Omaha daily bee., 1892-03-16
ILLINOIS IN THE EARLY DAYS.
"reminiscences of Lincoln and the Duel
with shields.

with shields.
From an "Open Letter" on "The Illi-
nois OF Lincoln's Time by Sophie
Bledsoe Herrick, in the Century for
March, we quote as follows: "rhere
was in those early days curious char
acter who presided at the bar; his name
| have forgotten, but | remember my
fathers characterizing him, in Lord
Chesteriield's phrase, MS dulluess blund-
erings upon vivacities In certain
case in which this person acted as coun-
sci for the plaintiff, a 50 note had been
stolen. The fact was proved beyond
question. The point at issue finally was
one of grand or petit larceny. The
counsel for the defendant made the in
genious plea that the bill was
an Indiana bill, and worth Si.95
and therefore was below the
limit of petit larceny, So being that
limit The jury seemed quite impressed
by the argument, when the counsel for
plaintiff rose, and in the peculiar drawl
and nasal intonation characteristic of
his speech said: Gentleman of tho jury,
If any one OF you was to take that In
diany So bill to market, there's not II
butcher there that would not be glad to
take 1t Mt pa-a-ar. If you was to go to
any OF the stores on the square here
they'd be willing and more'n willing TO
take it at pa-a-ar; but this mean, con
founded sneak couldn't atford to steal it
at pa.a-ar. The jury rendered a verdict
of guilty of grand larceny
After General Shields had chal-
lenged Mr.. Lincoln, and before the pre-
liminaries had been arranged, Mr.. Lin
coin came into my fathers Office. He
said I don't like this duel busi-
ness. 1t is very foolish, but | can't show
hn TO fnn f1,nt. md In, Nh,
what | ought to do My father said:
Lincoln. you are the challenged party
| and can choose the weapons. Choose
broadswords, and I'll be qualified
Shields will never fight you Mr.. Lin
coin was very much amused with the
notion, and instructed his second to
name broadswords as the weapons
When the seconds met and broadswords
were proposed, General Shields second
demurred. He said, 'Barbarous weapons
for the nineteenth century, Yes said
| Mr. Lincoln's second, they are barbar-
Gus. so is dueling, for that matter. 1t is
| just as we'll to have the whole thing of Il
| piece, or words to that effect When the
time Cor the duel came, my grandfather.
| father, DR.. Merryman and some others
| went to the scene of action. In those
| days stage coaches We're the only public
! conveyances overland, and the party had
| to spend at least one night on the way
| The men, as was not uncommon in those
| days, found very limited accommoda-
| tions, SO four, think. had to sleep in a
bed. My father said that during the
night he found himself in very narrow
| quarters as to the shoulders, while be-
| low there seemed ample room to expa-
tiate. In the morning he discovered
that his right-hand bedfellow, perfect
stranger, had lost his leftleg DR.. Mer-
ryman called out in the night to my
grandfather, Wake up, Bledsoe; wake
up Grandpa said, DR. Merryman, are
you doctor and don't know that when
man snores it is sign that he is
asleep, not that lie is dying?' Yes,
know said the doctor. When most
men snore, l know it is sign that they
are asleep; but when you snore 1T is Il
sign that nobody else in the house. but
yourself is asleep
'The news OF the proposed duel was
noised abroad, and crowd had collected
on the Illinois side of the river, await
ing the return; it seemed to this merry
party that the termination of this
threatening affair weuld be unbearably
fat if they just came home and an.
nounced an apology as the 'upshot in the
end So they put a log of wood pros
trate in the bottom of the canoe, covered
it over with General Shields cloak, O,
something equally effective, and ther
clustered around the supposed victim OF
the fight, one tanning, another support
ing, etc, till the crowd gathered on the
opposite panlk was worked up to a great
pitch of excitement and sympathy
When the log was lifted out the dueling
party had etfectually turned the laugh
from themselves"