Free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1888-1908, 1903-02-14

There have been so many garbled
versions of the famous incident in
Abraham Lincoln's legal career il
which he by an almanac saved the
life of a man charged with murder
that it is appropriate just now to mar
rate the correct one, as told by R. "
Armstrong, a barber of Mason City,
who is the son Of the man defended,
and who was known as duff" Arm
strong. He is very familiar with the
case, as but short time before his
father, who, by the way, is still living,
had related to him the exact facts in
the affair.
In all the histories of Lincoln and
il most of the school books it is told
how Lincoln defended Armstrong and
cleared him by proving that the moon
was not shining when the murder was
committed 'by the light of the moon"
The father of Duff Armstrong was
Jack Armstrong, who lived near New
Salem, and who was the leader of the
"Clary Grove" boys. He it was who
had the celebrated wrestling match
with Lincoln back of the old store at
New Salem.
AfterWard they became great
friends. The home of Jack Armstrong
and of his wife Hannah was always
open to Lincoln, and he visited there
many times.
1t was during the summer Of 1857
that Duff Armstrong, with number
of other young fellows, attended a
camp meeting twelve miles south Of
Mason City. The young fellows were
drinking, as was the custom of those
times. Duff became involved in a
quarrel with companion named
Metzger one night a short distance
from the camp meeting. Duff claimed
that he struck Metzger with his fist
just under the eye. The stories in so
many books that he used a club or
slingshot or other weapon, he insists
are false. The next morning MetZger
was out and around, but it is pre-
sumed that he caught cold in the in
jured eye. At any rate, the injury
affected his brain in some manner,
and he died.
The elder Armstrong had just died
and the mother of the prisoner was in
great trouble. She, in her poverty
and distress, thought of her old friend
and occasional boarder, Abraham Lin
coin, and asked him to defend her
boy. Lincoln willingly agreed to do
so. The evidence seemed all against
him. One witness swOre that he saw
Armstrong strike Metzger with a
sIingshot and others corroborated the
story. Lincoln asked each one how
h <Sr@1,k Il. IL
ply was, "By the light of the moon -
Lincoln then produced an almanac
Of the current year and proved by it
that at the time they swore they saw
the assault in the moonlight the moon
was invisible. Lincoln then addressed
the jury, making, it is said, one of the
strongest and most eloquent pleas
ever made in that court. At the close
he turned to the weeping mother and
said: Aunt Hannah, you can have
your boy again before the sun goes
down." And she did, for the jury
brought in a verdict of not guilty
Lincoln received no fee and asked
none. Afterward Armstrong enlisted
in the army. He was the only sup
port of his mother, the other children
being small. When Lincoln became
President Mrs. Armstrong wrote to
him, asking him to release her son
from the army that he might come
home. as she needed his services.
Neighbors told her that it was non
sense to write to the great Lincoln
about such a small matter as the dis
charge of a soldier out of such a great
army, and especially when Lincoln
was SO deeply immersed in the mo-
mentous affairs of state She only re-
piled: please God, Abe will give back
my boy to me once more" AS soon as
Lincoln received the letter he ordered
discharge made out for William
Armstrong, and within ten days he
was at home with his mother.