Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1897-03-04
FRANK,ED FOR, THEM.

I
AssolDmRA STORY OF sraEanCzr
uNcoLMk AND BOYS M,sLuE-
AA,znvslspe Tint = More ' aluabls ! haA
~ Bess.seasp II A,y,censstisa- ne
Soldier Whe twe.la.t trsus Lineeln . |
Ii.
''Let thisso. A..IncolSi"
in Q home, in Fond dh Lao cQnnty. Mis-, I
q soldier, letter in an envelope bes ring
the abovewordA signed BY the great twar
Frank King was /. Il hoy.
ftesh from the farm, ,and Cha 5cter
our whole company took to ffndly6 from
the first.
When the army was camped In vir-
ginia, near Washington, the winter Of
1862, It was q common prac % with
the soldiers, when they got . ipass. to
visit the city to buy q package, Of en-
velopes and call at the capitol.j send in
for their senator or represents i've and
get him to frank them.
One Of our boys came bacld to camp
, n high feather. He had two 6packages
a envelopes-one franked bse Senator
IA mes r. Doolittle, now Chi ago law
yen the other by the late sens tor T. o.
How e, who succeeded Captain James as
postl Master general in President AArthur's
cabin. t. For 20years senators and menu
bers ha We been giving goed deal Of.
their tin ne to helping the sol diers vita
their pan sion claims. If they thavedor.e
it as Willingly: and pleasantly as they
used to frank envelopes fer the boys,
they mui t be pretty neaRAy ANGELS.
"You fellows, there. ara makin,, o
big blast ,ver getting aicouple Of se ma
tors to II snk your tmve5 Slopes" Ssaid
Frank Kin, Z "Just youwajt till you see
me come eck from Washington with
the presideI is nameon sorne letter(cov-
ers.''
Within ew days Frank King and
Harry Dunn, Nwho for years after the
war was q Oh k,ago business man. went
to the,city. 11iey called at thefWhite
House. It was t,asier to see thepreEdent
then than it is tuow. At certain, hours
Of the day q 81 'ldier could reach the
chief executive nth fully as much,ease
as q senator cam in these later yeam.
King was thes ringleader. Approach
ing the guard, b , said: 1--WE want to
see Mr.. Lincoln-t Please standlaside and
let Us pass.
"who are you, and what is your bust.
ness?''
"You tell old A be we have charge Of
o regiment over c u Arlington Heights
and want to see hi IN on an important
matter. He'll let u in"
"Where are your shoulder straps?'
1--WE came over in our everyday
clothes. Come. we re in hurry. Let
~ 60 in and see Mr.. Lincoln"
The parley had attr. voted the attention
Of the president. The door swung open
and the good natured c. 9ief Of the nation
smiled upon the cheeky young fellows
and babe them step rigls t in.
"What can do for y on. my menu"
"Mr. Lincoln, want; you to frank
these envelopes, said K ing.
"Better get your cor gresham to do
that
"T'd muchsrather havt, you do it, Mr..
Lincoln. The folks at hume would lie
to nee your name on my1letters.
~ ia OHo VI tuc01S 4oAo tu0/xcSS
to your congressman. Who'is he2'|
81 don't know
"Where is your homer
"Lamartine, Fond dn Lao u county,
Wis"
''That il my friend Sc Oft. Sloan's dis
trict. You go to Mr.. Slom. He will fix
the rest Of Them"
The president shook bands with the
two privates, asked them to be brave
soldiers and wished them N safe return
to their western homes
Frank couldn't make his terminates
believe that.the president had written:
LET this 60 A. Lincoln. ",But thelnext
day he wrotela letter to his father The
name Of Lincoln was personallvexam.
ined by all on the neighbors.
In January, 1864, our regiment was
in Washington on the waylhome, having
re-enlisted-~veteranized," as they
called 1t. 1nscompany withs two others
went to the White House. The presi.
dent shook hands with us thanked MS
for swearing in for'three years moro and
expressed the.hope that we would have
| nice visit on>our veteran furlough.
"Mf. President," said Jones-Ed
Joues-"you franked letter for one Of
the boys in our company, Flank King.
wish you would frank one for me"
"Odd as it may seem, You are the
second soldier to make such q request
So both are Of the same,company? Very
we'll"
On Jones' envelope he wrote "a.
Lincoln, President" and a. he handed
| Il back he asked what had become of
that other man who had asked him to
pass letter.
"He was killed at Gettysburg"
shall never forget the look Of sad.
ness in the presidents face when the
answer was given, and il had not disap.
peared when We left the room.
"Jones. what did You tell him about
King fors Did You see how it panied
himY'