The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-10-15
A Wicked Lie
Nancy Hanks Character
Is indicated.

was the mother OF Abraham Lincoln She
died when the boy was only nine years
of age. He left the family homestead not
long afterward and struck out for him
self while Thomas Lincoln, the father
drifted from one Illinois town 10 another
until he finally settled at Goose Nest
| Prairie, in Coles county. There he died
in 1851. al the age Of seventy-three. In
| his last days he was tenderly cared FOR
by his son, who, after various vacissi-
tudes. had risen 10 be a well known law
yer and prominent politician in Spring
field
During all the early manhood and ma
I turity OF Abraham Lincoln. father and
son had seen little of each other. And
so It happened that when the son became
the leader Of one OF the great political
parties OF the United States during a Bit
ter struggle that eliminated in civil war.
it was discovered BY his enemies that ne
/ himself knew httle Of his family. and did
not even possess records 10 show when
and where his father and mother had
I been married
These enemies saw their opportunity.
his sturdy simplicity and seIf-respecting
/ candor Lincoln had always acknowledged
I that he was born in a humble condition
/ Of life His enemies now came forward
( with the utterly baseless assertion that
( his birth was not only lowly but shame
( fui. He was an Legitimate child His
father was not Thomas Lincoln. The
/ very name was an invention. Thomas
/ lincoln had never had any existence
Different versions Of the loathsome myth
aseribed different names to the putative
( father. sometimes his patronymic was
EntOe, sometimes Calhoun. sometimes
Hardin. He was credited to several
! different states. Only few months ago
a book published in North Carolina es-
sayed to prove that Lincoln father hail
ed from that state. This book is a far
rago OF guess work and unsupported
hearsay evidence. Most OF the witnesses
cited we're born long after Abraham Lin
/ coin. They never saw his parents. and
never heard the story they now glibly
repeat until after his nomination to the
| Presidency.
Nor had the malice Of Hincoln's enc
mics stopped at maligning the virtue Of
his mother. She who had brought forth
a child of shame was herself. so they
asserted. a child OF shame She was
wait, fatherless as her boy was father
less. Absolutely no proof of this final
calumny was ever sduced. Even hear
say evidence could not be found But It
was believed by the credulous. the pru-
dent and the prejudiced who wanted TO
believe 1t.
And the Nancy Hanks Of whom these
stories were told and believed was the
noble minded matron Of whom Abraham
Lincoln, her son. said in after years.
"All that I am or hope to be I owe 10
my angel mother. Blessings in her mem
ory."
II is the truth that the ISLANDERS against
Nancy Hanks had never been accepted
by authentic history. It IS true that the
falsity of the evidence on which they
were based and over and over again been
conclus!vely proved. Nevertheless Mrs.
Hitchcock comes forward with a new
batch OF irrefragable, positive evidence
to supplement the negative evidence on
which I.ineoln's supporters have been
compelled TO base their chief reliance in
the past.
Mrs. Hitchcock's interest in Nancy
Hanks grew naturally out of a work In
which she has been engaged for many
years-the benealogy OF the Hanks fami-
" in America. With a pardonable but
none the less a slightly humorous lack
OF perspective she pads out interesting
PREDATORY information about the Hankses
themselves. She tells US with provoca-
tive seriousness that the word "Ank''
(cockneyized, it would seen, into Hanks
is an Egyption word meaning "soul"
Now. the Hanks family are first found
in the old town OF Malmesbury. in Wilt
shire. England, and Malmesbury is near
Stonehenge. and Stonehenge, at Is be-
lieyed' was built ages ago by those
ancient Egyptians who built the Sphinx
and the pyramids The inference seems
to be that the august Hanks ancestry
loses Itself in the Egyptian darkness OF
the prehistoric ages.
One wishes that Mrs. Hitchcock had not
at the very outset given useful publ
cation this air OF pretentious charlata-
my. No one whose word is worth a pew
ter button believes in the Egyptian OIL
gin Of the ruins at Stonehenge. But 20
proceed. The Hankses of Nalmesbury
we are told, were a clannish race. and
for centuries it Is said. many Of them
never left their native home II II re-
corded that one OF the Hanks family was
at one time shot BY one % the members
Of the family because he had veu,ursd
to leave his native home and they fear
ed he would mix the bred. This was
nearly 2 thousand years ago. in King
Athelston's tine. when they considered
it an absolute crime 20 sleep out %
town"
The Hanks intelligence seems 20 have
been 20 far widensd by TIE course % TIE
ages that II The year lsos one william
Hanks not only let his native home but
his -atlva country and. emigrating 20
America settled 81 Plymouth. Mass. He
had eleven Children. Ten remained IN
View England. and lef, tsscendauts. May
OF whom have been honorably but not e
fulg.utIy connected vita TIE Industries
and the history C New England. A wei
Known hrn % bell founders. and another
u SIX Eeavsrs, are The most prominent
Representatives Grs Hitchc5ck. how
ever. in hs- quality e histortcErsBns-
q. family. x.l have Il tsat 4 has given
. America some % her azest Y ads AID
most heroic hears
T. was re thir5 child - re nfo-esa6
Rsnfzmiz Hanks. = So nsnsa william
-so. wandering away tTo1 SsT EaE-
laas 70 Virginia. was - fvTniss is-o-Fa