen. Bristow, inclosing it, he says
"The record ought forever 10 silence the
charge of the Presidents illegitimacy."
Perhaps it would not occur to anybody
but lawyer-a Kentucky lawyer, we
may say-that the discovery Of the mar
rage certificates of child's parents must
be taken as proof of his paternity. Un-
doubtedly Thomas Lincoln and Nancy
Hanks were married, but unhappily, that
does not settle the controversy l do not
know that is necessary to BIZ settled.
do not know as it makes any difference
whether it is settled or not. Abraham
Lincoln s fame, as a just and fearless pa
triot, combining the keen analytical brain
of man with the tenderness of a woman,
is secure forever.
Still, the reader of Ward Lannon's
life of Lincoln at which Gen. Bristow
aims his s'refutation," will be likely to
remember that Lamon hints at some
thing quite different from mere failure
on the part of Thomas Lincoln to regis
ter a marriage certificate. He shows
clearly enough that Thomas Lincoln was
a lazy, shiftless fellow, and that Abraham
"never spoke Of his father and mother
without great reluctance and significant
reserve" Then he breaks out without
warning: ''That Enlow story'' and i'm
mediately forgets TO tell us what it is,
but he says that 'the infelicities of
Thomas Lincoln's life in the neighbor-
hood became insupportable," and that,
finally, they eliminated, shortly after
Abe's birth, in q savage combat between
Thomas Lincoln and one "Abraham Ea-
low,' in which Lincoln bit off Ealow' S
nose, and then, having disfgured him for
life. left for Illinois.
Now, know something about Lamon' s
relation to Lincoln, ana perhaps I had
better tell it. Lamon was Virginian by
birth, and left there about 1850, when he
was 81, and went to Illinois. He was a
rich sprig Of an old slave-holding family,
and was worth $4,000 or $4,000. He
studied law, but the amount of law he
knew was never excessive. He drummed
up business in Vermillion county. and
got Lincoln to try the cases. He was a
reckless, dashing, pleasant, social, good
looking fellow, an admirable singer, free
with money, and fond of comic stories
and when Lincoln, David Davis, L ;onard
SWEET, and Dan VOORHEES, met at court
Lamon usually entertained them. he
wore white hat and drove dashine
span of horses. He was a brave man
was a fine boxer, and was proud of his
herculean frame. He was not a student
It isn't likely that Ward Lamon, o,
"HiIl," as his cronies Of that day called
him CHS middle nance, ever read book
through in his life. About all the cot
fce' he had was in a buggy behind {
span Of bob-tailed horses. He had ne
culture, and couldn't make speech more
than four words long.
His most striking characteristic was
personal devotion to Lincoln. Lincoln
reciprocated the liking, as was natural
When he became Presidenthe took Lamor
along as he would have taken bulldog
He was famous all over Illinois as uncon
querabie in a hand -to-hand fight. HI
could ssclaan OUT any dozen men any
time. He generally carried tworevolveri
about MIN, besides a knife eighteer
inches long and a slungshot. No better
man for the service could have beer
found, and he justified the choice. Lin
coin felt that it was necessary to surround
himself with pluck and dicision, and
Lalnon was made Marshall of the Dis:
trict. He would give his life any day
for that Of his master. The idea thai
there was an active conspiracy to assassi.
nate the President took possession of his
soul, land he. kept watch at the White House
every night with his body guard. Fear.
ing that the guard would not be vigllant
he went, after Lincoln retired to bed, and
lay on the sofa in the hall outside Of his
door. Lincoln found him there watching
one night on emerging from his room
unexpectedly, and got bed for him, in
sisting that he should use it. Lamon
was often charged with proslaveryism
with disloyalty, with dissoluteness, but
Lincoln kept him in office by sheer force
of will; for he knew that, even if his 20.
liceman had not very earnest convictions,
he had personal devotion which was of
more value than any sentiment
Lincoln always ignored his old partner,
Herndon, after lis great elevation. The
reason probably is that Herndon was
formerly irregular in his habits, and Lin
coin feared that he might relapse. What
ever the cause, Herndon keenly felt the
slight and after Llncoln's assassination
went to Kentucky and obtained letters
and memoranda amounting to 300 pages
bearing on Lincoln's birth and boyhood.
These he sold to Lamon, and they reap
peared in the two first chapters of La
mons book. But not ali of them. In
those chapters Lamar made one definite
statement which he was compelled to
omit; for when he invited David Davis,
Leonard SWEET, and Jesse Fell land
Schuyler Colfax, Delieve) to meet him
at the Briggs House, Chicago, and there
read to them what he intended to print,
they denounced him as an migrate and a
ruffian, and threatened him with all the
penalties they could think of if he should
persist in making the charges which he
called his revelations. After spending
all night under appeal and menace, he
was at last induced to modify it so much
that nothing of it seems to remain except
hunt for a marriage certificate!
SWEETS RECOLLECTIoNs OF LINCOLN.
l am reminded here of what Leonard
SWEET told me some years ago about Lin
coin, and, as it has never been printed,
may as we'll print it here. Lincoln and
SWEET were fast and intimate friends fol-
twenty years. They appeared as attor-
neys in the same courts, they rode and
ate together, told stories together, and
had similar experiences. Lannon's bloc.