Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1909-02-10

of pressing money out of his client
he being man of money
than to redeem the character of
the young woman. The final out
come was a compromise, the young
man paying costs and quite a penal
ty in money.
The other case above referred to
was of still more grave nature
A blacksmith, next door neighbor
to the family with whom l lived,
was murdered and his wife together
with young man employed in his
shop were accused of the crime. NJ.
Lincoln was the lawyer for her de-
fense.
The man had, as 1t appeared,
gotten out of his bed in the night
and was later found dead in his
yard, struck in the head by blunt
instrument.
There was no direct proof Of any
kind, there being two things only
in the testimony which were strong
or circumstantial evidence. One
thing was that husband and wife
were not on the best terms with
each other. The other was that on
O. Sunday afternoon, just previous
to the murder, she and the young
man were seen by many witnesses,
standing together at the front gate
in very friendly manner. Mr. Lin
coin employed this part of the tes-
timony rs being strongly in favor
of their innocence If they had had
any secret, guilty thoughts or in
tentions they would naturally be
the last ones to advertise the fat
to the public in this manner. He
of OFT " 10
CT condemning any one on merely
circumstantial evidence.
After lasting a week the trial
ended one Saturday evening The
jury did not return any verdict till
just before midnight. There were
only few persons left in the court
room. Hon. David Davis, after
ward a man of great renown as a
statesman and jurist, was Judge on
the bench.
| can never forget the solemn
tone in which he utted words to this
effect to the accused woman when
the jury returned a verdict of mot
guilty" You are now by this
earthly tribunal pronounced mot
guilty of the crime charged against
| you. AS for the higher tribunal
y
fore the Almighty God"
Mr.. Lincolns way of addressing
jury, and in fact all of his public
speeches were in a conversational
style without any outward show of
eloQuence. There was no parade of
big words but only such language
as every one could understand and
easily remember
Of Mr.. Lincoln was in the winter
of 1857, the time of the memoir
able big snow.
Mr.. Lincoln was at that time a
candidate for the United States Sem
ate, and mingled no doubt on that
| account a great deal with the mem
bers of the legislature. The joint
| session of the two houses for the
election of Senator, was to take
place directly after the Christmas
| holidays.
| Most of the members had gone to
| spend Christmas at home. Just at
this time an unusually heavy snow
| storm came all over the country,
and the absent members could not
return for nearly fortnight. The
number left at the capitol was not
large enough to form a quorum,
and hence they spent the time,
gathered in groups for conversa-
/ tion, good portion of which con-
| sisted in the telling of stories
| was employed as librarian in the
Supreme Court rooms when Mr.. Lin
| coin and number of his old-time
friends met every evening and told
entertaining stories, besides dis
cussing politics and other kindred
subjects. Chief Justice Cation was
one of the members. Murray Me-
Connell. Gillespie, and Grimshaw
are some of the names | still re-
member.
Mr.. Lincoln was the leader, usu-
ally furnishing the topic for enter
tainment. His stories told in a
company of gentlemen were mostly
of ludicrous incidents he had OBJ
served I'm actual life in the pioneer
days of Illinois.
These stories could be repeated I'm
the most refined company. The
only exception was when he told
now he AMI some other young men
perpetrated practical jokes on some
OF the whisky drinking customers
that visited the store at Salem
where he was clerk. These stories
were not exactly suitable to be told
in a company of ladies. The effect
or these Jokes was, however, such
that the drinking habit was usually
abandoned by the victims.
The last time I saw Mr.. Lincoln
was in 1860 after he was nominated
for the presidency by the republican
convention held in the wigwam at
Chicago. When the news reached
Springfield, the citizens came cen
masse' to proffer their congratula-
tions with a hearty shake of the
hand, and I was one Of the number
My school days were now over
and | left Springfield for Chicago
where / cast my vote for him i'm the
fall of the same year.
My last recollection of Mr.. Lin
coin is that he was much changed
from former days. His face and
eyes had the same kindly look as
ever. but over them was observable
a deeper shade of melancholy than
that which had always rested over
his countenance
Abraham Jacobson.