Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1941-02-21
CopJrieht 1870: BY News Syndicate Co. Inc
The Story of the Girl
Who Almost Took
Ann Rutledge's Place
in LincOln's Heart
IN TWO PARTS-PART ONE


April and spring had come TO
Springfield. the new capital Of the
sovereign state Of Illinois, in the
sky after a tempestuous shower
was rs bright as q girls eye after
= good cry. The thick black mud
on the sidewalks around the pub
lie square was viscous to the tread.
The maple trees bordering the
walks were cold to the touch but
swollen with the eager sap which
m0istened the nascent buds on
branch and twig till they could be
kissed TO bursting by the hot sun.
The square was at the peak Of its
late afternoon traffic. The fronts OF
the harness and blacksmith shops held
groups of men inevitably discussing
politics and the days decisions OF the
Sangamon county court. JOS ua
Speeds general store was full of farm
erS and their wives, the latter I'M
comfortable in stiff and unaccustomed
shoes. The stores dealing in silk. crepe.
Isle. lace wells. fine shoes, etc. held
the ladies Of the town, come to shop
or just to look or to be seen. And all
around the square horses, saddled or
harnessed to farm wagon, carriage or
rig, stood fastened to the hitching
racks and dropped patiently as they
switched at still nonexistent flies.
Sangamon county court sessions were
held on the lower floor of two-Story
frame building at No. 4, Hoffman's
row. The building commanded view
Of the square so that every edifice from
the Edwards mansion on the north to
the site of the yet-unbuilt statehouse
across the square was visible from its
many windows
Its second floor was law office. It
was long disheveled room cluttered
with two desks. table, three chairs
and small bookcase containing four
books. They were a battered Black
stone. two volumes of Torts and
Webster's dictionary on the flyleaf Of
which was inscribed. "A. Lincoln. Esq.
Attorney and Counsellor The
inscriber was in a chair beside the
table. He was a tall, gaunt, ungainly
man and he was collapsed so that his
long legs were doubled up and his chin
rested on his knees. He brooded
through the windows at the scene be-
low him.
He wore a wrinkled black suit OF
homespun, hickory shirt. black
stock at his neck and a pair Of con-
gress CATERS. On the table beside him
was new stovepipe hat. 1t was a
catch-all. Around its swaziland were
stuck notations. unpaid bills and un-
answered letters. The man himself was
big, round head covered with thick
black hair which came down past
enormous ears in sideburns. His face
was rough triangle, the top of which
was low wide forehead. Its apex was
a knobby chin. His nose was large and
well-shaped, his mouth wide and thick
Tipped. But his eyes dominated. Under
thick black brows they were hazel
flecked. gray and tender.
Spring and April had come to Abra-
ham Lincoln also. But there was no
brightness in him and his rising sap
was not eager as 1t was in the naples.
in the grip OF one of his vague but
terrible depressions that beat his spirit
into the ground and sent him wander
ing into the wilderness while his
friends feared for his reason.
There was no visible cause for it..
His life stretched before him bright
with promise. He was % years and 2
months old that day. He had been
twice elected to the Illinois legislature
and, as one of THE Long Nine" the
powerful clique of members, all over
6 feet. who controlled the voting of
that body, he had been responsible
AL SllOoSule OpIAlSlltAO as tIle STATE
capital. He had been two months a
citizen Of Springfield and as long a
practitioner of the law In time his
profession would bring him honor. Al
ready it had brought him some money.
He had $ll in his pocket. which was
four more than the seven he had when
he left his old home in Vandalia.
But he thought of none of these
things. Instead he thought that two
months ago when he left Vandalia, he
owed a thousand dollars, because a
general store he had kept with a
drunken partner had failed and the
partner had died, leaving all the debts
to him. He still owed that thousand
dollars and he saw no way of paying
it for years. Ready money was not
easy to come by. Legal fees were often
paid by barter. A side of hog for