The Newtown bee., 1905-11-24

few years of his maturity. Except d
 few stereOtyped stories and comments. | l could find scarcely anEthlag ln the
 books dealing at all adequately with
 his legal experience of almost a quarter
 of Century.
 | "From that moment 1 began tu
 gather material wherever l could find
 it touching upon this neglected period of development and preparatipn; but l even Nico!ay and Hays great history, published in ten volumes, devote d less than two chapters to his life in the courts: and although the distinguished authors of that work admitted that he was a good lawyer, and that his legal
 training was of value, their admission
 was not supported ny evidence and might be called a judgment by de fault. Other recognized histories were equally unsatisfactory. My in- l tereSt Tn the subject then grew SD | intense that instead of hoping to iiud something bearing upon the topic, l
 began to hope that 1 would not ii Id it in any published form. Meanwhile had begun to gather material from first hand, and luck was with me almost | from the start.
 "One Friday morning 1 received a letter of introduction to Judge Law
 renee Weldon, of the United States Court of Claims, and to post myself concerning him 1 referred to 'Who' $ Who,' and discovered, among other things, that he was we'll advanced ia years; and knowing him to be the last surviving lawyer who had travelled the old Eighth Circuit with Lincoln, 1 in- Stantly telegraphed him, asking if he would see me the next day. He replied in the affirmative, and 1 immediately started for Washington. where 1 was received most 'urteou. ly by the Judge, and for almost halt day he talked to me in delightfully."- informal m sn"er of his experiences at the bar with Lin- coin and all that peftained to legal practice in those times. Later we entered into correspondence on the subject, and he was engaged in pr', curing further data for me when he was taken ill and died, only few
 weeks after he had placed me in possession of his invaluable remi- niScenceS. had suggested to Judge
 Weldon that 1 might go to Illinois to see what I could discover by travellng over the old Eighth Circuit, but he advised me against this, saying it
 would be waste of time, as all mate rial had been removed from the files and all landmarks destroyed; and 1 re- celVed equal ldlSCOuragement from Oth- CT high authorities.
 II did not think could cover this subject, however, unless 1 had been | over the ground in person, and had at least made an attempt to get the ma terial 1 wanted. So l started West, and almost the moment 1 arrived in Illinois chanced upon the right trail
 Although much valuable material was | missing from the records found some
 thing of interest in every town rode through on the circuit.
 Not only this, but met and talked
 with men who had been Lincoln's
 clients or who had been other.
 wise associated with him Tn his prac.
 tice as lawyers, witnesses, jurymen and
 the like. also found that two court.
 houses in which he had argued cases
 were still standing, and the facilities which he placed at my disposal official. { ly and unotficialiy made the trip in ev.
 cry way successful. While in Spring.
 field visited Gen Orendorff, the pres ldent of the Illinois Historical Society