Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1882-07-21
LincOIn's CuriOu. ConrtshiD,

AAAAOOAn SAAAOuN OOuEA8nAus
Springfield special to indianapolis Journal.
The body of the late Mary Todd
LiLcoln lies to-day peacefully in the
little room at her sisters house, and
just within the door leading to the
room where the marriage ceremony
was performed which made her the
wife of the martyr President, whose
tomb at Oak Ridge Cemetery is the
Mecca of so many patriotic pilgrims
The curious circumstance of the
courtship, marriage and death occur
ring in the same house has already
revived some curious "reminiscences
An old lifetime friend Of Lincoln's
says the story in some aspects is
amusing, in others very sad. 1t is
substantially this: Mary Todd had a
step mother at her home in Lexington,
KY, with whom she could not agree,
and consequently she came, in 1889, to
live with her sister in this city, the
wife of Hon. Ninian w. Edwards. Mr..
Lincoln was then rising in the legal
profession, and in the political field be
had no local ~snperiors. Miss Todd was
aristocratic, a Kentuckian through and
through, and it became a common
opinion among the neighbors that
they would make n splendid match.
Soon Miss Todd came to the same
conclusion the neighbors had already
reached. Stephen A. Douglas was
one of her suitors at this time, but
she objected to his morals, and said
that at any rate she wanted to marry
some one who had a chance Of being
President. Finally, she and Lincoln
were engaged, and their marriage was
understood to be only a question of a
little time, awaiting the arrival of a
convenient season, when a sister of
Mr.. Edwards came to pay him a visit.
She was a confessed beauty, and before
long Lincoln was head over ears in
love with her. Lincoln tried to fight
against the new fame, but it burned
in his heart as on an altar. At last
he wrote a letter to send to Mary,
telling her the state Of his feelings /;
but the late Joshua +. Speed, the
most intimate friend Lincoln ever
had, got the letter from him and made
him agree to so to Mary, like a man,
and tell her the trouble. She heard
his story, and promptly agreed 10 re-
lease him from his engagement, but
the leave-taking was rather tender,
and broke Mr.. Lincoln all up He re-
turned to his office, but could not go
to work. He dropped about for several
days, and shortly Mr.. Speed discovS
cred that he was probably in danger
Of committing suicide. Mrs. Edwards
says hat for a time this love affair
actually drove him crazy, and in order
to year him from his melancholy,
Speed closed out his own business in
Springfield, and he and Lincoln went
together to Kentucky and spent almost
a year there before the latter recov-
cred his ordinary c~heerfulness and
equanimity. Some days before start
ing on this trip, MI. Lincoln wrote a
curious article on the subject of
Suicide" and published it in the
Illinois State Journal. A search in
the bound files of that paper reveals
the fact that the article is nearly all
cut out, and it is surmised that, later
in his life, Mr.. Lincoln had himself
undertaken to destroy it., so that it
might be forgotten. On Mr.. Lincoln's
return from the Kentucky trip, the
ccurtship went on quietly-some say
clandestinely-for a time, and on the
afternoon Of November 4, 1912, he said
to his friend, j. H. Matheny (still
living 10 this city): Jim, I'm going to
marry that girl" and they were mar
ried that evening.