The Indianapolis journal., 1899-02-19
NEW LIGHT ON LINCOLN
A COMPANION or HIS EARLY DAYS
RELATES SOME "REMINISCENCES.
His Struggles with Poverty-Hovv he
singular PremonitiOns.
Lewis. in Leslie,g weekly.


A few days since / was introduced as an
old friend and associate Of Abraham Lin
coin to a reverend doctor OF divinity of KAN
sas Early in our conversation he, as scores
of others had done when l was thus intro
duced inquired what / knew of Mr.. Lin
coins views of the Bible No sooner had +
made statement of the facts than he said:
This is a great relief to me, as l have
heard and read so many conflicting state
ments on this point In justice to the men,
ory of the man and the qualification II
would be to tens of thousands Of Mr.. LIN
coins admirers you should have these facts
published" While / had denied many like
requests he was so persistent that l had
to promise him to do So. The question then
in my mind was whether / should have
them published in Springfield, H. 1t then
occurred to me that Mr.. Lincoln was ma
tional man and that your journal Is far more
national than is any daily paper. l there
fore concluded to send it to you.
1 briefly state my facilities for knowing
facts. June 9, 1887, I, with my family, two
brothers and their families, brother-in-law
and cousin, left New Brunswick, n. j.,
overland, for Springfield, H.. and arrived
there Aug. /. Abraham Lincoln came in
town on hack, and being acquainted with
Messrs. Bell and Speed, merchants, he
alighted and, with carpet bag in hand, en-
tered their store and stated he had come to
Springfield to practice law. My place Of
business was but three doors from this store.
Mr.. Lincoln inquired for a boarding house.
Spead said II have a room over the store.
and if it suits you I Will share my bed with
YOU" Mr.. Lincoln accepted. 1t took me but
a few days to form an acquaintance with
him. Mr.. Lincoln often used to say, When
1 came to Springfield / brought my entire
estate, real and personal, in a carpet bag.
Later, Stephen A. Douglas came to Spring
field. We became q trio of friends, which
terminated at the death of Douglas.
While still young man Mr.: Lincoln be-
came known as Honest Abe and 1t was
no nickname. l have often been associated
with him in state and federal courts. He
was noted for taking small fees. When
Douglas was in the United States Senate
Mr.. Lincoln had a note of $500 sent him Tor
collection on Douglas. He sent it to a corr
respondent in Washington The money was
paid and draft returned to Mr.. Lincoln, who
remitted, retaining $3.50 for his fee. When
asked how he came to retain SO small all te fee
it. | sent 1t TO my friend in washington, =
and was only out the postage"
SIDE LIGHT ON DOUGLAS. ~
It is known to every one at this date that
while Stephen A. Douglas was in the Sem
ate he introduced a bill praying Congress to
make donation of public lands to the State
of Illinois for the purpose of having a rail-
road run from the south to the north of the
State The bill passed, donating to the State
the alternate sections of land, six miles in
width, on either side of the road. 1t passed
on the last day Of the session. was in the
Senate lobby when it passed. The next
morning / called on Mr.. Douglas at his
house and congratulated him on the pas
sage of the bill Mr.. Douglas replied: Il
was offered $4,000 by officials of the Cairo
nv RI 1,qt ba ma do fo fl7af
company, and could have it made to whom
| pleased" | said. why did you not take
the money? With your Chicago property
and $5O,oO0 you could retire at the end OF
your term" Lewis" said he II would
rather be honest to my constituents than to
have million dollars and be President
rhe Illinois Legislature chartered the Illi-
nois Central Railroad Company, and the
State gave the lands to the company for a
consideration of per cent. of the gross
earnings of the road, the property of the
road to be exempt from State and municipal
taxes The commissioners of Mclean county
instructed the assessor to assess the rail-
road property. The road enjoined the coli
lection. The case was tried in the Circuit
Court and was decided against the road and
the company appealed to the Supreme Court.
Gen. M. Brayman, who died in Kansas City,
Mo-, some three years ago, was attorney
for the railroad company when the case
came on for trial Mr.. Brayman was absent
from the State but had employed Mr.. Lin
coin to take charge of it. Before taking his
seat, at the close of his argument, Mr.. Lin
coin came to Judge Logan, his first partner,
he and myself being, the only members of
the Springfield bar that remained in the
room until he closed, and said, Gentlemen,
how much should ] charge the company"
We replied from 81 900 to 5000. Said he, II
thought to charge $500 if defeated, and 1900
IL successful" Our reply was, IF success
full, you should charge 5000; if not, $1,000"
MR.. LINCOLN GOT HIS FEE.
The court reversed the decision. Mr.. Lin
coin drew draft on the treasurer of the
road for 81 900, and deposited it in the bank
returned with the statement that Five
hundred dollars would be a good fee for a
frst-class lawyer, but we will give Mr.. Lin
coin that sum-" The members of the bar
had never thought of the Importance of the
case at that time. On the return of the
draft Mr.. Lincoln lost no time in consulting
members of the bar, and they were unan-
imous in advising him to sue the company
for 5000. He went to Bloomington, Mclean
county, where the suit had been tried, en-
tered his suit against the company for $oU0,
and had depostions taken of the most
prominent lawyers. Lincoln Obtained Judg-
ment for S. 900 and the first large fee of his
life was paid. On one of my last visits to
Mr.. Brayman, previous to his death, this
subject came up, and he seemed not to have
forgotten the official of the Illinois Central
Railroad for the insult to MIR. Lincoln and
the i1nputation against himself. When Mr..
Lincoln received the money he used about
one-third of it putting the second story on
his one-story cottage. The balance he
loaned in sums Of 500 TO 500 to mechanics
and small dealers without security and az
legal interest. He never took cent OF
usurious interest and afterward told me
that he never lost dollar on his loans, but
made a client Of each one that was not ale
ready such.
suit was brought in the United States
Court In Springfield, against a citizen. for
an infringement Of a patent right. Mr.. Linz
coin employed 10 defend 1t. Mr. Lin
coin went to the most skilled architect in
the city, inquired how he spent his winter
evenings and received the reply: If times
are brisk l sometimes work; other times l
have no special business" Mr.. Lincoln
said: Il have patent-right case IN court
/ want you as a partner, and viii divide
fees. ] know nothing about mechanics
never made IL a study. ] want you 10 make
a list of the best works on mechanism, as
don't suppose they can be purchased here.
/ will furnish the money and you can send
to Chicago or New York for them. | want
you TO come to my house one night each
time he had witnesses TO meet him, and
they were thoroughly drilled. When the
trial commenced, Mr.. Lincoln put his ques-
tions at the cross-examinations so scientific
cally that many witnesses were bothered TO
reply When his witnesses were put on the
stand. so skillful were his questions that the
court. the jury. and the bar all wondered
how ABE" Lincoln knew so much about
mechanism. His witnesses could reply
promptly. He gained the suit and reputa-
tion such that Mr.. Lincoln was retained in
every patent-right case brought into that
court up to the time he was sent 20 WASH
ington He went TO Chicago. ST. Louis,
Iowa Ohio. Kentucky, and Michigan 70 try
fr.srf he lsr 90 -