St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-11-05
"REMINISCENCES OF LINCOLN.
A Paper BEFORE the Loyal LeGi0n--
Members Elected.

APaper BEFORE the Loyal LeEion--
Members Elected.
At last nights meeting of the Minnesota
Commandery of the Loyal Legion, the
leading feature was paper by the Rev. E..
d. Neill,. "reminiscences OF President
Lincoln's Life. The.paper was written in an
entertaining style, full of incidents that had
come under the observation of the writer i'll
connection with Mr.. Lincoln. 1t will be
published in pamphlet form by the Com
mandery of the Loyal Legion. Following
is an abstract Of Mr.. NeillS
PAPER:
The first time he ever saw Lincoln was
when the president visited the army of the
Potomac at Harrison's landing. At the
time Lincoln was mounted on a small
horse, so that his feet nearly touched the
ground. He was dressed as civilian,
with tall silk hat. AS he rode in front OF
the army the shouts of thousands OF the
men showed his presence had cheered
them. and no soldier who saw him that day
looking so much like the typical
Brother Jonathan Of the caricatnres could
ever forget the scene. Early i'll 1864
the speaker was appointed to read and dis
pose of letters addressed to Lincoln. His
impression of the greatness of the preSl-
dent increased daily. He was above life
of mere routine, and in his bearing there
was nothing artificial or mechanical. He
was not pulled up, and never spoke OF hinl-
self as president. He had wonderful pa
thence. and listened to the opinions and
criticisms OF others, and was never party
tool The presidents capacity for
work was wonderful. All through
lo s,it ,a1
in his Office attending to the affairs
Of the nation, each hour he was busy. As
writer he was fluent and fOrcible; his
pauers bore few marks Of revision and his
,tv,e was clear, pure and easily appre-
Lended. His accessibility won the hearts
Of the people. No one was too poor to be
received. His manner was never repulsiye.
While he could not grace bail room nor
compete with the purfumed and spangled
representative of a foreign court i'll
knowledge of the laws of fashion,
vet in his heart there was always kindly
feelings for others. and this in the best
sense; he was gentleman. Destitute OF
hauteur and conscious of wishing no man
any harm, he had from youth INDUCED in
pleasantly, by telling amusing If not always
classic stories. not to raise laugh, but TO
! illustrate his views. This habit remained
/ through life but he was not a
/ trlfing Jester or q coarse buffoon.
He cultivated no anim0sities, and for the
public good would sometimes approve those
who antagonized his acts. For instance,
he nominated S. P. Chase as chief justice
of the supreme court even after Chase had
! aided in the circulation Of pamphlet CIV
! ing reasons why Lincoln should not be
nominated a second time for the presi-
a., nnr1
/ between Gen. Grant and Lincoln.
He did not exult when there was victory
during the war. nor manifest depression
when circumstances were adverse. He felt
that war in any respect was deplorable, and
when
SALUTES WE'RE FIRED
to celebrate victory, he made no allusion
to the fact. On April 10, 1865, he made his
last public address, not in sorrow, but in
gladness. of heart, as the opening sentence
indicated. On April II he had confer
ence with John w. Forney, and suggested
that a trip be made to Richmond and other
points in the South, and the leading men be
urged to give full support to the measures of
government By this method he hoped
enough could be persuaded to rally around
the flag so as to obviate the necessity of APP
pointing as postmasters, collectors of rev.
enue and Judges of courts, those not ma
tiyes of the South with no permanent inter-
est in its welfare and who would leave as
soon as the emOluments of Office ceased
BY this time persons always ready to give
advice began to call and tell what they
thought ought to be done with Jefferson
Davis Wearied and annoyed, he said to
his mulatto dOorkeeper, '"This talk about
jefferson Davis annoyS me; l hope he will
mount a swift horse, reach the shores of
the Gulf of Mexico and drive so far into its
waters that we shall never see him again"
After 10 o'clock on Friday morning,
April II, the president sent a servant to
ask if any complimentary tickets had been
received inviting himself and family to at
tend Ford's theater that night. An hour
from that time messenger was sent to the
theater and a box selected for the president
and family. 1t was not until that time that
the assassin began to form his plans for
the murder. To me the surprise that the
president had been assaulted was not great.
Threatening letters had come to the presi-
dent through the mail, which did not, eX-
cept in one instance. seem worthy of notice
or preservation. That letter was postmarked
Gloversville, n. Y, during the latter part
of February. The handwriting was not at
all disguised. but clear and bold. The sen
fences were brief and those of Il person ter
ribv in earnest and to this effect God
knows | have hated you, but God knows |
cannot be murderer Beware the ides of
March. Do not, like Caesar, go to the
senate unarmed. If l did not love my life,
l would sign my name"
The words made such an impression that
a consultation was held with Maj. Hay,
the secretary, who slept at the mansion.
This letter l did not destroy, but
some weeks after Harold Payne
and others had been executed, it was
handed to Advocate General Holt, who
subsequently told me he had no doubt the
writer had some knowledge of Booths de-
sire to do evil. Who the writer was will
probably never be known. In the mail re-
ceyed after the president was lying
COLD WITH DEATH
there were two letters that made great
impression. One was from Gen. Burnside.
resigning his position, thanking the pres
ident fol- the consideration he had always
shown him. and expressing his willing
ness that should the nations life
be again endangered, once more
to buckle on his sword. The other was
from Chief Justice Chase written the night
the fatal shot was fired. Mr.. Chase had
writtin relative to the emancipation proca-
ton. but this letter was on the position the
government should assume toward the slave
population, and in it he asked: Cannot
! you take the position of universal suffrage?"
I The president had always preferred intelli-
gent, imparSial suffrage without re-
spect to color but was willing
10 give the right to vote
TO all colored men who had been soldiers in
the twenty-SiX Southern states, even if they
could not read.
In closing the paper the speaker alluded
to the martyred president in the words of
Do ha 81 li~+.-