The Ward County independent., 1921-02-10
G. A. R. VETERANS, ]. J. COYLE
ADDRESS NIN0T R0TARIANS

The Minot Rotary Club commem.
Grated the anniversary of the birth
of Abraham Lincoln with special
program at their Monday luncheon.
All Of the members of the G. A. r..
living in Minot with the exception of
r. Ellison, who is i'll, were guests of
the Rotary. Pictures of Lincoln and
numerous American flags were dis
played. As the Rotarians and their
guests marched into the room, John E.
Howard, violin, and Mr.. Kelsie, piano,
played Marching Thru Georgia, the
old Veterans singing the song as they
did in the days when they marched
to the tune of fife and drums.
Atty. j. j. Coyle, a guest Of the
club, delivered splendid. patriotic ad-
dress. Mr.. Coyle's boyhood home was
in Freeport, Ill. His father was one
of the earliest settlers of northern
Illinois and his farm was located about
half way between Oregon and Free
port. In those days the lawyers used
to accompany the Judges on their cir
cults, and they usually travelled on
horseback. The judge and lawyers
frequently remained overnight at the
home of Mr.. Coyle's father Lincoln
was then struggling attorney, big
lank, cheaply attired fellow. Lincoln
would entertain the others with his
stock of humorous stories. Mr.. Coyle
said he often heard his father remark
that what he liked about Lincoln so
much was that he always said his
prayers at night, practice which his
father always followed. Altho the
cov>io,. Co1,1o hol hoar Io,,,0orof hn |
voted for Lincoln. Mr.. Coyle told
Freeport. Mr.. Coyle's father had
driven his OK team to Freeport with
hay rack that morning. Douglas,
dressed in the height of fashion, had
come out Of the hotel surrounded by
his admirers, and was conveyed out to
the fair grounds in pomp and style.
Coyle's father was passing the hotel
with his OK team when Lincoln came
out Someone shouted to Lincoln to
mount the hay rack, which he did, and
an immense crowd followed the
strange procession out to the fair
grounds.
One of the veterans, j. D. White,
who lives in this city, told Of being
present at the famous Lincoln Douglas
debate held in Freeport in 1858. Mr..
White is brother of former Governor
Frank White of North Dakota. Altho
he is 70 years of age, he stands erect
and has scarcely grey hair in his
head. He gave a remarkably fine talk.
He said he was only Is years of age
at the time Of the debate, but remem-
bers the appearance of the speakers
well. According to the rules Of the
debate, Douglas first spoke for one
hour, then Lincoln spoke for an hour
and half and Douglas wound up the
debate with half hour. He said that
while Douglas was an advocate of
states rights before the war, after
the South seeded, he came out strong
ly for the Union, much to his credit.
His death occurred shortly after the
war started. He spoke of the Wide
Awake marching clubs in which he
participated. A big club Of this kind
was organized in Chicago with VIM.
H. Seward as leader.
H. C. Bemis recalled the times that
he had met Lincoln and shook hands
with him. He had once met the
Emancipator at the White House and .
another time at Charlottesville. {
"Anyone could walk up and shake
hands with Mr.. Lincoln" Mr.. Bemis
said. He said he considered the Civil :
war the greatest fought in history.
He referred to the Battle of Antietam
in which he was engaged, speaking Of
the terrible toll of death, bodies lying )
on the ground several deep. The reb- /,
els set fire to the woods and the men
who were not killed outright, were ]
h,,rpod IN Iooth ho coid 0po of hic
comrades heard a man crying out in
the open and went out to assist him. ]
The man gave his comrade watch,
chain, ring and his mothers photo,
asking him to send it to the mother,
which was later done. Later, the ring
and watch chain was given to Mr..
Bemis, which he still has. Mr.. Bemis
enlisted from New York in the Zou-
aves and went thru seventeen battles +,
without scratch.
T. c. Conklin, another veteran,
stated that he had voted for Abe Lin
coin before he was Of age, but was
not ashamed of this irregularity. II
have voted the same ticket ever since
and expect to do so as long as l live,"
the old warrior proudly remarked.
Mr.. Conklin said that in those days
they didn't ask you how old you were
but the question was, "Have you got
a gun?"
T. A. Callahan told how he had run
away from home to enlist when not
yet IA years Of age. His father had
come after him, but the boy insisted
on going to war, said he'd run away
again and the father finally consented