The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1879-03-05
GOSSIP ABOUT LINCOLN.
What Ward Lamon Doesn't Tell About
Abe En1OW,

Correspondence 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. In his let
ter to Gen. Bristow, inclosing it, he says:
THE record ought forever to 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-
doubleday Thomas Lincoln and Nancy
Hanks were married, but unhappily, that
does not settle the controversy. do not
know that is necessary to be settled.
l do not know as it makes any difference
whether 1t is settled or not. Abraham
Lincolns fame, as just and fearless pa
trlot, 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 ''refutation," will be likely to
remember that Lamon hints at some
thing quite different from a mere failure
on the part of Thomas Lincoln to regis
ter a marriage certificate. 4e shows
clearly enoug n that Thomas Lincoln was
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 1.-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 En-
low" in which Lincoln bit off Elbows
nose, and then, having disfgured him for
life, left for Illinois.
Now, know something about Lannon's
relation to Lincoln, and 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
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
reckless, dashing, pleasant, social, good
looking fellow, an admirable singer, free
with money, and fond of comic stories,
and when Lincoln, David Davis, Leonard
SWEET, and Dan voorhees, met at court
Lamon usually entertained them. He
wore white hat and drove a dashing
span of horses. He was brave man,
was a fine boxer, and was proud Of his
herculean frame. He was not student.
1t isn't likely that Ward Lamon, or
"Hill," as his cronies of that day called
him (his middle nance, ever read a book
through in his life. About all the cot
ice' he had was in buggy behind a
span of bob-tailed horses. He had no
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 President he took Lamon
along as he would have taken a bulldog.
He was famous all over Illinois as uncon-
querable in q hand-to-hand fight. He
could ''claan OUT any dozen men any
time. He generally carried two revolvers
about him, besides a knife eighteen
inches long and slungshot No better
man for the service could have been
found, and he justified the choice. Lin
coin felt that it was necessary to surround
himself with pluck and decision, and
Lamon was made Marshall of the Dis
trict: He would give his life any day
for that of his master. The idea that
there was an active conspiracy to assassi-
nate the President took possession of his