Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1913-02-20
WHEN CONWELL
VISITED LINCOLN
The President Pnrdoned Good Sol
der who Had slept at His Post.

Qnterview with Rev. Russell H. Conwell
in the Philadelphia, Record)
II was a colonel in the Civil war when
first saw Abraham Lincoln" said Mr..
ConWell. "One Of my men had been sem
fenced 10 death. It was fearful thing to
all of us in the regiment. We thought OF
mis- mother in that New Hampshire town:
widowed mother and his two sisters at
work in Boston, and our men We're UNI
speakably sad. We were nearly all young
men, and 1t seemed fearful | could not
eat or sleep. and the soldiers could not
talk without weeping.
This soldier had been a good soldier
for two years, and had done his duty. He
was an excellent man of good habits; he
wrote home regularly to his mother, and
sent money to his sisters, and we could
not understand how It could be possible
for young man to break the rules and
10 20 TO sleep twice on picket duty in he
very face Of the enemy. The first time he
was found asleep on duty was one morn
ing when the officer Of the day. made his
rounds, and he had to shake him severely
to awaken him. For some reason or 9TH
er, probably out Of sympathy for the
boy, the officer Of the day made no re-
port of the offense. Two months after
ward he was again assigned to special
picket duty, and was again found asleep.
| This time the officer reported It, 1t was
a crime for which one was liable to be
shot II was tried and sentenced
General Butler, in whose command we
were then in his partial approval of the
court-martial, wrote on the papers that
a i'm
man might have had some special ex-
cuse. and that II would be well to in
vestigate It. | was sent for
81 went to Washington and trembling,
went IN to see the president of the United
States. J went to the White House, and
the room was filled with many other peo-
pie waiting to see the president. His pri-
vate secretary asked our errands, disap-
peared. and in a little while returned and
whispered into my ear that the president
would see me first. I suppose he wanted
to see me first because it was matter
OF life and death. few minutes later
an officer motioned to me to come in and
my heart failed me- l was left IN the
little hallway separating the receptions
room from the presidents room, and I
had to rap on the door.
Il have been in places of much greater
danger, but I never felt such trembling
In the presence of shot and shell as did
when I raped on that door. II makes
ne chilly now when think OF It. In re-
ply to my knock voice answered. Come
in. Then | pressed upon tho door and
went in. There was Lincoln seated at a
long table and on it were stacked a lot
of papers and books, and as ! came In
h, did not even look up, so intent was he
on the work he had in hand. There |
was, standing in the middle of the floor,
trembling from head to foot, and after
he had examined some papers he had in
hand. and had tied them up with "A
string, he put them aside and asked me TO
come over and sit down.
when he saw how ] trembled and
that my eyes We're moist, he was very
kind. In five minutes ! was perfectly at
ease with him, He said, 1 am a very
busy man, and | hav no time to spare,
so tell me quickly all you know about
the case. ] handed him the papers and
told him all about the young man He
Inquired into the case with the greatest
of care, and showed superior experience
n military affairs Some people regarded
him nnlv m n farmer laWypp. n rail-