The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1921-04-07

Abraham Lincoln, thirty-five years
old, his name yet to etch in the rock
of ages, was sitting in his law office
in southern Illinois one day when q
man walked in and said that Jack
Armstrong, one of the "Clarey
Grove" boys, had killed man at a
camp meeting and was locked up
charged with murder. When Abe
Lincoln was hungry and without
money, ten years or less before this
killing, the mother Of Jack" Arm
strong had given him shelter, food,
and mothers loving care, which
he never forgot-kindness offered in
distress with no thought save to
serve and make the world happier by
q good deed, burns deep in the soul
of grateful man.
Picking up his goose quill, Abe,
immediately wrote this letter to Mrs.
Armstrong:
Dear Mrs. Armstrong:
have just heard OF your deep At
Fiction and the arrest Of your son for
murder. ! am anxious that he
should have a fair trial, at any rate,
and gratitude for your long con-
tinued kindness to me, in adverse
circumstances, prompts me to offer
my humble services gratuitously in
his behalf. It will afford me an op-
portunity to requite, in q small de-
gree, the favors received at your
hand and that of your lamented hus-
band, when your roof afforded me
grateful shelter, without money and
without price.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
Excitement ran high in the COM
munity-"Jack" Armstrong had been
rouster-bout and a bully-now he
would get his good and plenty said
the crowd.
Abraham Lincoln charged that the
community was prejudiced-his eli
ent would be unable to get q fair
trial-asked that the case be moved
to another county. His request was
granted.
When the trial came on, the state
presented a case that seemed con-
elusive against the defendant. So
overwhelming seemed the testimony.
that his mother gave up hope-the |
family was in despair.
In the midst of this feeling of
abandonment, Abe rose sand began
his defence, grim, gaunt, sad.
One of the witnesses for the state
had sworn that on the night of the
murder, there was a full moon,
which enabled him to clearly see
Jack" Armstrong hurl the sling
shot that killed the deceased. Lin
coin offered in evidence a standard
almanac showing that on the night
"a question there had been no full
moon, hence the witness could not
possibly have seen by its aid the
things he swore he did.
Next he took up the testimony of
other witnesses and one after the
other riddled it full of holes, so
adroitly as to set UP in the minds of
the jury serious doubt of the truth
and accuracy of what any OF the wit
nesses had testified to. Maybe they
were prejudiced against the defend
ant and in hate wished to put an end {
20 him-put the crime of another on
him? Z
Having taken the sting out of all
hat had been presented against his
client, Lincoln proceeded with his .
cumming up address to the jury.
With wonderful earnestness, he |
'wung his massive, muscular arms
Dove his head and implored God to
orgive those who in hate conspired
9 send an innocent man to the gal n
ows and blight forever the life of a
,ood mother. He told what that I
::cctther had done for him when he
lad net a place on which to lay his S
'ead or copper with which to buy
ne simplest food to sustain life T
loW out Of the goodness of her heart
he3had cared for and mothered him. 7
He knew Jack" Armstrong per-
onally-described how then big 7
aw-boned youth, the "Clarey Grove"
oys, seeing he was stranger, had
initiated" him and compelled him y
0 wrestle with Jack" how "Jack"
Nth the help Of some of the other N
oys and laid him on his back on the
rass. A
There was no spirit of murder
mong these boys-their hearts were Y
II right.
His homely narrative of intimate