Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1886-08-13
AN ANECOOTE OF LINCOLN.
BUREAU or THE BALTIC. AMERICANA
1920 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE,
WASHINGTON, Aug. :.

"Abraham Lincoln" said Judge
Kelley, of Pennsylvania. who is the
father of the House of Representa-.
uves, twas the most patient man
in the details Of life ever saw. lie
was the only President we have
ever had, and probably ever Will
have, who knew nothing of the
common autocracy of public life
He was the only man we ever had
at the White House who would 90
back of the wishes of persons and
examine their real wants. | re-
member an incident in connection
with the war which illustrates what
| am trying TO say. IL is not prop
er for me to use names, but the
story goes Ii was at that early
period in the rebellion when sus-
poets and conspiratOTs were being
arrested and imprisoned by the
Wholesale. 4 letter written upon a
printed sheet of paper, giving the
business of a prominent firm of
merchants in New York and con.
tanning incendiary language to-
wards the Union, found its way in
to the hands of a government Off
cal in the South. The declarations
we're penned by travelling man,
who represented the firm mentioned
in the letter head. The result was
the arrest of the principal member
of that firm on the charge of con
spiracy against the government
The letter was signed in such way
as to not make it perfectly clear
who the author was, and, of course,
suspicion bore heavily upon the
firm mentioned. lie is man we'll
known in New York to-day. Men
were held in prison at that time or
the slightest suspiciOn-suspiciOn,
in fact, more slight than this one
The wife of the merchant came to s.
friend of mine in New York imme
diately after the arrest Of the bus
band, and requested him to com
municate with President Lincoln
the fact that her husband had beer
arrested for something for which,
he was in no way responsible. Ny
friend addressed a note to thu
President, telling him that the man
under arrest was not guilty of the
misdemeanOr even in a collateral
or the most remote way. The wife
came here; it was eleven o'clock at
night when she arrived. At the
depot she told the cabman to drive
to the White House. The driver
expostulated with her, and told her
that 1t was of no use to call at the
White House at such a late hour of
the night. She said it made no
difference, she wanted to see Mr..
Lincoln, and that he must drive her
Immediately to the Executive Man
sion. When she presented herself
at the entrance to the White House
it was midnight. Everything was
quiet. The Gordon of police, very
stormy at that time, turned ont in
full force. They would not listen
at first to her entreaties to he adj
mitted to the White House. Final
", she prevailed upon one of the
officers to take the letter of intro
duction she had to President Lin
coin, who was then asleep. A
minute after the President had been
awakened his voice was heard in
the corridor on the upper floor. He
held the letter in his hand, and the
tremor upon it indicated his feel
ing"
"Nlrs. -, this case demands i'm
mediate action" said Mr.. Lincoln.
"If you will take my arm, we will
90 Immediately to Secretary Stan
tom Across the lots at a rapid
pace went the President and the
lady. Stanton was aroused from
his SAUNDERS, shown the letter by
the President and requested to re-
lease the prisoner. lie wrote a
despatch and handed it to Mr.. Lin
coin, and said he would attend to
the matter further in the morning.
"Like a lackey boy, the Presl-
dent, with the lady, started toward
the downtown hotels. 1t was one
o'clock in the morning. Washing
ton was filed with rev0lutionists
and would-be assassins, yet Mr..
Lincoln never faltered and seemed
not to comprehend his danger
When he arrived at the hotel, with
the lady on his arm, he told her to
90 to her room, sleep soundly, re-
turn to New York in the morning,
and that her husband would meet
her on the dock. The lady could
not believe it, bat Mr.. Lincoln as
sured her that such would be the
case. The President then went to
the telegraph Office, filed the mes
sage, which demanded the uncOn-
ditional release of the prisoner, and
returned to the White House alone.
Sure enough, when the lady alight-
ed from the ferry at New York the
next day her husband was there 10
embrace her. ! am inclined to be-
lieve the millennium will come be-
fore we shall have another presi-
dent who would do such an act as
this"