Arizona weekly journal-miner., 1895-05-29
LINCOLN RELIEVED.
4 Parsioa That Was Procured Reoause eF
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VI oehsAtte NaAGEAHkes
 The Rev. Dr. r. b. Gurley was the minister in charge of the New York Avenue Presbyterian church, Wash ington. during Lincoln $ administra- ton. Dr. Gurley was Lincoln's pas tor, and in many matters his conf dential adviser. a post he was admir-. ably fitted to till. being a strong, TO- bust, honest personality and a man of sweet disposition, great ability and excellent judgment
 During the meeting of the first general assembly of the Presbyterian church after the war. which convcn- cd in St Louis, Dr. Gurley. who was delegate. was one day tho guest of Rev. Dr. Nicolls, in whose church the assembly met and the following anecdote of Lincoln was related by Dr Gurley at dinner in the presence of number of friends, among whom was the present writer:
 Soon after tho outbreak of hostih. ties hot blooded, fire eating young man, Q son of members of Dr. Cur ley's church. made his way through our lines and enlisted in the Confed- crate army. fke fortunes of war threw him intoeour hands as a pris- oner. Itwas deemed best Ia make an example of him, and he was con- soquently court martialed and sen tenced to be shot Dr. Gurley inter ested himself in the youEg mans behalf and secured . communication of tho sentence. 4 short time after tho father of the boy came to Dr Gurlcy and solicited his aid to Ob- tain a pardon Dr. Gurley strongly advised against the effort He point ed out that the young man s life had been saved by tho president, and that 1t would be extremely unwise and inprudent toapply for pardon so soon. The father replied that he felt so himself, but that his wife took on so about her son thnf he feared she would lose her mind if some thing were not done. "Imust. said he, make the attempt on his moth CTS account It is better to fail than not to try. Consequently Dr. Cur ley signed the petition for q pardon. and the father took 1t to President Lincoln.
 When the father made known his errand, the president became very much excited and fiercely said: T saved the life of your son after he had been condemned to be shot. and now you come here 50 soon whoIi you know am overwhelmed with care and anxiety, asking for his par don. You should havo been content with what I have dQne. Go, and if you annoy me any more shall feel 1t to be my duty to consider whether ought not to recall what have al- ready done.
 A few days after the president seIlf for the father. apologized for the way he had spoken to him, and Co his utter astonishment handed him a pardon.
 Not long after, and before know ing what had transpired, Dr. Gurley met the president, Having transact ed his business, he was about to go when the president said:
 By the way, doctor. you signed the petition for Mir. -'s sons par don. didn't you?"
 The doctor replied that he had done so, but explained that he had advised against making the applica- tion at that time, and that he was induced to sign it only by the state ment of the father that he feared his wife would lose her mind if something were not done to relieve her.
 The president then remarked: Well, Mfr. - came to me with the petition. It made me very angry. and dismissed him very roughly. Afterward felt so ashamed of my self for having lost my temper that I made out a pardon for the man and gave it to him.
 And then, after pause and with a broad smile, added: ''Ah, doctor, these wives of ours have the inside track on us. Don't they?"-D. H. Mitchell in Independent.
 Olive Ofl