Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1906-11-07
Lincoln's S Youth
Early Manhood
By WARD HILL LAMON.
His Friend. Intimate and
podyauard
lcoNrINUED.1
The Fairest Man.

IN tne spring OF SuIuIueT OI 1907,
says Henry McHenry, 81 had horse
race with George Warburton. l got
Lincoln, who was at the race, to be
judge Of the race, much against his
will and after hard persuasion. Lincoln
decided correctly, and the other judge
said: Lincoln is the fairest man ever
had to deal with If Lincoln is In this
county when I die, want him to be
my administrator, for he Is the only
man l ever met with that was wholly
and unselfishly honest" His ineffable
purity In determining the result of
scrub race had actually set his col
league to thinking Of his latter end.
But Lincoln endured another annoy
ance much worse than this. He was SO
generally esteemed and SO highly ad-
mired that when any of his neighbors
had fight in prospect, one Of the par
ties was sure to insist upon his acting
as his second. Lincoln was opposed to
fights, but there were some fights that
had to be fought, and these were set,
a day fixed and the neighborhood noti-
fed. In these cases there was no room
for the offices of mediator, and when
the affair was preordained and must
come off Mr.. Lincoln had no excuse for
denying the request of friend.
1.-TWO neighbors, Harry Clark and
Ben Wilcox" says Mr.. Rutledge, had
had a lawsuit. The defeated declared
that, although he was beaten in the
suit, he could whip his opponent This
was formal challenge and was at
once carried to the ears of the victor
(Wilcox) and as promptly accepted.
The time, place and seconds were cho-
sen with due regularity, Mr.. Lincoln
being Clark's and John Brewer VIII
cox's second. The parties met. stripped
themselves all but their breeches, went
in, and Mr.. Lincoln's principal was
beautifully whipped. During this per-
formance the second of the party op
posed to Mr.. Lincoln remarked, WELL
Abe, my man has whipped yours. and
can whip you.' Now, this challenge
came from a man who was very small
in size. Mr.. Lincoln agreed to fight
Mr.. Lincoln's person and every blow
struck outside of that mark should be
counted foul. After this sally there
was the best possible humor and all
parties were as orderly as IL they had
been engaged in the mos harmless
amusement"
In 1884 Lincoln was again a candi-
date for the legislature and this time
was elected by a larger majority than
Afl larAr t.a4-A 49,.
time the party with Which he acted in
the future was disseminated as
Whig," and he did not hesitate to call
himself Whig, although he sought and
received the votes of a great many
Democrats.
Just before the time had arrived for
candidates to announce themselves he
went to John T.. Stuart and told him
the Democrats wanted to run him. He
made the same statement to Ninian w.
Edwards. Edwards and Stuart were
both his personal and political friends,
and they both advised him to let the
Democrats have their way. Major Stu
arts advice was certainly disinterest-
ed, for, In pursuance of 1t, two Of the
Whig candidates, Lincoln and Dawson,
made bargain with the Democrats
which very nearly proved fatal to Stu
art himself. He was at that time the
favorite candidate Of the Wings for the
legislature, but the conduct of Lincoln
and Dawson so demoralized the party
that his vote was seriously diminished.
Up to this time Sangamon had been
a1.1x IL n..k H.. ky,se
election of 1884 we perceive slight evil
dences of that party's decay. and so
early as 1886 the county became thor
oughly Whig
We shall give no details of this cam
paign, since we should only be repeat
ing what is written of the campaign of
1892. But we cannot withhold one ex-
tract from the "reminiscences of Mr.,
Row Herndon.
Abe Makes a Hand"
"He Qincoln) came to my house, near
Island Grove, during harvest. There
were some thirty men In the field. He
got his dinner and went out in the field
where the men We're at work l gave
him an introduction, and the boys said
that they could not vote for a man un-
less he could make a hand. Well,
boys said he, If that is all, l am sure
of your votes He took hold Of the era
die and led the way all the round with
perfect ease. The boys were satisfied,
and don't think he lost vote in the
crowd
1.-THE next day was speaking at Ber-
lin. He went from my house with DR..
Barnett, the man that had asked me
who this man Lincoln was. l told him
that he was candidate for the legisla-
ture. He laughed and said, Can't the
party raise no better material than
thatT 1 said, Go tomorrow and hear
all before you pronounce Judgment
When he came back l said, Doctor,
what say you now? why, SIR said he.
he is perfect take in. He knows
more than all of them put together