LINCOLN ROOM
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
LIBRARY
MEMORIAL
the Class of 1901
founded by
HARLAN HOYT HORNER
and
HENRIETTA CALHOUN HORNER
V
REMINISCENCES
EARLY BENCH AND BAR
OF ILLINOIS.
BY
GENERAL USHER F. UNDER.
WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND APPENDIX
BY THE
HON. JOSEPH GILLESPIE.
CHICAGO:
THE CHICAGO LEGAL NEWS COMPANY.
1879. .
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1879 by
THE CHICAGO LEGAL NEWS COMPANY,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. 0
Printed, Stereotyped, Bound and Published
BY THR
CHICAGO LEGAL NEWS COMPANY.
J> .'4- i^l^Ci
L ^
EXPLANATORY NOTE.
General USIIEE F. LINDKR commenced liis Reminis-
cences in December, 1874, and completed them in
March, 1876.
He died on the fifth day of June, 1876, in the city
of Chicago, and was buried in Graceland cemetery.
Mrs. Linder survived him but a short time, and
departed this life on the 14th day of July, 1877.
General Linder had seven children, two of whom
died in infancy. The remaining five, Mrs. Rosa A.
Wilkinson, Mrs. Lillie A. Galliger, Daniel W. Linder,
a member of the Chicago Bar, Usher F. Linder, and
Eugene B. Linder, are now living in Chicago.
JAMES B. BKADWELL.
March 10, 1879.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
INTRODUCTION 9
ARRINGTON, ALFRED W. 234
BAKER, E. D. 248
BAIRD, JOHN P. . . . . . . . . 284
BALLTNGALL, PATRICK 392
BENEDICT, KIRBY . 196
BISSELL, WILLIAM H . 177
BLACKWELL, ROBERT S. ". 310
BOWMAN, JOSEPH G 286
BREESE, SIDNEY . 141
BROWN, JOHN J . . . 134
BROWNING, 0. H 83
BUCKMASTER, NATHANIEL . 374
BUTTERFIELD, JUSTIN
— Incident of the Trial of Joe Smith, the Mor-
mon Prophet — Anecdotes of .... 87
CAMPBELL. THOMPSON 319
CASEY, ZADOCK . , 160
CATON, JOHN D. . 363
CONSTABLE, CHARLES H. 282
DAVIS, DAVID .181
DAVIS, OLIVER L 274
DAVIDSON, WILLIAM H 272
DEMENT. JOHN 220
(5)
CONTENTS.
DOUGLAS, STEPHEN A.
— His Rivalry of Lincoln — Power in the Senate —
Wouldn't visit Queen Victoria because he must
appear in Court dress — Was received by the
Emperor of Russia in the same dress in which
he visited the President of the United States 76
DUNCAN, JOSEPH 109
DUBOIS, JESSE K. 68
DUVAL, WILLIAM 33
EDDY, HENRY 52
EDWARDS. BENJAMIN S 350
EDWARDS, CYRUS 353
EDWARDS, NINIAN W. , . . . . . 279
FICKLIN, 0. B 110
FIELD, ALEXANDER P 204
FORD, THOMAS 103
FRENCH, AUGUSTUS C. C9
GATEWOOD, THOMAS J. . • 317
GILLESPIE, JOSEPH . . . . - . . . 121
GREENUP, WILLIAM C. . . . . . . 380
HANNEGAN, EDWARD A.
— U. S. Minister to Prussia — He dines with the
Prime Minister . . . . . . 138
HARDIN, BENJAMIN 30
HARDIN FAMILY, THE 48
HARDIN, JEPHTHA
— Anecdotes of 44
HARLAN, JUSTIN 42
HAYES, SAMUEL S 315
HOGVN, JOHN 371
HUBBARD, GURDON S. 333
HUGHES, JAMES 232
ILLINOIS LEGISLATURE OP 1S3C-7, THE
— Lincoln — Douglas — Brilliant Railroad Schemes
— Illinois and Michigan Canal — Removal of the
Capital to Springfield . . . .55, 58, 61
CONTENTS. 7
PACE
JUDAH, SAMUEL 297
KOERNER, GUSTAVUS 189
LAMBORN, JOSIAH 258
LINDER, U. F.
— Early Life in Kentucky — Removal to Illinois —
First Meeting with Lincoln — Retrospective . 21,
35, 37, 395
LOCKWOOD, SAMUEL D. 264
LOGAN, STEPHEN T. 155
LOGAN, JOHN A 843
MANIERRE, GEORGE . 393
McCusRNAND, JOHN A. 71
MCDONALD, DAVID . 382
MCROBERTS, SAMUEL . . . . . . . .91
MILLS, BENJAMIN 89
MINSHALL, WILLIAM A. 361
MORRISON, 'J. L. D 366
OGLESBY, RICHARD J. . . . , . . . 170
PALMER, JOHN M 70
PEARSONS, JOHN 128
POPE, NATHANIEL .. 215
REYNOLDS, JOHN 148
RICHARDSON, WILLIAM A. 85
ROBINSON, JAMES G 1J>1
ROBINSON, JOHN M. . . . ... ... 268
ROWAN, JOHN . . .25
RYAN, E. G . 378
SAWYER, JOHN YORK 152
SciIOLFIELD, JOHN 230
SEMPLE, JAMES 218
SHAW, AARON 113
SHIELDS, JAMES
— His contemplated Duel with Lincoln . . 65
8 CONTENTS. •
PAGE
SINGLETON, JAMES 244
SMITH, LYLE 390
SMITH, ROBERT 359
SMITH, THEOPHILUS W 260
SNYDER, ADAM W 276
SPRING, GILES 386
STUART, JOHN T . . 347
SUPREME COURT JUDGES
— Wilson — Smith — Brown — Lockwood . . 73
THOMPSON, RICHARD W. 293
THORNTON, ANTHONY 209
THORNTON, WILLIAM F. . . . . . . 115
TREAT, SAMUEL H. • -\ 388
TRUMBULL, LYMAN 163
TURNEY, JAMES 376
USHER, JOHN P 290
VOORHEES, DANIEL W. . . . _ . . . . 253
WALKER, ISAAC P. 356
WEBB, EDWIN B 266
WENTWORTH, JOHN 338,
WHITESIDE, JOHN D.
— State Treasurer — Secretary of Interior — Bearer
of Challenge between Lincoln and Shields . 86
WILLIAMS, ARCHIE 238
WILSON, JOHN M. . 302
WILSON, ROBERT 358
YATES, RICHARD 225
YOUNG, TIMOTHY R 192
APPENDIX
— Anecdotes of Benjamin Mills, A. W. Cavarly,
Justin Butterfield, and Benjamin F. Fridley . 399
INTRODUCTION.
IT is perfectly natural, at least it has always been, from
the dawn of creation, and will doubtless be (as Governor
Reynolds used to say, "till eternity in the afternoon") the
case that people will reverence the past and desire to be
fully posted as. to the men and thje events of by-gone
periods; and this is particularly the case in reference to>
what are called the " transition periods" in the history of
a people. Illinois has, within the last forty years, been;
passing through that period. Forty years ago she had
not to exceed 140,000 inhabitants, and not a mile of
railroad; now she has a population of at least 3,000,000,.
and more miles of railroad than any other State in the
Union. She produces more of the means of subsistence
than any territory of equal extent in America.
In 1838, she was in debt more than $18,000,000. She
has paid, to the uttermost farthing, that debt, principal
and interest, with the exception of a small sum — not yet
due — but which she could this day discharge without
occasioning the slightest embarrassment. She is in
receipt from the Illinois Central railroad of an annual
stipend, varying between half and three-quarters of a
million of dollars — enough almost to run the State
government. She has cut no mean or inconsiderable
figure in the political history of the country. In I860,
she furnished the two most prominent candidates for the
Presidency; one of whom (Mr. Lincoln) was elected to.
(9)
10 INTRODUCTION.
two terms. General Grant, another of her citizens, was
chosen as President for two terms. Lincoln and Douglas,
were the acknowledged representatives of the Republican
and Democratic parties throughout the Union. Of her
sons, more than 259,000 enlisted in the Union army,
besides thousands who joined the Confederates.
Of the character and integrity of her public men; of
the prowess of her sons on the battlefield; and last,
though not least, of the prevalence among her people of
the desire for a reconciliation and complete restoration
of the era of fraternal good-will and mutual friendship
with the people with whom we were so recently engaged
in deadly strife, Illinoisans have reason to be proud.
These astonishing results are owing, in some degree, to
the men who have shaped and moulded public opinion
amongst us; and our people have a very great desire to
know all about these " Fathers of the Land." Although
it was my privilege to be personally acquainted with most
of the men who have given tone to Illinois affairs, I have
been grieved to think how little concerning them would
be rescued from oblivion, and how insignificant would be
the knowledge of posterity of the men who had shaped
the destinies of Illinois.
I had been many times appealed to of late to jot down
my reminiscences of the times and men of our early days
in this State. I felt my own unfitness for the task, and
feared that no one having the experience and ability to
do justice to the occasion could be found. I despaired
of its accomplishment. I had fixed my mind upon USHER
F. LINDER as the man, above all others, whose abilities
and opportunities enabled him to portray the men and
incidents of the past of our State with the most exact
fidelity and precision; but I had no intimation or
expectation that he had attempted, or would attempt the
INTRODUCTION. 11
task, until I was most agreeably surprised, a short time
since, by receiving- a note from his son, informing me
that his father had prepared memoirs or reminiscences of
the early times in Illinois, and desiring me to furnish an
introductory chapter. Under any other circumstances,
I would have declined the task, for I feel assured
that book-making is not my forte, and my foes might
exultingly exclaim, in the language of Job, "Oh that mine
enemy would write a book! " I determined, however, let
the consequences to me be what they might, to comply
with the young man's request, and contribute my mite to
bring forth the " Memoirs."
I believe I was -as well acquainted with General
Linder, and admired him as much as any living man.
We became acquainted in 1836 or 1837, and for years
rode the "Circuit," and practiced law together; and, so
far as I know, the most cordial relations subsisted between
us. We co-operated (as he states in his " Memoirs") in
the General Assembly to influence legislative action on
the subject of railroads, and I feel fully justified in
saying that it was mainly owing to his transcendent
abilities that Illinois now has three railroads running
across the central portion of the State, when, if his policy
had not prevailed, we would have had but one. He, and
the men who co-operated with him, likewise risked their
reputation in stamping upon the charter of the Illinois
Central railroad the taxation feature. He, it is true,
could not accomplish this object in the House (of which
he was a member), but it was done in the Senate, where
his influence was potential. Had the stand not been then
taken, such was the frenzy for railroads amongst our
people that most of the charters would have passed
exempting railroad property, virtually, from taxation.
General Linder was pre-eminently fitted for describing
12 INTRODUCTION.
the incidents connected with the lives and characters of
the men who figured in early times in our State. In the
first place, his acquaintance was more extensive than that
of any other man I knew, except Douglas and Lincoln.
His practice as a lawyer was wide-spread, and led him
into all parts of the State. Then, he had a faculty of
becoming acquainted with, and of finding out all about
other people, that was unequalled. His memory was
retentive in a wonderful degree. I have been amazed
and amused at the amount of information he would glean
in his first stroll about a town. He would come to the
hotel, loaded with all the news that was afloat, and how
he gathered it up, nobody could tell». He could penetrate
character at a glance; he was as quick as lightning, and
as unerring as the shafts of fate. He could delineate it
with great accuracy, and in graphic terms.
I have been glancing over his memoirs, and, although
I was well acquainted with nearly every person spoken
of, I find that he describes them with life-like fidelity,
and portrays them in colors which I know to be true, but
which did not strike me before I had read these memoirs.
He was pre-eminently impartial. His dislike of a man
never caused him to detract in the slightest degree from
his merits. In his memoirs we have tho opinions of an
observing, capable, and impartial person, and I think he
sheds more light upon the history of Illinois, in his
Reminiscences (although not intended to be directly of a
historical character) than in any production I have seen.
It may not be amiss for me to add something to what
General Linder has said of himself. He was a man of
very extensive general reading, and was master of the
English classics, and kept up with the literature of the
day. He was well posted in ancient and modern history,
and had considerable skill in matters pertaining to
INTRODUCTION. 13
science. All these branches of knowledge he could turn
to good account whenever require;!, but it was in his
capacity of a lawyer that he excelled. Most people at
first supposed that he was merely a brilliant orator, and
had no great knowledge of law, but in this they were
wofully mistaken. U. F. Linder was a profound lawyer.
He understood all its technicalities. I never knew any
one to get the better of him on a legal point, and I have
seen him tested many a time. Any one who calculated
to gain a case against Linder — without having the law
and the right clearly on his side — " reckoned without his
host," for he frequently succeeded with the law and the
testimony manifestly against him. I never felt that a
defendant in a criminal case was safe from a verdict
when Linder prosecuted, no matter what the evidence
'might be in his favor; if Linder contended for a conviction,
our only hope was in the courts. He would generally, if
there was nothing in a case, abandon the prosecution.
But woe be to the accused, if the Attorney-General did
not see fit to nol pros., and the law was not clearly with
them. I always believed that it was inhuman to confer
the office of prosecuting attorney upon such men as
Linder and Bissell.
Prosecuting attorneys do not as often as justice requires
forbear to prosecute. Professional pride, the habit of
regarding the accused as guilty, which all prosecutors
fall into, and the unrelenting importunity of enemies of
the defendant, blind these officers to a proper sense of
duty, and justice is often perverted. These sentiments I
know are not in accord with those generally entertained,
but they are, nevertheless, worthy of acceptance.
Ordinary men are greatly overmatched by such prosecu-
tors as I have named. I have known Linder to get
a verdict consigning a man to the penitentiary for
14 INTRODUCTION.
accidentally killing another with a blow of his fist, in a
fight which he did not begin, because, although a quiet
man, he was very powerful. His offense consisted in
being big and strong.
The idea originally entertained that Linder could not
be a deeply-reaJ lawyer grew out of the fact, first, that
it is the general opinion that when men have the imagi-
native faculty in a high degree, they are deficient in the
argumentative quality. That was Justin Butterfield's
idea. He was trying a case against E. D. Baker, a man
of brilliant parts, who, strangely enough, misquoted a
passage of poetry. What was more strange, Butterfield
corrected him, and in so doing said, that for Baker to be
ignorant of the law, was the most natural thing in the
world — nobody would expect anything else — but for him
to be at fault in poetry, was marvelous and unpardonable.
The other ground was, that Linder was not often seen
consulting law books; but his legal training must have
been very fine, and his aptitude for catching a point
remarkably strong. It was not true, however, that he
did not read law. He studied both the facts and the law
of his cases carefully; but it was at night, or at odd times,
when he was not observed. One thing is very certain —
he was always ready to produce book and page of the
authorities in support of his positions. Linder's forte^
however, was in addressing a jury. There, it seemed to
me, if he had any merits in his case, he was invincible.
I don't know that I can convey an idea of his efficiency
in any better way than by describing him in one case,
and he was the same in all others, under similar circum-
stances. The case to which I refer is the one mentioned
in the memoirs as having occurred at Kaskaskia. I will
give my recollection of that case.
• Linder struck our circuit at Nashville, "Washington
INTRODUCTION. 15
county. The court adjourned there on Thursday even-
in jr. Linder and I were too far from our homos to reach
o
them and return to Kaskaskia by the following Monday.
The Belleville lawyers went home, and Linder and I
wended our way to Kaskaskia, and put up at a hotel
kept by one Dcevers. This was Linder's first appearance
at Kaskaskia. He took a stroll about town, and soon
returned with his budget of news. Amongst other items
he had discovered that our landlord had sued a man
named Campbell in assault and battery, laying his dam-
ages at $1,000, and expec'.ed a heavy verdict, on account
of having lost a portion of his ear in the skirmish.
Campbell had offered Linder a small fee -at a venture,
which the other declined, not knowing, as he said, but
that the landlord would employ him, and if he did, he
would make it pay both our tavern bills.
I liked the scheme, but told Linder that I thought
Deevers had set his heart on getting Trumbull to assist
Baker, his resident lawyer. But I agreed to try and get
him in for Deevers. Soon after, the landlord inquired
who my companion was. I pretended to be much sur-
prised, and said, " Is it possible you don't know General
Linder, the Attorney-General, and the greatest lawyer in
the State, in a certain class of cases? In slander cases,
or in assault and battery, particularly the latter class, he
has no equal; and if you have any friend who has an:
assault and battery case, tell him by all means to hasten
and employ Linder."
Deever did not "bite," however, and I told the Gen-
eral. "Well," said he, "if he don't, I'll close with
Campbell, and give Boniface h — 1!"
Sunday night Trumbull drove up, and the landlord
sprang to the side of his buggy, and engaged him before
he could get out. I reported to Linder, and he posted
off and made a bargain with Campbell.
16 INTRODUCTION.
The case was set for Wednesday, and the General
bestowed his undivided attention upon his only case. He
told me that upon looking into the case, he found that if
the plaintiff's attorneys were not looking out sharp, he
would get the advantage of them in the pleadings, and
then it was the " finest case he ever looked into."
His opponents, having their hands full of business, fell
into the error he had anticipated, and when the plead-
ings were' made up, Linder said of the plaintiff, as Crom-
well did of the Scotch army, "The Lord hath delivered
thee into my hands." Linder said he was going to make
one of the finest efforts of his life, and I believed it, in
so far that I told my acquaintances, and among them
Judge Pope, that there would be music in court on
Wednesday. I said to him that I thought Linder would
out-do himself if he could have some ladies in the audi-
ence. The Judge said he would have the court room
filled with them.
Kaskaskia was at that time famous for the elegance,
intelligence, and fascination of its ladies.
The day arrived, the evidence was heard, and the ladies
graced the room. Linder was in perfect trim, and when
he went to the jury, the scene baffled description. My
stock of language is totally inadequate to the task of
giving any definite idea of the circumstances. I feel
like Burns, when he says:
" But here my muse her wings maun cower,
Sic flights are far beyond her power."
Notwithstanding the fact that the merits of the case
-were all with the plaintiff, the jury^ without leaving their
box, returned a verdict for the defendant. I was so
dazed by the adroitness, the eloquence, and the masterly
ability of Linder, that- I was never able to remember
much that he said. Indeed, I don't know how he could
INTRODUCTION. 17
very well say anything in such a case that would be
likely to stamp itself upon the memory distinctly. I
think he gained the case by ridicule, by the most brilliant
displays of rhetoric, and by dramatic effect. It seemed
to me that he had acquired absolute dominion over the
jury, and that if he had called upon, them to render a
verdict of guilty of murder against poor Deevers, they
would have done so. The jury, the audience, everybody
was convulsed with laughter, from the beginning to the
end of Linder's argument, but poor Deevers, and he
looked very much like a man going to the gallows.
Linder gave him the most terrible castigation man ever
received. Not by saying severe or harsh things about
him, but by ridiculing him beyond measure. He literally
laughed the case out of court. The court adjourned
upon the rendition 'of the verdict, and while we were
going out, Deevers said to me:
"Oh God! why didn't I take your advice, and employ
that man. I would not have lost my case if I had."
" Deevers," said I, " when I take the pains to give you
good, disinterested advice, hereafter, you will be apt to
follow it."
"Yes, indeed, I will!" said he.
The first thing Deevers would say to me when I met
with him after that, would be, "Well, Gillespie, what a
fool I was, that I didn't take your advice that time."
This was just a specimen case. Under similar cir-
cumstances he could do the same thing- any time. He
was generally equal to any emergency, and it was sel-
dom that he fell below himself. He had a soul full of
humor; it beamed in his eyes and glowed in his counte-
nance. I have watched him when he was speaking, and
could see by the twinkle of his eye that fun was coming
before his language gave any intimation to that effect.
2
18 INTRODUCTION.
Mr. Lincoln admired him greatly as a speaker. He
told me that he and Linder were once defending a man
who was being tried on a criminal charge before Judge
David Davis, who said at dinner time that the case must
be disposed of that night. Linder suggested that the
best thing they could do would be to run Benedict, the
prosecuting attorney, as far into the night as possible, in
hopes that he might, in his rage, commit some indiscre-
tion that would help their case, Lincoln commenced,
but to save his life he could not speak one hour, and the
laboring oar fell into Linder's hands; " but," said Lincoln,
" he was equal to the occasion." He spoke most interest-
ingly three mortal hours about everything in the world.
He discussed Benedict from head to foot, and put in
about three-quarters of an hour on the subject of Bene-
dict's whiskers. Lincoln said he never envied a man so
much as he did Linder on that occasion. He thought he
was inimitable in his capacity to talk interestingly about
everything and nothing, by the' hour.
No matter how much Linder loved admiration, he
never refused to accord the due meed of praise to others,
although they might be his rivals. He would always
"give the devil his due." In politics he was extremely
.liberal, so much so that it was difficult for him to define
his own position at times. When I first knew him he
was a Jackson man. His admiration for the old hero
was so strong that he rather ignored the principles which
> characterized the Adams and Jackson parties, and fol-
lowed his inclinations. When Jackson was out of the
way, and the contest was between Clay and somebody
•else, he consulted his judgment, and was profoundly
•convinced of the correctness of the old Whig principles.
He believed that we were a nation, and not a mere
league of States / that the currency of the country should
INTRODUCTION. 19
be national in its character, and not local; that we
should develop and derive the profits from the mechani-
cal and manufacturing industries, and that it was within
the scope of the powers of the general government,
under the clauses in the Constitution which allowed it to
establish post-roads and regulate commerce, to construct
internal improvements within the States, and thus he
was a Whig. Being a man of strong Southern proclivi-
ties, he believed that the abolition of slavery would be
everlastingly ruinous to the South, and therefore he
differed from his old friend Lincoln on the question of
emancipation, and became what was called a War Demo-
crat— that is, one who believed in the unification of the
country, but feared that the emancipation of the slaves
would be attended with ruinous consequences to the
white man. General Linder occupied the same position
that did the Hon. John T. Stuart (one of the best men and
ablest thinkers Illinois has ever produced) on this ques-
tion. Both sound Whigs from conviction, but anticipat-
ing direful effects from the abolition of slavery, and so
could not be Republicans. I differ from both, and think
that Mr. Lincoln was the most far-seeing. Neither
Linder nor Stuart believed in slavery, but they did pro-
foundly believe in the superiority of the Caucasian
family, and would rather endure the evils of slavery than
what they thought would be the ruin of the white race.
In attempting to write an introductory chapter to these
memoirs, I hesitate to allow my vapid style to be brought
into juxtaposition with their glowing pages. But a truce
to excuses and apologies, 1 will follow the bent of my
inclination, and discourse as I feel inclined, and as I
know my old friend General Linder would wish me to
do, if he were alive and asking me to do this himself. 1
will sum up the character of General Linder by saying
20 INTRODUCTION.
that he was a man of transcendent abilities in the forum
and at the hustings; that he was remarkably candid and
fair in his estimate of the characters of men; that he
was genial in his disposition to the highest degree, and
that he loved his country pre-eminently. He was a good
citizen, a kind friend, and an affectionate husband and
father. He had his failings, and although I cannot say
that they leaned to virtue's side, I do maintain that none
of his infirmities were groveling or despicable. They
were such as may be reconciled with the highest honor.
He was the worst enemy to himself. He filled a large
space in public estimation, and rendered important ser-
vice to the country, which will be better known and
appreciated hereafter than it is now, or has been during
his life-time. I feel assured that he has placed the
country and posterity under deep and lasting obligations
for his memoirs, in which he has rescued from oblivion
many, names of benefactors of Illinois.
Usher F. Linder has not lived in vain. He has fought
a good fight, and been honorably gathered to his fathers.
Peace to his ashes, respect to his memory, is the prayer
of his old friend and admirer,
J. GILLESPIE.
LINDER'S
REMINISCENCES
OF THE
]T the solicitation of many friends, I sit down
to write a history of my life, in which I shall
give my recollections of many of the men and
events of my day and time. I am by birth a native of
Kentucky. I wras born on the 20th day of March, A. D.
1809, in Elizabethtown, Hardiri county, Kentucky. My
youthful and schoolboy days are full of many beauti-
ful recollections, and the same, perhaps, may be said
by ninety-nine out of every hundred who have lived
to be as old as I am; yet there are passages in my
early life that I would fain forget, and with these I
propose not to trouble the reader. A man's life, who
has lived to my age, may well be compared to the
four seasons — Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.
My first recollections are connected with country life.
My father owned a small farm in what was called the
"Barrens," of about one hundred and fifty acres, with
an extensive spring of water upon it, situated nine
miles west of Elizabethtown.
(21)
22 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
My memory carries me back very distinctly to when
I was about six years old — perhaps earlier. I remem-
ber the iirst school to which I went, and riding
there on my father's back. The old pedagogue who
taught this school was John Dougherty, a queer old
soul, and a jolly one at that. He boarded alternately
with the parents of his pupils. The schoolhouse was
situated in the midst of a thick growth of stunted
blackjacks; the logs of which it was built were cut
from these trees (wlrich stood around about it) and
was covered with clapboards, with a dirt floor, and
one of the logs cut out for a window, with but one
door for an entrance. From this schoolhouse, little
smoothly-worn paths diverged in every\ direction,
formed by the juvenile feet that came from every
point of the compass.
It was in this house — these sylvan shades — this
Arcadian grove, that I commenced my first classical
course of A B C's, which course I did not finish until
I was transferred to another school, and. another
teacher, about a year from my matriculation with
Dougherty, from which the reader may well infer that
I was not a very precocious scholar. Perhaps it will
not be out of place to mention here that the wife
whom I afterwards married, and with whom I have
lived for over forty-three years, went to this same
school, and being younger than 1, was carried there
on the back of her eldest brother.
The next school I was sent to was kept by a man
whose name was Samuel Cavens, with whom I mastered
my A B C's, and learned to spell in two syllables. He
was a kind, good man, and afterwards rose to some
LINDEK'S REMINISCENCES. 23
distinction in Green county, Indiana; became clerk of
the circuit court, and also represented that county in
the Legislature of that State. Some fifteen years ago, I
was associated with the late Judge David McDonald,
of Indianapolis, in prosecuting a suit of some magni-
tude against an old and distinguished lawyer of Indiana,
in the Sullivan circuit court ; while there, my old
preceptor, wlio flourished in an adjoining county, came
to see me, to ascertain if I was the outgrowth of the
boy he taught his A B C's some forty years before.
He seemed as proud of his old pupil as if he had been
his own son, and I am sure I was far from being
ashamed of him. We had a pleasant time in talking
of the old times and old men of Kentucky, and our
mutual nps and downs of life since my schoolboy days.
This may seem a very trifling circumstance to the
reader, and hardly worthy of a place in these memoirs,
but every professional man who has risen from poverty
and obscurity, and made for himself a name in the legal
world *bf which he is not ashamed, and taken his place
in the front rank of his profession, knows how sweet it
is to recount his triumphs to an old school-fellow or
tutor. But of all the incitements to great and super-
human exertions, the approving smiles of a little divin-
ity, clothed in the form of woman, is the greatest.
While I was yet quite young, my father removed to-
a farm some two miles from Elizabethtown, on the
Shepherdsville road, and I was still kept going to-
school; sometimes to one master or mistress, and then
to another. I distinctly remember Knawl, Allison,,
Mi-Grill and Mary Martin. How tar I progressed
while under the instruction of these various teachers,
24 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
is scarcely worth recording. Suffice it to say, I had
an immoderate love for juvenile plays and sports of
all kinds, and nothing filled me with greater horror
than the sight of a school-house. I was finally trans-
ferred to the school kept in the seminary of Elizabeth-
town by an excellent man and teacher, and a ripe
scholar. He was a graduate of some one of the
Northern or Eastern institutions of learning, which
one I do not now remember; but it was while with
him I acquired my first ardent love for learning, and
made rapid progress in the various studies assigned
me, English grammar being my favorite. The name
of this gentleman wras John Seward Sweesey. He
went into politics, and was succeeded by an Eastern
graduate, by the name of Proctor. With him I stud-
ied Latin principally, for about a year, when my father
moved to Indiana, and of course took me with him.
At this time I could not have been over thirteen years
of age, if I was that old.
When court was in session at Elizabethtown,'it was
a great treat to me on Saturdays to go to the court
house and witness the encounters between the lawyers,
and I have no scruple in saying that at this bar prac-
ticed some of the most eminent barristers in Kentucky,
and perhaps in the Union.
JOHN ROWAN. 25
JOHN BOWAK
|T the head of this bar stood John Rowan, of
Bardstown, who had distanced all competitors
as a great criminal lawyer, and who stood pre-
eminently high' in every department of jurisprudence;
snperadded to this, his conversational powers were
only surpassed by his great learning and his subtle dis-
quisitions as a lawyer. He was a great man — a very
yreat man; and what is more, he not only acted the
great man, but he looked the great man. A stranger
of any discernment would pick him out of a thousand
and inquire who he was. I think he was the grandest
and most magnificent specimen of humanity I ever
saw. I never saw but one man whose personal appear-
ance reminded me of Ho wan, and that was the late
Henry Eddy of Shawn eetown.
• Rowan's father was quite a poor man, and had a
large family to support, and, consequently, John was
the only one of his sons who received a liberal educa-
tion. His name became almost a household word
throughout Kentucky, the Middle States and the
Northwestern Territories. He was sent for, far and
near, to defend in cases of murder, and no lawyer ever
had greater success, he but seldom losing a case. He
26 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
was never known to take a fee to prosecute in a crimi-
nal case. lie regarded ,it as mean, mercenary and
dishonorable to do so, looking upon the fee in snch
cases as the wages or price of blood. He placed the
lawyer who prosecuted for money and the highway-
man on the same level. He was a man of the noblest
and most refined sensibilities, and scrupulously con-
scientious. He never sought a quarrel, but being in,
would fight it out.
A Doctor Chambers, of Bardstown, having become
jealous of Rowan, without cause, challenged him.
Rowan tried every honorable expedient to avoid a
hostile meeting, but nothing would satisfy the jealous,
man but the blood of Rowan. Finally Rowan accepted
the challenge, and they fought with pistols, at ten
paces. Chambers fell at the first fire, mortally
wounded, and such was the great popularity and high
standing of Chambers, that Rowan for a long time had
to conceal himself, until the public excitement died out.
Rowan's power in criminal cases consisted in the
subtle character of his reasoning, and in raising a
doubt. He was never stormy or passionate; his style
being almost conversational, yet, when occasion
required it, he could, in a mere whisper, stir the deep-
est feelings of compassion and pity, and convulse the
whole audience in tears.
In a civil suit for damages for the seduction of an
accomplished and beautiful girl, of good family, Rowan
being for the plaintiff', after stating the facts of the
case in all their most aggravating aspects, he closed ty
quoting, in a most pathetic tone, the beautiful and
tender lines from the "Vicar of Wakefield ":
JOHN R.OWAN. 27
" When lovely woman stoops to folly,
And finds too late that men betray,
No art can soothe her melancholy,
No charm can drive her guilt away.
" The only art her guilt to cover,
And hide her shame from every eye,
And bring repentance to her lover,
And wring his bosom, is to die.''
He was somewhat Johnsonian in his conversational
style, yet words in abundance were at his command,
and came forth in easy and unrestrained fluency. His
thoughts were grand and magnificent, and he clothed
them all in royal purple. He dealt largely in the
metaphorical and figurative. I can only give one
specimen which I heard myself, at least fifty years ago.
It was a case in which a bank was plaintiff and one
of its officers defendant — Rowan for the defense, Ben
Hard in. for the plaintiff. There was a little pyramid
of books of the bank stacked up between the bar and
the jury-box — day-books, journals, ledgers, etc. I shall
never forget his words or his manner. It was near the
close of his very learned and ingenious argument that
he remarked: "Gentlemen of the jury, it has been
well said that corporations have no souls. I cordially
indorse the sentiment; money, money, gentlemen, is
their god. These books (laying his hand on the pile
of bank books) their Bible, a counting house their
sanctuary."
His forte did not lie, as I have before intimated,
in carrying away the jury by impassioned appeals to
their hearts; to obtain a verdict of acquittal was with
him a game of skill. He often cheated the jury, and
snatched a verdict where all the circumstances and
28 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
indicia of guilt pointed towards his client. He once
opened his defense in a case of murder in the follow-
ing singular but candid manner: "Gentlemen of the
jury, taking all the evidence into consideration that
has been adduced in this case, the probabilities are
that my client committed the deed; this I frankly
admit, but mere probabilities will not be sufficient to
work a conviction unless they produce in the mind of
the jury the conviction that there is a moral certainty
of his guilt — such as leaves no doubt resting in the
mind of the jury; to that certainty and that doubt I
propose to address myself."
It used to be a saying amongst the members of the
bar, when Rowan had a hard case of murder to defend,
and public opinion pronounced him guilty in advance
of a trial, " No," said they, " not if Rowan can get
in his wooden horse." Counsel on the opposite side,
anticipating the skill and ingenuity of Rowan, would
often playfully caution them " to look out for the
Grecian horse."
I know not if any regular biography has been writ-
ten of Mr. Rowan. He certainly deserves to have an
abler biographer than I am, and I trust the imperfect
sketch here given of this great man will not be con-
strued as an attempt on my part to write his bio-
graphy. Had he not been of my profession, practic-
ing at the Elizabeth bar, I should not have written
this short sketch.
Rowan's personal appearance was very imposing.
He was about six feet high, and well proportioned,
possessing that leonine look about the head and
shoulders, which captivated all beholders. In dress he
JOHN KOWAN. 29
followed the advice of Polonius to his son Laertes —
it was " rich but not gaudy."
A well- written life of John Eowan would add
greatly to our stock of "Western literature, and would
be a great treat to any Kentucky lawyer, however far
he may have wandered from the natale solum — the
glorious old Kentucky. Oh, Kentucky — the lawyers
of Kentucky!
30 LLNDER'S REMINISCENCES.
BENJAMIN HAKDIK
]HE next great lawyer at my native bar was Ben
Hardin. With liim my acquaintance com-
menced even in my boyhood, and continued -up
to the time of my leaving Kentucky, in 1835, for the
State of Illinois. He was one of the sons of Anak in
intellect and stature, and almost as awkward and un-
gainly in person as our late lamented Lincoln. I
hardly, at this distance of time, know how to draw his
legal portrait. An accomplished, deeply erudite jurist
he certainly was not; but as a successful practitioner,
both before court and jury, and in courts of equity as
well as courts of law, 1 know of no lawyer in Kentucky
who stood above him. As a speaker, he wielded a
sharp but coarse blade, and woe to him who provoked
its edge! I can say, in all sincerity, I never listened
to a more interesting speaker than Bcu Hardin. I
generally obtained leave of absence during the term of
our circuit court, and I have always considered it as
time well spent. I give to Ben Hard in the credit (if
any is due) of putting the torch to my youthful ambi-
tion.
He was sought for by all the various classes of liti-
gants, even before Rowan, \\ith the single. exception
of cases of murder. His practice lay principally in
BENJAMIN HARDIN. 31
the north of the Green River country, in Judges
Booker and McLean's circuits, and also in the courts
of Louisville and Frankfort.
The reader is doubtless aware that our system of
law in Kentucky governing our titles to land was one
«/ «3 zj
borrowed from Virginia, and was one of the great
obstacles in the early settlement of the State of Ken-
tucky; a system that made many lawyers rich and
many good men poor.
There was a man in the county of Jefferson, of
which Louisville was the county seat, by the name of
Jack Hundley, who had made an immense fortune for
that day, by trading in negroes with the South, and
when he came to die, being a Presbyterian, he willed
the bulk of his fortune to the Presbyterian church.
He was a bachelor. His brothers and sisters brought
a suit to break the will. Ban Hard in was their law-
yer. The bill was filed in the Jefferson circuit court,
and my recollection is, that the church took a change
of venue to Shelby county; but of that I am not pos-
itively certain, though I have a graphic description of
the trial. The clergy in vast numbers, dressed in
black, formed two wings of the court, about ten on
each side of the Judge, who had not the courage to
make them take their places with the rest of the
crowd. When Ben Hardin came to address the jury,
he said: "Gentlemen of the jury, have you ever seen
an old dead horse, or any other dead carcass, where
the buzzards congregated to feast upon the carrion ?
If you ever have seen that, you have now an opportu-
nity of seeing something that greatly resembles it.
Behold the black-coated gentry who have presented
32
LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
themselves on this occasion, to over-awe and 'influence
the verdict of the jury!"
He went on to show that undue influence had been
used by the Presbyterian church and its ministers, to
appropriate the vast fortune of Jack Hundley to them-
selves, and cheat his blood relations out of that which
was their natural inheritance. Before he concluded,
the buzzards disappeared, and the jury retired and
were out but a short time when they came in with. a
verdict which knocked Jack Hundley's will into
spasms.
WILLIAM DUVAL. 33
WILLIAM DUVAL.
HAVE now given the reader a view of ROAV-
an and Hardin. There were others of that
bar who are entitled to my notice, having
excited in me, even when a boy, the desire to figure at
the bar, amongst whom was Ben Chapeze, Tom Chil-
ton, Dick Rudd, Governor William Duval, Ben To-
bin, a nephew of Ben Hardin, and many other distin-
guished lawyers, not one of whom but would grace
any bar in the Union.
Governor William Duval was one of the most social
and interesting men I ever knew. He was Governor
of Florida when it was a territory. In a social chat
amongst us lawyers, he kept us in constant roar of
laughter. He gave us an account of one of Bona-
parte's nephews— one of the Murats, who had a fine
estate in Florida — whom the Governor on one occasion
invited to take dinner with him, at Tallahassee. He
said his cook had provided a large amount of wild
fowl of every description — wild ducks, geese, cranes,
and every other fowl of which you can possibly con-
ceive— to which the young Murat did full justice, and
seemed very much pleased, and addressing himself to
Governor Duval, said:
'"Governor, you have fine wild fowls in this country.
3
34 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
I have killed and cooked a great many of them;
but, Governor, there is one bird that is indigenous to
this country which I do not very much like. I killed
him and brought him in, and he stunk so bad that my
servant and I could not divest him of his feathers.
Oh, by Gar, sare, it made me vomit ! "
Duval asked him to describe the bird he spoke of.
" Well, sare, I saw him and about a hundred others
sitting on a log, with their wings spread out, near to
an old dead horse, and I concluded to kill one of them
— they looked so much like turkeys. I killed one of
them ; I cooked him, sare. My God, sare,.I puked like
I had taken an emetic ! "
" "Why/' said Governor Duval, "it was a turkey
buzzard — the meanest bird in our country."
" Oh, yes, Governor, by Gar, it was the God damn
buzzard ! "
LINDEE REMOVES TO ILLINOIS. 35
LIKDEK EEMOTES TO ILLINOIS.
the summer of 1835, 1 removed to the State
of Illinois with my family, which then con-
sisted of myself and wife and little daughter
and son. We landed at my father's house, on the
National Road, then being constructed by the National
Government from Terre Haute to Yandalia, having
been^ finished from Fort Cumberland through Ohio
and Indiana to Terre Haute., a flourishing town situated
on the Wabash River, a most beautiful site, like all
the other towns originally settled by the French — such
as Vincennes, Kaskaskia, Peoria and others. Illinois
was a vast and fertile plain, bounded on the east by
the Wabash River, on the south by the Ohio, on the
west by the Mississippi, and on the north by Lake
Michigan and the State of "Wisconsin.
When I arrived in Illinois, on the 12th of July,
1835, it looked to me like a vast wilderness of flowers,
with a soil as rich and fertile as ever a crow flew over.
It seemed to me as if the Lord had created it as a
paradise for farmers. But when we were all laid on
our backs with the chills and fever, with water unfit
even for a beast to drink, I sighed when I thought of
the hills, knolls, valleys and the purling fountains
that gushed in coolness from the hill-side, and went
36 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
dancing and babbling to the sea. And when, in
October, death snatched from our arms our darling
little boy — John Calhoun Linder — Illinois seemed to
have no charms left for me, and I resolved, as soon
as \ve were all recovered from the dreadful epidemic,
which then prevailed all over the State, and which laid
every member of mine and my father's family on their
backs, to return to Kentucky and accept poverty as a
boon, if we could only be blessed with health. But
when all recovered again, and but one was lost, I
began to look about to see if there was not something
in Illinois for me.
The judicial system was very similar to that of
Kentucky. The highest courts of general, original,
chancery and common law jurisdiction were the cir-
cuit courts. There was not over seven or eight of
these circuits when I came to the State. I settled in
Coles county, in a little village called Qreenup, named
after old Col. Wm. C. Greennp, who laid it off and
was one of its proprietors'. He came to the State
while it yet was a territory, and was the Secretary of
the Constitutional Convention that was convened at
Kaskaskia, and formed the first Constitution of this
State.
The national road was then being constructed
through Illinois. It was the only public work I
remember at that time in Southern Illinois. It fur-
nished employment for a vast number of workmen
and laborers, by which many a poor man and new
comer earned the money wherewith to pay his taxes,
doctor's bill, and to lay in a supply of food and cloth-
ing for the winter of 1835 and 1836. Charleston, the
LINDEK REMOVES TO ILLINOIS. 37
county seat of Coles, was about twenty miles north of
Greenup. It was laid out by a man from Fayette
county, Ky., by the name of Charles S. Morton."
FIRST MEETING WITH LINCOLN.
I did not travel on the circuit in 1835, on account
of iny health and the health of my wife, but attended
court at Charleston that fall, held by Judge Grant, who
had exchanged circuits with our judge, Justin Harlau.
It was here I first met Abraham Lincoln, of Spring-
field, at that time a very modest and retiring man,
dressed in a plain suit of mixed jeans. He did not
make any marked impression upon me, or any other
member of the bar. He was on a visit to his rela-
tions in Coles, where his father and stepmother lived,
and some of her children. Lincoln put up at the
hotel, and there was where I saw him. Whether
he was reading law at this time I cannot say.
Certain it is, he had not then been admitted to the
bar, although he had some celebrity, having been a
captain in the Black-Hawk campaign, and served a
term in the Illinois Legislature; but if he won any
fame at that season I have never heard of it. He
had been one of the representatives from Sangamon.
If Lincoln at this time felt the divine afflatus of great-
ness stir within him I have never heard of it. It was
rather common among us then in the West to sup-
pose that there was no presidential timber growing in
the Northwest, yet he doubtless had at that time the
stuff out of which to make half a dozen presidents.
I had known his relatives in Kentucky, and he asked
me about them. His uncle, Mordecai Lincoln, I had
38 LINDEK'S REMINISCENCES.
known from my boyhood, and he was naturally a man
of considerable genius; he was a man of great droll-
ery, and it would almost make you laugh to look at
him. I never saw but one other man whose quiet,
droll look excited in me the same disposition to laugh,
and that was Artemas Ward. He was quite a story-
teller, and they were generally on the smutty order,
and in this Abe resembled his Uncle Mord, as we all
called him. He was an honest man, as tender-
hearted as a woman, and to the last degree cliari table
and benevolent.
~No one ever took offense at Uncle Mord's stories —
not even the ladies. I heard him once tell a bevy of
fashionable girls that he knew a very large woman
who had a husband so small that in the night she often
mistook him for the baby, and that upon one occasion
she had armed him with a diaper and was singing to
him a soothing lullaby, when he awoke and told her
that the baby was on the other side of the bed.
Lincoln had a very high opinion of his uncle, and
on one occasion said tome: " Linder, I have often
said that Uncle Mord had run off with all the talents
of the family."
Old Mord, as we sometimes called him, had been in
his younger days a very stout man, and was quite fond
of playing a game of fisticuifs with any one who was
noted as a champion. He told a parcel of us once of
a pitched battle he had fought with one of the champ-
ions of that day. He said they fought on the side of
a hill or ridge; that at the bottom there was a rut or
canal, which had been cut out by the freshets. He
said they soon clinched, and he threw his man and fell
LINDER REMOVES TO ILLINOIS. 39
on top of him. He said he always thought he had the
best eyes in the world for measuring distances, and
having measured the distance to the bottom of the
O
hill, he concluded that by rolling over and over till
they came to the bottom his antagonist's body would
lill it, and he would be wedged in so tight that he
could whip him at his leisure. So he let the fellow
turn him, and over and over they went, when about the
twentieth revolution brought Uncle Mord's back in
contact with the bottom of the rut, " and," said he,
" before hell could scorch a feather, I cried out in
stentorian voice: ' take him off'!' "
I could tell many more of Uncle Mord Lincoln's
stories, but these two will serve as specimens. His
sons and daughters were not talented, like the old man,
but were very sensible people, noted for their honesty
and kindness of heart.
Abraham Lincoln was born in Hardin county
(now La' Rue), within ten miles of the place where
I first saw the light, and a little over a month
ahead of me. His mother, whose maiden name was
Nancy Hanks, was said to be a very strong-minded
woman, and one of the most athletic women in Ken-
tucky. In a fair wrestle, she could throw most of the
men who ever put her powers to the test. A reliable
gentleman told me he heard the late Jack Thomas,
clerk of the Grayson Court, say he had frequently
wrestled with her, and she invariably laid him on his
back. Lincoln himself was a man of great physical
powers — a perfect type of sinews and muscles wrapped
around enormous bones.
The impression that Mr. Lincoln made upon me
40 LINDEK'S REMINISCENCES.
when I first saw him at the hotel in Charleston, was
very slight. He had the appearance of a good-natured,
easy, unambitious man, of plain good sense, and unob-
trusive in his manners. At that time he told me no
stories and perpetrated no jokes.
I must leave Mr. Lincoln now, and take him up
again when he shall make his appearance in the regu-
lar order of this history.
It is not my purpose or intention to write an auto-
biography, or burden this narrative with matters per-
sonal to myself, only so far as to give to the reader an
idea of the men and events of my own day and time.
In 1835, the population, as shown by the census of
that year, did not exceed one hundred and fifty thou-
sand souls. The earlier emigration to this State had
been mostly from Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky, which
lay to the East and South of Illinois. A portion,
however, were from Tennessee and the Carolinas.
This made the principal part of the then population of
Illinois, with the exception of the French at Kaskaskia
and other French posts, with quite a German popula-
tion in St. Clair County, and a few Yankees at Chicago,
and some more sparsely scattered through the North-
ern portion of the State. The reader will perceive,
from the above general view, that the weight of popu-
lation lay in the Southern portion of the State. I
should have stated that a colony of English farmers,
gentlemen and yeomanry, at quite an early day, had
settled Edwards County, which name they gave it,
with their county seat at Albion, a name also bestowed
by them.
At this time there were but few lawyers in the State.
LINDER REMOVES TO ILLINOIS. 41
The most eminent were Henry Eddy and Jefferson
Gatewood, of Shawneetown ; James Semple, of Alton ;
Stephen T. Logan, of Springfield; Thomas Ford, of
Edwardsville; Sidney Breese, of Kaskaskia; Samuel
McRoberts, of Danville; Jephtha Hardin, of Shaw-
neetown; David J. Baker, of Kaskaskia; Justin Bnt-
terfield, James Collins and Giles Spring, of Chicago;
A. P. Field, of Vandalia; Richard Young, of the
northern portion of the State; William Wilson, Ed-
win B. Webb, of Carmi, and Nathaniel Pope, of Kas-
kaskia. There are doubtless others whom, in the lapse
of time, I have forgotten or overlooked, who are enti-
tled to a place with the foregoing eminent gentlemen
of the bar, whose names shall be introduced as they
occur to me, and properly inserted and noticed in some
appropriate place in these memoirs. Early in the
spring of 1836 I commenced attending the various
courts in the fourth judicial circuit; composed of some
fifteen or sixteen counties. The roads being very bad,
and in many places impassable for carriages, the judge
and all the lawyers traveled on horseback, which, for
me, was always the most pleasant mode of traveling —
the safest, and most social and democratic, except trav-
eling on foot.
42 LINDER'S -REMINISCENCES.
JUSTIN HAKLAK
]HERE is no "profession or body of men that
are happier or more respectable than circuit
court lawyers. Especially was it the case in
the early settlement of Illinois. The lawyers who
went the circuit at the time were, Orlando B. Ficklin,
prosecuting attorney, and since representative in Con-
gress; A. C. French, Hazlerigg, Aaron Shaw, E. B.
Webb, George Webb, father of E. B. Webb, John
Pearsons, Samuel McHoberts and myself, Justin Har-
lan being our presiding judge on this circuit — a man
for whom I feel the most profound respect and deepest
veneration. He was a man of the highest order of tal-
ents, and although his learning was not what is called
-iberal, yet he was a profound, well-read and able law-
yer, and as honest and impartial in the discharge of
his judicial functions as the day is long. When not on
the bench, he was a plain unostentatious gentleman,
who eschewed all vainglorious show or parade. His
manner and walk and conversation did not say, as oth-
ers I have known did, " here goes your judge; keep at
a respectful distance, all ye of the tiers," etc., " and all
above come and do homage." No man entertained
a profounder contempt for all upstarts and toadies.
When on the road, in the tavern, or at the dinner-table,
JUSTIN HAKLAN. 43
the judge and his lawyers were on a footing of perfect
equality, but when on the bench he laid aside all
levity, giving his whole attention to the case under
consideration, paying the same attention to the junior
that he did to the senior members of the bar. There
was a period of some four or five years that he was
not on the bench, when he and I were often retained
together in the same case. Our intercourse was of the
most genial and pleasant character, and our friendship
has grown with our age, till it has become crystalized
and insoluble.
44: LENDER'S REMINISCENCES.
JEPHTHA HARDEST.
jlHE first court that I attended in the spring of
1836, was at Lawrenceville, in Lawrence coun-
ty. It seemed that some good genius attended
me, for I got into almost immediate practice wherever
I went, which increased from year to year until I quit
the circuit. From Lawrenceville we went to Mt.
Carmel; from there to Carmi, where we often met with
lawyers from Shawneetown circuit — such as Gatewood,
Eddy, Mapes, Samuel Marshall, and William H. Stick-
ney, now of Chicago. But let me not forget to make
especial mention of my distinguished friend, Jephtha
Hardin, whom we frequently met at this court. He
was a brother of the distinguished Benjamin Hardin,
of whom I have spoken in a former part of these me-
moirs. He reminded me very much of his brother
Ben, in looks and disposition. Of course he was not
the equal of Ben, but not greatly his inferior.
Jephtha Hardin, like his brother Ben, of Kentucky,
had a very good opinion of himself. Finding that I
had been personally acquainted with his brother Ben,
he seemed somewhat anxious to know what opinion I
entertained of him. I told him Hardin was an able
JEPHTHA HARDIST. 45
lawyer, so regarded by all who knew him — exceedingly
sarcastic, as I had a good right to know ; that I had
felt the merciless inflictions of his coarse satire full
many a time, and that I was even yet sore in the re-
membrance thereof; that as he was almost the coun-
terpart of his brother in physical and mental stature —
being large and ungainly in size and coarse in speech
—I was only sorry that there was no case in court
where we were on opposite sides, that I might liqui-
date the debt I owed to the Hardin family.
"The thing, by G— d," said he, "of "all others I
most desire. Well," added he, " there is a case of
hog-stealing here. I know the defendant. I will see
the young man who is defending, and get him to let
me assist him. You must see the State's Attorney,
and become his sole prosecutor, and I'll be d — d if I
don't give you the worst dressing down you ever had
in your life."
The matter was not difficult to arrange, either with
the young man or the State's Attorney. So into the case
we went, after the evidence was through, which was
very strong against the accused. I opened with a
plain statement of the facts and the law, telling the
jury that the most they would have to do would be to
agree upon the time he should serve in the peniten-
tiary, but I would take the liberty to tell them that
the accused would be defended by the distinguished
Jephtha Hardin, of Shawneetown, brother to the dis-
tinguished Ben Hardin, of Kentucky, of world-wide
renown, who, being scarcely less distinguished than his
brother, proposed to add new lustre to his laurels by
the castigation he was going to give me. I gave a brief
46 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
statement of the fact that I had challenged him to the
combat, for the purpose of paying off' a debt I owed to
the Hardin family. He immediately rose and replied
to me at considerable length and with marked bit-
terness, and seemed unwilling to give me credit for
a very moderate share of ability. lie succeeded in
getting off some pretty good laughs at rny expense.
When he closed and it was my turn to reply, the court
adjourned to dinner. During the recess the circum-
stance of our legal duel became known to everybody,
so that at the meeting of the court I had a full house,
and quite a number of ladies to grace the occasion. I
never entertained the least doubt of getting the better
of him. I was not bitter, for indeed I entertained none
but the kindest feelings toward Judge Hardin ; but I in-
dulged in many a ludicrous comparison, and drew from
the crowd the most uproarious laughter; and when I
was about closing, turning to Judge Ilardin, I said,
" Gentlemen of the jury, I have now settled with the
Hardin s in full the debt I owed." "But I have not
with you, by God, sir," observed Hardin, in quite
.an audible voice, which caused everybody to laugh
to the splitting ot their sides. I went on to say,
after the crowd had become quiet, " Gentlemen of
the jury, you may now take leave of your old and
distinguished friend, Jephtha Hardin ; his face you'll
see no more; the star that shone with undimmed lus-
tre has disappeared from its place in the heavens, but
another shall take its place, of brighter sheen and
more resplendent lustre." I sat down, leaving the
crowd enjoying a hearty laugh, and friend Jephtha
in a terrible bad passion. We parted, however, good
JEPHTHA HARDHST. 47
friends, though I have never seen him since; but I
will do him the justice to say that he was a man of
kind disposition, great tenderness of heart, and emi-
nently social.
I will next give some very amusing and interesting
anecdotes of " Old Jephtha," and then take up some
other distinguished man of that day, whose history
will not be uninteresting to the present generation.
48 LENDER'S REMINISCENCES.
THE HAEDIN FAMILY.
1WILL now relate some interesting anecdotes
illustrative of the character and peculiarities
of my friend, Jephtha Hard in, the half brother
of Ben Hardin. of Kentucky. But as my readers
doubtless are not as well acquainted with the Hardin
family as I am, I will take occasion here to say that
they were the most distinguished family of Kentucky.
They were a race of -giants, physically and intellectu-
ally. Ben Ilardin was the most distinguished of the
family, not only as a lawyer but as an advocate. His
wit and humor were scarcely inferior to that of Cur-
ran. "When in Congress, where he served for some
thirteen or fourteen years, everybody — even Randolph
— acknowledged his prowess. Randolph compared
him to a coarse kitchen butcher-knife whetted upon a
brick-bat. The late General Thornton, of Shelby
county, Illinois, who knew him well, and who lived in,
Washington at the time Hardin was a member of
Congress, told me that when it was known that he
was going to address the House of Representatives,
he could gather the largest audience of any member
of the House; not even Randolph or Clay could
gather a larger. He said, when it was known that
THE HARDIN FAMILY. 49
Hardin was going to speak, lie has seen negroes and
boys running along the streets and avenues of Wash-
ington crying at the top of their voices, " Hardin has
got the floor! Hardin has got the floor! Hardin has
got the floor!" and in less than no time the streets
would be filled with hacks and every sort of vehicle,
carrying the eager crowd to the Capitol to hear one
of Kentucky's rarest and most gifted sons address the
House of representatives.
The late lamented John J. Hardin, of Illinois, the
son of Gen. Martin D. Hardin, of Frankfort, Ky.,
Mras a near relative of Ben's. All the Wickliifes,
from Charles A. down, had Hardin blood in their
veins, and were all distinguished for their talents.
.My opinion is, that General John J. Hardin, of whom
I have already spoken, who fell fighting at Buena
Vista, under General Taylor, was not inferior to either
Lincoln or Douglas. I knew him well, and he and
Lincoln and Douglas and myself served in the Legist
lature of Illinois in 1836 and '37, at old Yandalia.
I have now given the reader as good an idea of the
Hardin family as it is in my power to do. I shall,
therefore, return for a short period to my old friend,
" Jep." I have already said that lie was eminently so-
cial. I will add that he was garrulous — the never-fail-
ing weakness of old age. Mr. Stickney, of this city,
told me that on one occasion they slept together in the
same bed at a hotel, and Hardin talked him to sleep,
recounting the scenes of his early life, and he supposed
he had slept about two hours and awoke, and found
Hardin rattling away, perfectly unconcerned as to
whether Stickney was asleep or awake.
50 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
He and one Michael Jones, of Shawneetown, had a
deadly feud, and Jones threatened that if he outlived
Hardin he would dig his bones up out of the grave
and hang him in chains on a tree at some cross-roads
in Gallatin county, of which threat Hardin was ap-
prised ; and being satisfied, from the character of Jones,
that he would execute it, when he came to die he had
a clause inserted in his will that they should dig his
grave fifteen feet deep, and fill it up four feet above
the surface of the earth with solid masonry; which I
understand was done.
One more anecdote in regard to my old friend Jeph-
tha, and I will dismiss him. While he was presiding
as judge at Shawneetown, the distinguished Jefferson
Gatewood, of whom I have already spoken, with whom
Hardin was not on very good terms, had a case before
him in which the Judge ruled against him. Gate-
wood, thinking the ruling wrong, turned to some
brother lawyer and in an undertone (which Hardin
nevertheless heard) said, " I will elevate this case and
itake it out of the hands of this little court." Hardin,
immediately addressing Gatewood, said, " What is
.that you say, Jeffy Gatewood — did you say little court?
You, Jeffy Gatewood, say little court? I'll show you
whether this is a little court or not! I'll fine you, and
send you to jail into the bargain, sir! Clerk, enter a
'fine of fifty dollars against him! "
By this time the great drops of sweat, as big as
beads, were rolling down Gatewood's forehead; he rose
to his feet and undertook to explain. Hardin said
-" Sit down, Jeffy, the court will hear no explanation
from you. You say little court ! Clerk, enter a fine
THE HAEDIN FAMILY. 51
of fifty dollars more against him; I'll show you how
little a court this is. I'll thrash you, Jeffy, aud you
know I can do it. Sheriff, adjourn court till after din-
ner."
After the Judge had eaten a good hearty dinner of
roast turkey and other accompaniments, he opened
court at 2 o'clock. Being in excellent humor, he remit-
ted Gatewood's fine, and proceeded with business as
usual. I am informed that Gatewood never again in-
timated that Hardin's court was a little court. A. P.
Field, a lawyer at that time of great distinction, who
was present on the occasion, and from whom I gath-
ered the foregoing facts, told me that in all his life
he never witnessed such an amusing and ludicrous
scene.
My dear reader, if I have wearied you with the ac-
count I have given you of my old friend Jeptha, at-
tribute it to an old man's love of gossip, as I shall
now dismiss him from these pages, hoping I have said
nothing that will give you a bad opinion of him ; for
really he was a very good and an exceedingly kind-
hearted man, and would cry like a child at a picture
of sorrow or distress. Farewell, Jephtha! peace to thy
ashes! "Requiescat in pace"
LIBRARY ^-—
nc ill I
52 LINDEK'S REMINISCENCES.
HEKRY EDDY.
of the most distinguished men of that
day, as a lawyer, was Henry Eddy, of Shaw-
neetown. I first met him at Carmi, in 1836.
I also met him at the Supreme Court repeatedly. He
was employed in the largest cases that came up from
Southern Illinois. When he addressed the court, he
elicited the most profound attention. He was a sort
of walking law library. He never forgot anything
that he ever knew, no matter whether it was law, poe-
try or belles lettres. He often would quote whole
pages of Milton and Shakspeare, when he felt in a
genial mood. He was the son-in-law of John Mar-
shall, of • Shawneetown, president of the Shawnee-
town bank, and brother-in-law of Major Samuel Mar-
shall, one of the most talented men in the State of
Illinois. I served a term in the legislature of Illinois
with JEddy, in 1846 and '7, and we roomed together
during the whole of that winter.
On one occasion Eddy got very " high," and while
in that condition, he rose in the House and made a
few remarks, and it became obvious to us all that
Eddy was not in a fit condition at that time to address
the House. Some of his friends who sat near him
whispered to him and advised him to postpone his
HENBY EDDY. 53
remarks till the next day, which he did. That night
four or five of his friends got together and determined
to have some fun out of him, and we concocted this
story, which each one of us was to tell him when the
others were not present. I was the first one to open
the dance, next morning, when Eddy was perfectly
cool and at himself. I went to him with great gravity,
with sorrow expressed in my face and said, " Eddy, you
mortified your friends very much on. yesterday, in
attempting to speak whe*n you were so much intoxica-
ted." He confessed that he had been overtaken, and
was very much intoxicated. He said that he had been
to a saloon, and it being a cold morning, had taken a
stiff horn of " Tom and Jerry," which, when he got
into the warm Hall of Representatives, close to the
stove, flew to his head, and he had really no recollec-
tion of what he had said.
"Ah, but Eddy, there lies the rub. You cursed
and swore like a trooper."
""What did I say, Linder? Do you remember the
words?"
" Yes, Eddy, I do, and I shall never forget them.
You said, ' Mr. Speaker, this subject by G— d, sir, is
very far from being exhausted, and I'll be G— d d — d,
if I don't intend to ventilate it myself,' and at that
point we got you by the coat tail and pulled you into
your seat."
"O ! my God !" said he, "is that so? As soon as
the House meets, I will make my apology. I never
did such a thing before, and but for the d d ' Tom
and Jerry ' would not have done it then."
The rest of our conspirators all met him, and, seri-
5-i LINDEB'S REMINISCENCES.
atim, told him the same story ; and he actually started
to the House to make his apology, but meeting with
Rheman, a member from Yandalia, on his way to the
House, told him what he was going to do. Rheman,
not being in our plot, told him that he was present and
heard what he said, and that he was perfectly respect-
ful, and that there was not a word of profanity in
what he had said. Eddy said, "I smell it now; the
boys have laid a trap for me, but they haven't caught
me this time." ••
THE LEGISLATURE OF 1836-7. 55
THE LEGISLATUEE OF 1836-7.
LINCOLN — DOUGLAS.
promised the reader to introduce other
names into these memoirs, I will now carry him
to the legislature of Illinois of 1836-7, then
held at Vandalia, of which body, to-wit: the House of
Representatives, Abraham Lincoln, Stephen A.Doug-
las, James Shields, Archy Williams, Ninian Edwards
and John J. Hardin, with many other men that have
since distinguished themselves in our country's history,
together with your humble servant, were members.
This was my second meeting with Abraham Lincoln,
but far from being my last. I should have mentioned
that Jesse K. Dubois was also a member of that body
at that time. I had the pleasure of meeting Robert
Wilson, of Sangamon county, who was also a member
of that body at that time, at the unveiling of Lincoln's,
statute.
He had preserved a list of the names of the mem-
bers of both Houses, and had kept hi)nself informed
as to what had become of them, and he told me that
of the one hundred and five members, there Mrere only
fifteen of us living. Time makes sad havoc of us in
56 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
this world; he comes along with his scythe, mowing us
down, and pays no attention to talents or distinction.
I here had an opportunity of measuring the intel-
lectual stature of Abraham Lincoln better than any I
had previously possessed. He was then about twenty-
seven years old — my own age. Douglas was four years
our junior, consequently, he could not have been over
twenty-three years old, yet he was a very ready and
expert debater, even at that early period of his life. He
and Lincoln were very frequently pitted against each
other, being of different politics. They both com-
manded marked attention and respect from the House.
I dislike to draw any parallel or comparison between
these two men, who afterwards became so famous and
distinguished in their country's history.
This body was largely democratic, and it was at
this session they elected me Attorney-General of the
State of Illinois. My competitor was Benjamin Bond,
of Clinton county, 111., also a member of the same
body with myself. I did not serve out the whole of
my time in the legislature, it being necessary that I
should assume the duties of the new office to which I
had been elected; the law at that time requiring the
Attorney-General to perform the duties of a district
or State's attorney, on the circuit of which the seat of
government, Yandalia, was a part. I therefore, some-
time in February, resigned my seat and met the court
at Edwardsville, which was then presided over by his
Honor, Judge Breese, who, I am happ}- to say, is still
living and a member of the Supreme Court of the State
of Illinois, and for his age, one of the best preserved
men, physically arid mentally, that I know of in tli3
THE LEGISLATURE OF 1836-7. 57
whole circle of my acquaintances. He cannot be less
than eighty years of age, and yet he is one of the most
active and laborious members of the court. It was a
cold winter when I met Judge Breese atEdwardsville.
We traveled together on the circuit on horseback, our
road lying down the Mississippi as far as Kaskaskia.
It was on this trip that I became acquainted with
several gentlemen who have since made their mark in
the history of Illinois, amongst whom were Adam
Snyder, the father of the present Judge William Sny-
der, of St. Clair Bounty; Judge Koerner, then but a
mere novice at the bar; David J. Baker, Governor
Reynolds and others. I should also have mentioned
Joseph Gillespie; and I will take occasion here to say
that a better man and sounder lawyer it has never
been my good fortune to know. I will also say en.
passant, that it was on this trip I first became
acquainted with the late Nathanial Buckmaster, who
was then sheriff of Madison county, and a more genial
and whole-souled man it wrould be hard to find.
I ought not to forget, in this connection, to mention
my old friend, Govenor William Kinney, a man of
great native wit, but of very little learning, as I shall
illustrate by a short anecdote. In writing, when he
had occasion to use the personal pronoun I, he always
used the little " i," and being asked on one occasion
why he did not use the capital, he replied, " that Gov-
ernor Edwards, who was his superior in office (he,
Kinney, being only Lieutenant Governor), had used
up all the capital I's, leaving him only the small 'i '."
The wit in this reply consists in this, that although
Governor Edwards was one of the most talented men
58 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
in the nation, yet, at the same time, lie was one of the
vainest and most egotistical.
o
I shall not linger longer at present on this circuit.
Let it suffice to say, that Judge Breese and I enjoyed
ourselves greatly while we were together on the circuit.
I did not complete my term of office as Attorney-
General, but resigned before the two years had expired,
and returned to Coles county, where I continued to
reside and practice my profession on that circuit until
1860, when I removed with my family to the city of
Chicago.
BRILLIANT RAILROAD SCHEMES — ILLINOIS AND MICHIGAN
CANAL.
The years 183G and '37 were a sort of formation
•period; the starting point of many great men who dis-
tinguished themselves in the subsequent history of
Illinois. My readers will perhaps be astonished when
I say to them that at that time Mr. Lincoln did not
give promise of being the first man in Illinois, as he
afterwards became. He made a good many speeches
in the legislature, mostly on local subjects. A close
observer, however, could riot fail to see that the tall,
six-footer, 'with his homely logic, clothed in the lan-
guage of the humbler classes, had the stuff in him to
make a man of mark.
At that time we had some very exciting questions
before the Legislature. It was at that session that the
subject of internal improvements became the all-ab-
sorbing question of the day. There was not a railroad
at that time in the State of lilinois; nor was there any
road in Indiana touching the line of our State. I
THE LEGISLATURE OF 1836-7. 59
think there was a short road, either constructed or be-
ing constructed, from Madison, on the Ohio river, to
Indianapolis. We ran perfectly wild on the subject
of internal improvements. A map of that scheme,
with the various routes along which our contemplated
roads were to run, would be somewhat amusing to look
at, at this day. I must, however, here remark that
some of the routes were exceedingly well chosen. I
will only mention one or two: the Illinois Central, the
Chicago and Galena, and the great .Northern Cross-
Railroad, which was to start somewhere on the Mis-
sissippi, run through Decatur, and on by the way of
Danville to the Indiana State line.
These are hardly a tithe of the roads that were
mapped out and authorized to be built. Every mem-
ber wanted a road to his county town — a great many
of them got one; and those counties through which
no road was authorized to be constructed were to be
compensated in money; which was to be obtained by
a loan from Europe, or— God knows where.
The enthusiastic friends of the measure, such as John
Hogan, one of the members from Alton, an Irishman,
who had been a Methodist preacher, and who was
quite a fluent and interesting speaker, maintained that
instead of their being any difficulty in obtaining a loan
of the fifteen. or twenty millions authorized to be bor-
rowed, our bonds would go like hot cakes, and be
sought for by the Rothschilds and Baring Brothers.
and others of that stamp, and that, the premium
which we would obtain upon them would range from
fifty to one hundred per cent., and that the premium
itself would be sufficient to construct most of the
60 LENDER'S REMINISCENCES.
important works, leaving the principal sum to go into
our treasury, and leave the people free from taxation
fbr years to come.
The law authorized these works to be constructed by
the State, without the intervention of corporations or
any individual interest whatever. Commissioners were
to be appointed to go to Europe and borrow money on
our State bonds.
My recollection now is, that Moses Eawlings, of
Shawneetown, John D. Whiteside, Governor Reynolds,
and General William F. Thornton, the last mentioned
of whom represented the Illinois and Michigan canal,
with their satchels full of State bonds, posted off to
London and Hamburg, to negotiate the loan; and my
impression now is, that General Thornton was the
only one of them who was able to sell the bonds at par,
and he, by some arrangement that he made to have
the money paid in English sovereigns at New York
city, realized a veiy handsome premium.
The great fault in the system was discovered when it
was too late. It was found that when nobody has any
individual interest in a thing like this— nothing to lose,
and nothing to gain but their salary — the public inter-
ests always suifer.
I think some fifteen or eighteen millions were bor-
rowed, and of that sum, if the State derived any bene-
fit from it, it was that portion which was applied to
the Illinois and Michigan canal. If any man deserves
more credit than another for the completion of that
canal, it is Col. E. D. Taylor, now of LaSalle, 111., the
present owner of the coal mines in that vicinity. He
procured some dozen or more men of carntal in the
THE LEGISLATURE OF 1836-7. 61
city of Chicago, who, with himself, guaranteed the con-
struction of the work, and thereupon the English capi-
talists pulled out their money, and the work went
ahead.
As to the railroads, I suppose everybody knows that
they were not built; here and there through the State
you could find some gradings and fillings, but never
a tie nor rail was laid upon them by the State. They
remained as monuments of legislative folly. The
State has sold some of them, I believe, and perhaps
all, for a mere song, to the companies which have con-
structed roads on the routes laid out by the State.
Perhaps I ought to beg pardon of the reader for de-
taining him so long on these dry statistics.
It was only a few years when the whole system went
up like a balloon. I supported the measure, with
many others, and am willing now to take my share of
the blame which shouM attach to those who supported
it. We were all young and inexperienced men. Lin-
coln and Douglas, with myself, voted for this Internal
Improvement Bill. My recollection now is that Gen-
eral John J. Hard in, of Jacksonville, took a decided
stand against it, and predicted it's fate with an accu-
racy that looks to me now -almost like prophecy.
REMOVAL OF THE CAPITAL TO SPRINGFIELD.
At that session (I mean 1836 and '7), the question
came up as to the removal of the seat of government
from Yandalia to Springfield. Springfield had nine
members. They were called the " long nine," for
there was not one of them who was not over six feet
62 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
liigli. The scat of government was removed, by law,
to Springfield, and.it has been hinted that the "nine"
traded a little to accomplish this result, but I vouch
for nothing of the kind.
At the call-session in the summer of 1837, of which
body I was not then a member, General Lee D. Ewing
had been elected to fill some vacancy which had
occurred, for the express purpose of repealing the law
removing the seat of government to Springfield. I
should have said that he was the representative from
Fayette county, of which Vandalia is the county
seat.
General Ewing at that time was a man of consider-
able notoriety, popularity and talents. He had been
a senator in Congress from Illinois, and had filled
various State offices in his time. He was a man of
elegant manners, great personal courage, and would
grace either the saloons of fashion or the Senate
chamber at Washington.
The Legislature opened its special session (I was
there as a spectator), and General Ewing sounded the
tocsin of war. lie said that " the arrogance of Spring-
field— its presumption in claiming the seat of govern-
ment— was not to be endured; that the law had been
passed by chicanery and trickery; that the Springfield
delegation had sold out to the internal improvement
men, and had promised their support to every measure
that would gain them a vote to the law removing the
seat of government." He said many other things cut-
ting and sarcastic. Lincoln was chosen by his col-
leagues as their champion, to reply to him; and I want
to say here that this was the first time that I began to
THE LEGISLATURE OF 1836-7. 63
conceive a very high opinion of the talents and per-
sonal courage of Abraham Lincoln. He retorted upon
E wing with great severity; denouncing his insinua-
tions imputing corruption to him and his colleagues,
and paying hack with usury all that Ewing had said,
when everybody thought and believed that he was dig-
ging his own grave; for it was known that Ewing
would not quietly pocket any insinuations that would
degrade him personally.
I recollect his reply to Lincoln well. After address-
ing the Speaker, he turned to the Sangamon delega-
tion, who all sat in the same portion of the house, and
said :
" Gentlemen, have you no other champion than this
coarse and vulgar fellow to bring into the lists against
me? Do you suppose that I will condescend to break
a lance with your low and obscure colleague?"
Think of such a remark made to a man who was
afterward to be President of the United States — to
whom monuments were to be erected, and of whom
hundreds of biographies were to be written, and who
was to strike the fetters from four millions of slaves !
I guess that if Ewing could have known it then, it
would have greatly modified and softened his remarks;
but who could see in the ungainly and uneducated
man, the man who was to make himself thereafter sec-
ond only to George Washington, the Father of his
Country, whom, in honesty, patriotism and sterling
integrity, he very much resembled.
We were all very much alarmed for fear there would
be a personal conflict between Ewing and Lincoln.
It was confidently believed that a challenge must
64: EINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
pass between them, but the friends on both sides took
it in hand, and it was settled without anything serious
growing out of it.
Ewing did not accomplish the purpose for which he
was elected. He afterwards filled high offices under
the State governments, and was one of the most genial,
social and amiable of men that I have ever known.
We were warm personal friends, and my heart now
makes a pilgrimage to his grave, as it does to those of
Lincoln and Douglas, and a host of others who have
left me alone with another generation.
At the session of 1836 and '37, there were men,
some of whose names I have already mentioned, who
became greatly distinguished in after times. I shall
not forget them, and shall, in my subsequent pages,
try to do justice to them.
JAMES SHIELDS. 65
JAMES SHIELDS.
fiTIE next one I shall take up will be General
James Shields,, one of the fifteen survivors
of the legislature of 1836 and '37. General
James Shields now lives in the State of Missouri.
He was Commissioner of the General Land Office at
Washington, under President Polk. General Shields
was a native of Ireland. He was appointed by Polk,
during the progress of the Mexican war, a Brigadier-
General, and was at the battle of Cerro Gordo, where
he was severely wounded, a musket ball having passed
entirely through his lungs. His Aid, George T. M.
Davis, told me that he could only keep warmth in his
body by putting him between two blankets and getting
in with him, and putting his two naked feet to his
armpits. He fortunately survived, and was afterwards
Senator in Congress from Illinois, and one of the
Union generals in the late rebellion. In 1836 and '37, he
was Representative from Randolph county, Kaskaskia.
The reader will remember that before he became very
famous, he challenged our friend Lincoln to fight a
duel. Lincoln accepted the challenge, and by the
advice of his especial friend and second, Dr. Merri-
man, he chose broadswords as the weapons witli which
to fight. Dr. Merriman being a splendid swordsman,
5
66 LINDEK'S REMINISCENCES.
trained him in the use of that instrument, which
made it almost certain that Shields would be killed or
discomfited, for he was a small, short-armed man,
while Lincoln was a tall, sinewy, long-armed man, and
as stont as Hercules.
They went to Alton, and were to fight on the neck
of land between the Missouri and Mississippi rivers,
near their confluence. John J. Hardin hearing of the
contemplated duel, determined to prevent it, and has-
tened to 'Alton, with all imaginable celerity, where he
fell in with the belligerent parties, and aided by some
other friends of both Lincoln and Shields, succeeded
in effecting a reconciliation.
This is about as much notice as I intend to take of
General Shields, as his name has gone into history,
where abler pens than mine have done him full jus-
tice. He was my personal and political friend, and
voted for and helped to elect me Attorney-General,
and I will now take leave of him by saying he was a
warm-hearted Irishman, and a brave and gallant
soldier.
After this affair between Lincoln and Shields, I met
Lincoln at the Danville court, and in a walk we took
together, seeing him make passes with a stick, such as
are made in the broadsword exercise, I was induced to
ask him why he had selected that weapon with which
to fight Shields. He promptly answered in that
sharp, ear-splitting voice of his:
"To tell you the truth, Linder, I did not want to kill
Shields, and felt sure that I could disarm him, having
had about a month to leajn the broadsword exercise;
and furthermore, I didn't want the d — d fellow to kill
JAMES SHIELDS. 67
me, which. I rather think he would have done if we
had selected .pistols."
In this connection I want to say that I never knew
but one man who, in size, personal appearance and
his style and manner of addressing courts and juries,
closely resembles Mr. Lincoln, and that is our distin-
guished and talented townsman, Leonard Swett; and
in saying this I am sure that I do no injustice to Mr.
Lincoln, for Mr. Swett is an eminent and distin-
guished lawyer, standing at the head of the bar in the
city of Chicago and State of Illinois. If he has a
superior, I have not the pleasure of his acquaintance.
68 LINDEK'S REMINISCENCES.
JESSE K. DUBOIS.
JFEEL it to be my duty, as it is a great pleas-
ure to me, to introduce to the notice and
attention of the reader rny old friend, Jesse
K. Dubois, now of Springfield, Illinois, late Auditor
of the State of Illinois, who in 1836 and '37 was a
member of the House of Representatives of the leg-
islature of Illinois, from the county of Lawrence.
Ah! Jesse, when I think of you my heart warms and
my pulse beats faster; and though I may not give you
the highest niche in tha temple of Fame, yet you are
enshrined in the very core of my heart!
My acquaintance with Mr. Dnbois commenced in
1836, at Lawrenceville. He was then the member-
elect from the county of Lawrence, and I from the
county of Coles. .1 was attending the fall session of
the court there. Our intimacy commenced at that
time, and our friendship has continued for nearly forty
years; and it has grown and strengthened with our
age. When I first saw him he was a slim, handsome
young man, with auburn hair, sky-blue eyes, with the
elegant manners of a Frenchman, from which nation
he has his descent. The last time I saw him was at
the unveiling of Lincoln's statue, near Springfield,
where he made the opening speech. To say it was a
JESSE K. DTJBOIS. 69
good speech would be too tame an expression to do
him justice; it was a magnificent effort. He had been
the leading and managing man in the construction of
Lincoln's monument, and showed from whence every
dollar came; and although the subject was rather dry
and jejune, he made it interesting by the manner
and style of his delivery. •• He is a man of spotless
reputation, and if any man who has known him
well should contradict this assertion, old as I am,
while I might not go a hundred miles to thrash him,
as the old Ranger Governor once said of a man whom
he did not like very well: "I wouldn't shake hands
with him on the day of an election if I was a candi-
date myself for office."
Jesse K. Dubois is too well known by the people of
this State to need any further mention, on my part, of
his claims to their highest respect. I should like to
see him Governor of the State of Illinois, which posi-
tion he would no doubt fill to the satisfaction of all,
and make the Governor's mansion -the head-quarters
of all honest men and good fellows.
With these remarks I shall leave the name of Jesse
K. Dubois with my readers, and it would afford me
unqualified delight if I thought these memoirs would
have merit enough to carry his name to future gene-
rations. He is the prince of good fellows — a man with-
out subtlety or guile; devoted to his friends, and
something of a terror to his enemies and all dema-
gogues.
70 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
JOHN M. PALMER
[OE-THY reader, I now wish to introduce to
your notice a man who was not a member of
the legislature of 1836 and '37, but to whom
I wish to give a place in these memoirs. I allude to
his Excellency, the late Governor of Illinois, the Hon.
John M. Palmer. My acquaintance with him com-
menced in 1837 and '38, when he was simply probate
justice of the peace of Macoupin county, at Carlin-
ville, 111. As to his subsequent career as General in
the army and Governor of Illinois, it is wholly un-
necessary to speak, for the historian will do him jus-
tice. His name and deeds will brighten every page
upon which they may be written.
JOHN A. MoCLEKNAND. 71
JOKST A. McOLEEKAND.
|T WILL be impossible for me to introduce to
your notice all the men who were prominent in
the legislature of 1836 and '37, and who
became famous thereafter; but one of the men who
figured prominently at that session was John A.
McClernand, of Shawneetown. He was a young man
of great fluency of speech and a Democrat. Governor
Duncan had sent a message to the two Houses, attack-
ing General Jackson and Mr. Van Buren, which part
of his message was referred to a select committee, of
which McClernand was chairman, and he made a report
thereon to the House, which was thought by his friends
to be an able one. He made a speech on the intro-
duction of that report which gave him considerable
prestige with the legislature. Since then McCler-
nand has climbed pretty high up on the ladder of fame.
He was a Major-General of the Union forces in the late
rebellion, and was appointed by the administration to
lay siege to Yicksburg, but was, for some cause or
other, superseded by General Grant. As I am not
writing a history of the war, which has been written
by many able pens, my object only being to bring
General McClernand before the eye of the reader, I
will only add that he was at the battle of Shiloh, and
72 LIKDER'S REMINISCENCES.
was in the hottest thereof, and behaved with great
courage, gallantry and skill.
He was for many years a member of the House of
Representatives in Congress, from the Southern part
of Illinois, and made his mark in that body. He has
since been Judge of the Circuit Court of Sangamon
county. I should have said that many years ago Gov-
ernor Ford appointed him his Secretary of State, in
place of A. P. Field, whom he intended to remove by
that appointment. Field litigated the appointment of
McClernand, and it came before the Supreme Court of
Illinois, and they decided in favor of Field. The deci-
sion was delivered by Chief Justice William Wilson,
which will be found in Scammon's Reports.
It is an able opinion, but evidently erroneous, and
the precedent was never followed by any subsequent
action of the government. They decided, in that opin-
ion, that a Governor had no right to remove a Secre-
tary of State appointed by his predecessor. It was
contrary to the practice of the general government, and
was evidently wrong, as every lawyer now acknowl-
edges, and was made by a court politically hostile to
Governor Ford and John A. McClernand.
SUPKEME COURT JUDGES. 73
SUPREME COURT JUDGES.
WILSON — SMITH — BEOWN — LOCKWOOD.
jHE court was then composed of William Wil-
son, Chief Justice, Theophilus Smith, Thomas
C. Brown, and Samuel Lockwood, all of whom
have paid the debt of nature and gone to their last ac-
count. I knew them all personally, and practiced law
before Jtid^e Wilson when he held the courts in the
O
4th judicial circuit of Illinois, and it is due to his
memory to say that he was an able judge, both of the
Supreme Court'and the courts of nisi prius.
At that day many lawyers considered Smith the great
light on the bench, as many more thong th Wilson the
great light. At this distance of time I shall not
undertake to decide between them, but I will step aside
to say that Judge Thomas C. Brown was the Falstaff
of the bench, which a few short anecdotes will illus-
trate. He was a tall, corpulent man, being as full of
wit and humor as an egg is of meat. On one occa-
sion, being asked where he then lived, he answered,
" Why, sir, I live in the hearts of my countrymen."
Brown never refused to take a horn when invited,
but very rarely invited others to take a horn with him.
A personal friend of his who had imbibed too freely
74 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
during the session of 1836 and '37, whose name I
shall not mention for personal reasons, and who occu-
pied the same room with Brown, was very sick the
whole of the night thereafter, and kept Brown awake.
Next morning Brown took him by the arm and led
him one side, and said to him :
" My friend, I am not opposed to taking a social
glass, but if I were you, from the way it affects you,
I would either quit drinking or kill myself."
"The devil you would!" said his friend.
" Well, no," says Brown, " I don't know that you
will be driven to that necessity, for there are a hun-
dred negroes and mulattoes in this town that you can
hire to kill you for a quarter of a dollar, and thus save
you from the crime of suicide."
I will relate another short anecdote of which I was
personally cognizant. I desired to have a Colonel Bod-
kin, of Alton, admitted to the bar as a lawyer. Know-
ing that his qualifications were rather slim, I hinted
as much to Brown, and got him to go to my room to
examine him. Bodkin had been a butcher. He had
twinkling grey eyes and a nose like! Bardolph's. I
said to Judge Brown, "Let me introduce to your
acquaintance Colonel Bodkin, who desires to be admit-
ted to the bar, to practice law; will you please exam-
ine him touching his qualifications?" Turning to
Bodkin, he said: "Colonel, are you a judge of good
brandy?" Bodkin took the hint in a moment, rang
the bell, and a servant making his appearance, he
directed him to bring up a bottle of the best c gnac
and some loaf sugar, which was quickly forthcoming,
and Judge Brown having partaken thereof, with the
rest of us, turned to the Colonel, and said:
SUPREME COUKT JUDGES. 75
" Colonel, liave you read Blackstone and Chitty?"
" O ! yes, sir," says the Colonel.
''What do you think of them as authors?" said the
Judge.
" I think very highly of them," said the Colonel.
" Have you read Shakspeare?" asks the Judge.
" Oh, yes," says the Colonel.
"You greatly admire him, Colonel?" says the
Judge.
" Oh, beyond all the power of language to express !"
says the Colonel.
" Do you know there was no such person as Shaks-
peare?" said the Judge.
" Indeed I did not," said the Colonel.
"It is true," said the Judge. "Then you don't
know, Colonel, who wrote the work entitled ' The Plays
of Shakspeare?"
" If he did not write them I do not know," replied
the Colonel.
""Would you like to know?" said the Judge.
" I certainly should," answered the Colonel.
" Then," said the Judge, " as you have shown in
this examination the highest qualifications to be ad-
mitted to the bar, I will say to you, in the strictest
confidence, what I have never said to any one before,
that / am the author of those plays! Mr. Bodkin,
write out your license, and I will sign it."
76 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS.
HERE is a man who has figured but slightly
in these pages, whom it is time for us now to
notice; that man is Stephen A. Douglas, who,
during his life, accomplished much for himself and his
adopted State. He was a native of Vermont, of hum-
ble origin, and certainly not very liberally educated.
He came to this State wThen he could not have been
over twenty or twenty-one years of age, and taught
school for a livelihood, at the same time prosecuting
his study of the law; so that when his term of teach-
ing was out, he got license to practice law, and the
legislature elected him prosecuting attorney for the
district in which he lived, which included Jacksonville.
His public career is too well known for me to incum-
ber these pages with that which has been a thousand
times better written than I could possibly write it, it
I were to try. I will, therefore, only notice him so
far as he stands connected with Lincoln and myself.
It is known to every one how long he served in the
Senate of the United States, and what a brilliant rec-
ord he made for himself, and how much he did for the
State of Illinois, and what a world-wide reputation he
won for himself. No one will deny that, had it not
been for him, we should never have obtained from the
general government that magnificent grant of lands
STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS. 77
which went to construct the Illinois Central Railroad,
from which the State now derives a revenue of from
three to five hundred thousand dollars per annum.
I was a member of the legislature in 1846, when we
negotiated with the company that afterwards construct-
ed that road, and certainly a finer thoroughfare does not
exist in the world; connecting the great northern lakes
with the mouth of the Ohio river, and Chicago, the
Queen City of the Northwest, with the cities of Mobile
and l^ew Orleans, by rail and water, by which we can
send our products to every port of the Gulf of Mexi-
co, and through the Gulf into the Atlantic, and to all
the West India Islands, and every part of the world.
Everybody knows how we are connected with the lakes
and the northern Atlantic. It is impossible to antici-
pate the future greatness of Illinois and the city of
Chicago, and how far the acts, and public services of
Douglas have contributed to that greatness the people
of Illinois know full well. Is it not a shame he should
have no finished monument to attest the gratitude of
a people for whom he has done so much?
If he did not succeed in being President himself,
he contributed largely to giving one to the State of
Illinois. You will ask how this happened. I answer,
that when Mr. Lincoln's party in 1858 nominated him
to run against Douglas for the Senate of the United
States, their joint debate made Mr. Lincoln one of the
most prominent men of his party, and no impartial
friend of his will deny that that debate and his defeat
for the senate secured his nomination in 1860 for the
presidency, his consequent election, and all the glory
and honor he subsequently won.
78 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
Now let ns contemplate for a moment Stephen A.
Douglas as a patriot. Instead of being soured by
defeat, as many ambitions men would have been, when
the dark clouds of civil war were lowering over our land
he stood shoulder to shoulder with Lincoln, his suc-
cessful antagonist, and sounded the bugle-note that
caused all his personal and political friends to rally
around the flag of the Union. No State can boast
two greater names than Lincoln and Douglas. It was
O o
unnecessary for me to say this much of Douglas, only
that I desire, in these my memoirs, to lay an humble
leaf of laurel on the grave of my friend.
My intimacy and friendship with Douglas com-
menced in 1836, when I was a very young man, and
he was, as it were, a mere boy. He looked like a boy,
with his smooth face and diminutive proportions, but
when he spoke in the House of Representatives, as he
often did in 1836 and '37, he spoke like a man, and
loomed up into the proportions of an intellectual
giant, and it was at that session he got the name of
the "Little Giant," by which he was called all over
the Union till the day of his death — "The Little
Giant of Illinois."
My personal intercourse with him was like that of
a brother, which, in one respect, I was. Worthy
reader, I promised in the beginning of these memoirs
to say as little about myself as possible. I am writ-
ing my recollections of other men, and not an auto-
biography; but I will relate a little circumstance
here which occurred between Douglas and myself
when he was running for the Senate in 1858. When
he was canvassing the Northern portion of the State,
STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS. 79
a great many of Mr. Lincoln's friends followed him to
his large meetings, which they would address at night,
attacking Douglas when he would be in bed asleep,
worn out by die fatigues of the day. He telegraphed
me to meet him at Freeport, and travel around the
State with him and help to fight off the hell-hounds,
as he called them, that were howling on his path, and
used this expression : " For God sake, Linder, come."
Some very honest operator stole the telegram as it was
passing over the wire, and published it in the Repub-
lican papers. They dubbed me thenceforth with the
sobriquet of " For God's Sake Linder," which I have
worn with great pride and distinction ever since.
I met him at St. Louis; his wife, a most elegant
lady, was with him. We traveled down through the
Southern part of Illinois, speaking together at all his
meetings — as far down as Cairo and up to Jones-
borough, where he and Lincoln met in joint debate.
These debates were published, and they, of themselves,
are enduring monuments of the greatness of the two
men. But Mr. Douglas' great theatre was in the
Senate of the United States. His speeches there will
rank with those of Clay, Webster and Calhoun, and in
debate he was not a whit inferior to either of them,
and I know from good authority that he was the
favorite of all three of these men.
Douglas on one occasion, in a social chat between
him and myself, gave, me a detailed account of his
trip to Europe, and of his permission to see Queen
Victoria if he would do so in court dress, whicli he
declined, saying that he would wear just such clothes
as he usually wore when visiting the President of the
80 LIXDER'S REMINISCENCES.
United States. But when he got to Russia, the great
Nicholas, who was then on the throne, granted him
the privilege to see him in the same dress he usually
wore at the White House. He did Douglas and our
country the honor to send his own carriage for him,
and had him brought out to one of the Russian
steppes, where Nicholas was reviewing a million of his
troops. Said he, "Linder, it was the most imposing
sight I ever saw. They were drawn up in the form of
a Y, stretching away back beyond the reach of my
vision. At the apex of this Y was a brilliant cortege,
the principal figure being Nicholas himself; the rest
were composed of his household and domestic minis-
ters and ambassadors, from all the known world. I
was taken," said he, " not to this cortege, but about a
half a mile from there, where the carriage stopped,
and I was helped out by what I supposed to be one of
the emperor's most distinguished officers, 'for he was
covered all over by crosses and badges of honor, and
there were others there similarly decorated. He
pointed to ahorse, a beautiful steed, the most elegantly
caparisoned I ever saw; the brow-band of the bridle
was actually studded with diamonds; other portions
of the horse's covering were literally glittering with
o-old and silver. I knew the horse was intended for
o
me. I went up and examined the stirrup-straps, and
found them about a foot too long. I turned around,
and asked in English (being the only language I could
speak), if any gentleman would shorten the stirrups
for me, but to my utter dismay not a word could any
of them speak, or understand what 1 said to them ; but I
made them understand by signs, and by fitting the stir-
STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS. 81
rnp leathers to my arms, what I wanted, and they were
quickly shortened to fit my short legs, and I mounted.
I did not know exactly what I was to do, but the horse
informed me, for he turned his head towards the bril-
liant cortege, of which I have spoken, and broke for it
like the wind. He had hardly started, however, when
another horse, with a giant-like form upon him,
caparisoned exactly like the one I was on, left the very
head of the cortege and came, with the speed of a
Mazeppa, right towards me. Thinks I, yon are going
to come together like a couple of locomotives, but I'll
take the chances and let you drive. On they both
went, as though they were going to run through each
other, until they came up, nose to nose, and reared up
on their hind feet, and then brought their fore feet
right down to the ground together and stood as still
as death, when the tall, fine-looking man on the other
horse, addressed me in good English, in about these
words:
"'I have the pleasure, I presume, of receiving and
welcoming to Russia, Senator Douglas, of Illinois?' '
" I bowed my assent, and replied : ' I presume I have
the honor of being received and welcomed by His
Majesty, Nicholas, Emperor of all the Russias.'
•' From thence we rode along together, engaged in
familiar chat. He asked me a good many questions
in regard to the way which I had corne, and if I had
come by the way of Constantinople. I told him I had.
He asked me if I saw any signs or preparations of war
there. I answered I had not. He then asked me what
the prevailing opinion was there as to whether there
would be any war. I said, 'The opinion seems to be
6
82 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
that it depends entirely upon your Majesty whether
there will be peace or war.'
" We arrived at the cortege, and he gave me the place
of honor, near his own person. Linder," said Doug-
las, " that was a proud day for my country. I never
was vain enough to appropriate it to myself. When
the little man in black was given the place of honor, it
was a stroke of policy on the part of Nicholas; it
amounted to saying to the hundred ambassadors from
all the nations of the world: 'Gentlemen, I intend to
make the great people of the great republic on the
other side of the Atlantic my friends, and if any of
your nations go to war with me, rest assured that that
people will stand by me.' I received every attention
that it was possible for mortal man to receive, all of
which I knew was intended for my country."
I shall now take leave of my old friend, Douglas. 1
cannot add to his great name by anything I might say.
I loved him with the love that Jonathan had for
David — "A love that passeth the love of woman."
O. H. BKOWNING. 83
0.
|H. BKOWNING, of Quincy, 111., was also
one of the Senators at the session of the Illi-
nois legislature of 1836 and '37, who has since
obtained high and enviable distinction as a lawyer and
a statesman. He came to this State from the State of
Kentucky. He was appointed to fill the vacancy in
the Senate of the United States caused by the death of
Stephen A. Douglas, and afterwards was appointed as
Secretary of the Interior. In all the posts Mr. Brown-
ing has filled, he has done so with great honor to him-
self and benefit- to his country. He is still living, and
in high practice. He is a man of wealth, has no
children of his own, but has, I think, an adopted daugh-
ter, of whom he and Mrs. Browning — an elegant and
accomplished lady — are as fond as if she were their
own daughter.
Mr. Browning practices in our Federal Courts of
Chicago, although at an advanced age — being about
seventy years old. He is one of the fifteen survi- \
vors of the one hundred and five members of the leg-
islature of 1836 and '37. He could very well pass for
fifty -five years old, being very healthy and well pre-
served. He is retained in most of the large causes
brought for and against the railroad companies. "We
84 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
have always been great personal friends. I remember
canvassing his Congressional District for him, against
William A. Richardson, in 1852, leaving my own elec-
tion, in Coles county, to take care of itself. I was,
consequently, beaten some twenty-five votes.
WILLIAM A. RICHARDSON. 85
WILLIAM A. RIOHAEDSOK
1ILLIAM A. RICHARDSON was also a mem-
ber of the House of Representatives of the Illi-
nois legislature, of 1836 and '37. He was a
captain in the Black Hawk war. He was also a cap-
tain or a major under General Taylor, in his Mexican
war, and fought under him in the battle of Buena Yis-
ta. He was many years a Representative in Congress
from the military district, and came very near being
elected Speaker of the House of Representatives, and
was subsequently elected to the Senate of the United
States.
Richardson filled all the positions which he ever
occupied with much honor and distinction, and is still
living at this writing, in the city of Quincy, Illinois.
He is nearly, if not quite, seventy years of age.
At the session of 1836 and '37, Richardson repre-
sented the county of Schuyler, and General George W.
Maxwell, who is now dead, and who since that session
married a sister of my wife, was Senator from the dis-
trict of which Schuyler county formed a part. He,
also, as well as Richardson, was in the Black Hawk
war, and had the command of a company or regiment,
I don't now remember which. He was a whole-souled,
kind-hearted, clever fellow — peace be to his ashes!
86 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
JOECN" D. WHITESIDE.
JOHN D. WHITESIDE, of whom I have
casually spoken, was also a member of the
Senate of the session of 1836 7 and '37. He
was a candidate, and elected as Treasurer of the State,
by the Legislature at this session, which office he held
for many years after the seat of government was re-
moved to Springfield, by re-election. He was the gen-
tleman who bore the challenge from Shields to Lin-
coln. He was a candidate at this session for Speaker
of the Senate, but was defeated by Col. William H.
Davidson, from White county.
He was a man eminently social, of great colloquial,
conversational talents. He did not mingle much, in
the debates of the Senate, but, as Lsaid before, he went
to Europe to borrow money on our bonds, where, ac-
cording to his own account, he made quite a splurge,
and talked to the capitalists and nobility, and let them
know that if they were high and honored subjects of
the English king, he was one of the free sovereigns of
America. I 've had many a hearty laugh in listening
to Whiteside, who reminded me of the old Dutchman
who set his hen on a wash-tub of eggs, and when his
wife asked him why he did it — "Py Shesus," said he,
"yust to see de olt plue hen spread herself." He has
long since gone to his last account. He was widely and
favorably known all over the State of Illinois.
JUSTIN BUTTEKFIELD. 87
JUSTIN" BUTTEEFIELD.
|TIEKE were other men, wlio were not members
of this legislature, who were present during
the session— generally distinguished lawyers,
in attendance on the Supreme Court. Amongst the
rest was Justin Butterfield, of Chicago, one of the most
learned, talented and distinguished members of the
bar, whom I will introduce to the reader at this time,
although perhaps he might fall in more properly fur-
ther along in these memoirs. He was a man of rare
wit and humor, and I ain satisfied that a few anecdotes
in illustration thereof will not be unacceptable to the
reader. He had held office in New York at the break-
ing out of the uar of 1812, and having opposed that
war, it destroyed his popularity and laid him on the
shelf for many years. When the war broke out be-
tween this country and Mexico, during Folk's admin-
istration, some person asked him if he was opposed to
the war. " No, by G-d, I oppose no wars. I opposed
one war, and it ruined me, and henceforth I am for
War, Pestilence and Fanum-."
During the contest of 1840 between Harrison and
Van Buren, some Federal office-holder met Butterfield
in debate. Butterfield charged the hard times that
then afflicted the country to the course pursued by the
88 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
administration. The office-holder replied, denying
that there was hard times, and declared that he never
saw better times in his life. Butterfield, in his
rejoinder, used the following language:
"Fellow-citizens, I believe, in my soul, that if it
lained fire and brimstone, as it did at Sodom and
Gomorah, these locofocos would exclaim, ' What a
refreshing shower!'" The office-holder sneaked off
and said no more.
One more specimen of his wit, and I will give no
more. On the trial of Joe Smith, the great Mormon
prophet, at Springfield, before His Honor Judge Pope,
of the United States District Court, the court room
was crowded, and a«large number of ladies were seated
on both sides of the judge, upon the bench. Butter-
field, who had been employed to defend the prophet,
in opening the case, bowing to the judge and waving
his hand to the ladies, said: "May it please your
Honor, I appear before the Pope, in the presence of
angels, to defend the prophet of the Lord ! "
BENJAMIN MILLS.
BEN 3 A MOT MILLS.
|N THE introductory portion of these pages, in
enumerating distinguished and eminent law-
yers, who were in Illinois when I came here, I
neglected to mention Ben Mills. I never saw him,
O *
but from all that I can learn from those who knew
him, he had but few equals, if any, in the State. He
was a Massachusetts man, highly educated, and I have
been told that he was a man of a rare style of oratory,
through which there ran a rich vein of wit and
irony. It was a talent he often indulged in in conver-
sation. A few specimens will not be without interest
to the reader.
Ben, one day when he was in his cups at his hotel,
was sitting about half asleep when Cavarly, a pompous
lawver, who thought he knew more than Lord Coke or
»/ ' o
Blackstone, stepped up to where Mills was sitting and
laid his hand on Ben's bald head and remarked,
" Friend Mills, you have quite a prairie on your head."
" Yes, Cavarly," he said, " and do you know the dif-
ference between you and me?" " By no means, brother
Mills," said he, in quite a patronizing manner. " Well,
I'll tell you," said Mills, " My prairie is on my head,
but yours is inside of your head."
Mills was the son of a New England Presbyterian
90 LlNDEft'i? "RU
minister, and came to Illinois at an early day, when
there was a law authorizing a justice of the peace,
if he heard a man swear, even upon the street, to
go to his office and enter up a fine of one dollar
against him. Ben was a justice of the peace, and
was one day taking his glass with another justice of
the peace at his hotel, in Greenville, 111., when he
happened to let slip about half a dozen oaths. His
brother justice said nothing about it at the time.
This was in the morning. They met again at the
same place in the evening and were taking another
social glass together, when his friend remarked:
" Brother Mills, you swore several oaths this morn-
ing, and you know the law makes it my duty to enter
a fine against you of a dollar for each oath."
" I know it, my brother," said Mills, " and thought
of it, as I went to my office, and being a justice of the
peace myself, I entered upon my docket a fine of one
dollar for each oath I swore."
" Oh, well," says his friend, " that will do. Come,
brother Mills, let us have another glass." And when
they were about to drink it, Ben remarked: "But you
know, my brother, that the policy of the law is refor-
mation and not vengeance, and feeling that that object
has been thoroughly accomplished in my case, by the
fine, I am now considering the question of remitting
it." After their glass and a hearty laugh, they parted.
Another specimen of Ben's wit and sarcasm I will
give, which was communicated to me by Judge Blod-
gett. When Mills was at Kaskaskia, there was a
lawyer there whom they called General Adams — a
pompous fellow, who dressed in magnificent style,
BENJAMIN MILLS. 91
and wore ruffled shirts. He had a client who had been
indicted for murder, and Adams, to secure his fee, took
a mortgage upon everything the fellow had in the
world, even down to his household and kitchen
furniture. His client was convicted and sentenced
to be hung some thirty days thereafter, and
between the sentence and execution, Adams fore-
closed his mortgage and sold the property, not
leaving the wife and children of the criminal a bed
to sleep on, or a pot in which to cook their dinner.
His client was hung and his body handed over to the
surgeons for scientific experiment. The doctors invited
the lawyers to attend, and amongst the rest came Gen-
eral Adams and Ben. Mills. They had their galvanic
battery, and placed one of the poles (I believe that is
what they call it) to his spinal column while his body
was still warm and let on the electric current. Imme-
diately the corpse began to wink and his face to draw
itself into most horrid contortions, when Adams, laying
his hand upon Mills' shoulder, said, in a very slow and
solemn voice:
"This is a very sorrowful sight."
" Yes," said Ben, " it must be very sorrowful to a
lawyer to see his client skinned the second time."
General Adams sneaked off and left the doctors to
h'nish their experiment.
I will mention here a murder trial which took place
at Edwards ville, before I came to the State of Illinois.
It was the trial of a lawyer of the name of Winches-
ter for the killing of a man by the name of Smith.
The facts of the case as I have learned them, were
something like these: Smith, who was a very foul-
92 LENDER'S REMINISCENCES.
mouthed man in his drunken sprees, had repeatedly
charged Gov. Edwards with a criminal intimacy with
Mrs. Stephenson, a very beautiful and reputable
woman. She was the mother of Winchester's wife,
and in a drunken spree at Ed wards ville, where a great
many of her and Gov. Edwards' friends were present,
and amongst the rest her son-in-law, Winchester,
Smith repeated the slander, and somebody stabbed
him, of which wound he died. Winchester was
indicted for murder; a special term of the court was
appointed for his trial, which was presided over by
Judge Samuel McRoberts. Governor Edwards took a
very active part in having Winchester defended. He
sent and had Felix Grundy brought from Tennessee,
who was then one of the greatest criminal lawyers in
the Southwest, and only second, perhaps, to John
Rowan of Kentucky. Mills was his prosecutor. The
trial took place at Edwardsville, and I have been told
by those who were present at the trial, and amongst
the rest, Judge Samuel McRoberts, in his life-time,
that it was one of the ablest, most fearful and terrible
prosecutions they ever heard. It took all the talent
and oratory of Felix Grundy, aided by the presence
and countenance which Gov. Edwards and his friends
gave to the defense, to prevent a conviction, and
Winchester was only acquitted by the " skin of his
teeth."
There were doubtless many other incidents in the
life of Mills, if I knew them, which would go to show
that he was one of the ablest, most learned and accom-
plished lawyers of that day. I will mention, in conclu-
sion, that I have been informed that before his death
BENJAMIN MILLS. 93
he reformed his habits, joined the church, and died
a most exemplary and hopeful Christian. All I am.
afraid of is that this notice will not do him the justice
to which he is entitled. Judge Blodgett informs me
that Mills and his father (Isaac Blodgett) were boys
together, and Mills was often a guest at their house
when the Judge was but a mere boy, and that he never
saw a man that he more admired and loved. He
died somewhere about 1850, and I believe, from what
I have heard, he left as spotless a record as any lawyer
that ever lived in the State of Illinois. Let the rising
generation of young lawyers cherish his memory and
try to imitate his example.
94 LINDEK'S REMINISCENCES.
SAMUEL MCROBERTS.
j|T THIS place I will introduce to the attention
of my readers Judge Samuel McRoberts, of
Danville, 111. He was a lawyer in high prac-
tice when I came to the State. We frequently met
and traveled together on the circuit. "When I went to
the court at Danville, he would not permit me to stop
at the hotel but to^k me to his own house, where I
was most hospitably entertained. At the beginning
of our acquaintance he was Register or Receiver at
the land office at Danville — I don't now renfember
which. He was a fine lawyer, and what is better, he
was an honest man and a warm and most devoted
friend, of which I had many proofs during our long
acquaintance. He had an amiable and most beautiful
wife, who presided over his household affairs with great
elegance and refinement.
He was finally elected to the Senate of the United
States from Illinois, and next to Dr. Linn, of Missouri,
he took the most prominent part on the Oregon ques-
tion. I remember very well that he took the ground
that we were entitled to all the territory south of 54°
40", in which many other Democrats agreed with him,
until Col. Benton, of Missouri, , proved conclusively
that our claim did not extend beyond the 49th degree
SAMUEL McRosEKTS. 95
of north latitude, and upon that line the American
and English governments finally settled. He died
before his term in the Senate expired. I have nothing
to recall of him very peculiar or extraordinary.
He was a most estimable and kind-hearted man, and
had but few superiors as a lawyer. He was widely and
favorably known, and left but one son, who inherited a
very handsome property from his father. Judge Jo-
siah McRoberts was guardian of the boy, and at his
majority paid him the handsome sum of thirty thou-
sand dollars. He was a most faithful and honest guar-
dian. He was a student with his brother Sam when I
used to stop there. There was one thing peculiar about
Judge Samuel Me Roberts. He could give the hearti-
est laugh when he was amused of any man I ever
heard. Now, worthy reader, a man can't laugh on pa-
per; if he could, I would give you a specimen of his
laugh that would make you roar.
There is one little anecdote connected with the name
of McRoherts which I have just thought of and had
come near leaving out. Nearly all the lawyers of
Judge Harlan's circuit met at the Edgar county Cir-
cuit Court — amongst the rest McRoberts and myself.
In those days we nearly all roomed together. There
was a man by the name of Lodge, who was a brick-
layer by trade, but who had arisen to be the superin-
tendent of a large farm belonging to the Neifs, of Cin-
cinnati, which lay not far from Paris, 111. Lodge was
in the habit of seeking every opportunity to talk with
the judge and us lawyers, and would generally seize
and run away with the conversation. One day he came
in where we were all talking, and with great pomposity
96 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
and egotism told us the following little story, of which
he made himself the hero. He said he had a water-
melon patch adjoining the road from Danville to Paris;
that he was one day sitting on his piazza, which over-
looked this melon patch, and about a half a mile there-
from, and while sitting there he saw a gentleman coin-
ing along in his buggy, and when he got opposite to
the melon patch he jumped out, got over the fence,
pulled one of his finest melons, of which he had
several thousand, and deliberately commenced eat-
ing it. He said he concluded that he would go
down and have a talk with the gentleman. He edi-
fied and regaled us with a fine moral lecture which
he delivered to the stranger, and said he told him
if he had come and asked for the watermelon, he
would have given it to him; and said he ended by
walking up to him and deliberately knocking the
melon out of his hand. He said the man seemed
greatly mortified, and said to him: '' Sir, I am a gen-
tleman; my name is Bishop, a commission merchant
at Evansville, Indiana. In my State, when we raised
vast quantities of melons, it is not thought to be a ser-
ious matter or a crime for a man to help himself to a
melon by the wayside, and if you feel very much con-
cerned about it, here is the pay for it," pulling out his
purse. Lodge refused, as he told us, and went on to
deliver a lecture to Mr. Bishop on the rights of equal-
ity of men, saying that he did not consider that it con-
ferred an honor on him that a commission merchant
or any one else should take his melons without leave;
and here he stopped. Lodge not being one of us, we
lawyers did not relish his stories, and I was about
SAMUEL McRoBERTS. 97
telling one that should make him give us a wide berth
in the future, when McRoberts relieved us all, as he
burst out in one of 'Jus great "horse laughs," which, to
appreciate, should be heard. "Ha! ha! ha!" says he
"that reminds me of a story I heard of William the
Fourth when he was Prince of Wales. He was travel-
ing in cog. through Canada, and at Montreal he strayed
into a tailor shop, where the tailor and his wife were
both sitting on the counter at work; the tailor, with
crossed legs, pressing a seam with his hot goose, and his
wife sewing away at some garment with nimble fingers.
Neither seemed to pay much attention to the disguised
royal stranger, when William, stepping up towards
where the woman was sitting, turning his head, asked
the tailor if that was his wife. ' She is a very pretty
woman,' said the Prince, and pulling her head down
towards him, he deliberately kissed her, and turning
to the tailor very patronizingly, said, ' Now, Sir, you
will have the honor of telling your children that your
wife was kissed by the King of England. I am Wil-
liam, the Prince of Wales, and heir-apparent to the
throne.'
" The tailor laid down his gooso, put on his slippers,
jumped off of the counter, and catching William by the
shoulders pushed him to the door and gave him two or
three lusty kicks on the seat of honor, and said, ' Now,
sir, you will have the honor of telling your subjects
that in one of your Majesty's Provinces you had your
posterior kicked by a tailor.'"
Lodge looked like he could have crawled through an
auger hole, and said: "Judge McRoberts, I hope you
don't mean to say there is the same disparity between
7
98
LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
Bishop and myself as existed between the prince and
the tailor!"
Whereupon we all burst into a most uproarious fit
of laughter, when Lodge left, and never visited us
again.
AUGUSTUS 0. FRENCH. 99
AUGUSTUS O. FEENOH.
jKNOW no better place than tins to introduce
to the attention of my readers the late Au-
gustus C. French, twice Governor of the State
of Illinois. Mr. French was a lawyer by profession,
and was one of the representatives from Edgar county
in 1836 and '37. At that session he ,was elected Pros-
ecuting-Attorney for the Fourth Judicial Circuit. He
made a very good Prosecuting- Attorney, and became
quite popular in the Wabash country. O. B. Ficklin,
who had represented his district in Congress for
many years, became alarmed for fear the Democracy
would take French up and run him for Congress, so
he determined to get him out of the way if possible.
He represented to the party in the Wabash region that
the Wabash was entitled to a Governor and advised the
party to take up French. My opinion is, that Fick-
lin at that time had no idea that French could be
elected, or could even get the nomination of a State
Democratic Convention, which in those days was
equivalent to an election. The delegates from the
Wabash counties were all for French. Ficklin had
baited his hook with the governorship, and French
swallowed like a hungry fish. The two prominent
men before the convention, if I remember correctly,
100 LINDEB'S REMIJSTISCEXCES.
were Trumbull and Calhoun, but neither had a major-
ity of all the delegates. They had many ballotings,
French's friends standing by him to the last. Every
expedient was tried by the friends of Trumbull and
Calhoun to get the friends of French to go for them, but
to no effect. They grew more and more bitter towards
each other, and finally settled down upon French, who
was really not the first, or even the second choice of
the Democratic party of the State, but he was nomi-
nated, and of course, triumphantly elected. Neverthe-
less, he made a pretty fair governor.
French has long since gone to his last account, and
I would be very far from saying anything that would
derogate from his standing, or in the slighest degree
tarnish his reputation. While I believe in the main
he was a man of truth, and would not have told a false-
hood that \vould tend to the injury of any one, he had
a sort of diseased propensity for telling marvelous
stories, of which he generally made himself the hero,
many of which were as monstrously absurd and false
as those of Baron Munchausen or Gulliver. A single
one of these stories, which he told to every member
of the bar on the circuit, will be sufficient to demon-
strate his propensity in that direction. He said when
he was a boy about ten years old, he ran away from
his parents, crossed the Atlantic to England wended
his way to the king's palace and seated himself upon
the king's throne. He said he was sitting there very
demurely when the king and his-nobles came in, and
the king espying him, came up to him smiling, and
patting him on the head with great fatherly kindness
said, " My son, what are you doing here and where do
AUGUSTUS C. FRENCH. 101
you hail from ?" " I answered him like a patriotic
and true-born American citizen, ' May it please your
majesty — for I knew lie was the king — I am a Yankee
boy from the United States of America, and the best
blood of the Revolutionary patriots flows in my veins/ "
said French. "Would you believe it?" he added,
"instead of making him angry, he seemed actually de-
lighted. He had me taken and treated to the best
things the palace would afford, and had me sent home
to my parents in the United States at the expense of
the British government."
I wish here to say that, in my opinion, this Mun-
chausen disposition to magnify is a disease like klep-
tomania. I never knew but one other man who had
this disease as badly as French, and that was Judge
William Wilson, of Carmi, Chief Justice of the Su-
preme Court of Illinois at that time. At the dinner
table at Paris, 111., on one occasion, when we were
eating roast pig, he told the following story for the
edification of those who sat at the table with him:
He said he knew a pig that was so fat that you could
not see its eyes, and you could just see the tip of its
nose, and that its fat had swelled up its legs and tail
to a considerable extent, and they had actually to feed
it with a teaspoon, and when they killed it, it actually
rolled about over the floor like a ball. We were
afraid to laugh at this story, lest it might play the
very d — 1 with our cases when he opened court after
dinner.
I once heard Judge Wilson, in a conversation with
a wealthy Englishman by the name of Yates, who had
bought a prairie farm, and complained that he needed
102 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
shade trees, tell him to get the pecan and plant it,
and in a few years (for it was a tree of rapid growth)
he would have an abundance of shade, and besides, any
quantity of the delicious pecan nut, for they averaged
thirty or forty bushels to the tree; when everybody
knows that the pecan tree, instead of being- a tree of
rapid growth, takes at least twenty years to bring it
to anything like maturity; and when in full fruition,
they don't average more than a bushel of pecans to the
tree. This I know of my own personal knowledge,
for I have gathered them myself fifty years ago.
I wish to repeat that this disposition to exaggerate
is a disease, for I am sure that neither of these men I
have mentioned would tell a falsehood that would
injure or affect any man in the world.
I have at this place incidentally introduced Judge
Wilson. I will give him a larger space in these me-
moirs in my future pnges. For the present 1 will dis-
miss the Judge and Governor French, hoping I have
said nothing, or left what I have said so unexplained,
that my readers will entertain an unfavorable opinion
of them ; for there are no men who have passed away
of whom I have kinder recollections.
THOMAS FORD. 103
THOMAS FOED.
| HE next person whom I shall introduce to
the acquaintance of my readers, is Governor
Thomas Ford. His memory is very dear to me.
In his history of Illinois he vindicates me from the
charge made by the Abolitionists in 1837 — that I was
in complicity with the mob that killed Lovejoy. He
has done me no more than justice. Mr. Edward
Beecher, a brother to the celebrated Henry Ward
Beecher, has taken especial pains, and that recently,
to make it appear that I, with my adherents, stole into
their Abolition Convention, held in Upper Alton in
1837, under an invitation to all persons in favor of the
immediate emancipation to come in and take part in
the discussion and proceedings of that convention. This
statement he made in a speech in Chicago after a lapse
of over 35 years. There are generally two views to be
taken of a man's motives in what he does or says — the
one charitable, the other uncharitable. I will take the
charitable view of the subject, inasmuch as I know
and can prove by many living witnesses, that the invi-
tation was not to immediate emancipationists, but to
"all persons in favor of free discussion." Under that
invitation a great many of us who were not Abolition-
ists went into their convention, determined to show
104: LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
the public that we were not afraid to discuss the ques-
tion of political Abolitionism. They elected their
chairman, the Bev. Mr. Blackburn, and a committee
was appointed to draft resolutions for discussion. I
was one of that committee, Mr. Edward Beecher
another, and the third gentleman's name I do not now
recollect.
They had a string of resolutions already prepared,
placing the question on Scriptural grounds, and they
asked me to join them in reporting those resolutions
as the bases of discussion. They however reported
them notwithstanding my refusal to join in their
report.
I made a minority report, in which I presented a
few resolutions as the basis of discussion, in which I
placed the question on high legal and constitutional
grounds. By this time we had a majority in the con-
vention. The majority report was rejected and mine
accepted. We discussed the question for over half a
day, when it was brought to a vote and my resolutions
were adopted.
These are the facts of the case, and not as Mr.
Beecher stated in his speech at Chicage. I will there-
fore charitably say that Mr. Beecher has forgotten the
the facts as they were, and has not willfully mis-stated
them. He is a very old man now, and his memory
might very easily have proved treacherous about mat-
ters which occurred so long ago.
Instead of participating in the riot that resulted in
death of Lovejoy, I, for weeks and weeks before its
occurrence, did all that I could to prevent such a
catastrophe and bring about a compromise, which I
THOMAS FORD. 105
believe, in my heart, would Lave been accomplished
but for Mr. Beecher. I was not in the city at the
time of the riot, having gone to attend the Green
County Circuit Court, and while there the news came
of the riot — that Lovejoy had killed an outsider by the
name of Bishop, who was an innocent spectator, and
that Lovejoy was almost immediately killed by some
one of the outsiders, the Abolitionists having fortified
themselves in a warehouse belonging to Godfrey and
Gilman, which stood at the water's edge of the Missis-
sippi River. I now dismiss this whole question, leav-
ing to history the task of doing justice.
Mr. Ford's account of that transaction, in his his-
tory of Illinois, is true. He exonerates me from all
blame or censure. Mr. Ford, I believe, though an
older man than I was, was a native of the State of
Illinois, born in Monroe county. He was an excellent
lawyer, and was a member of the Supreme Court of
Illinois when there were nine judges, and when those
judges performed circuit court duties, and held the
circuit courts. He presided on the trial of the mur-
derers of Col. Davenport. He was a terror to horse-
thieves and murderers. He was a warm and devoted
friend, and an equally bitter enemy, as my friend Trum-
bull and others have good reason to know.
At the election in August, 1842, he was elected gov-
ernor over Joseph Duncan, by a majority of 8,313
votes. He was put upon the track but a few days
before the election, to supply the place of Adam AY. Sny-
cler, the regular Democratic nominee, who had recently
departed this life. During the whole of the time
while he was governor I was a member of the legis-
106 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
lature from Coles county, and was often at his house
and levees, and many is the private convivial and
social time we have had together. My membership
continued after he had ceased to be governor.
I remember on one occasion he came to me and told
me that one I. N. Morris, a member from Adams
county, had prepared resolutions and a speech to assail
his official conduct while governor, and asked me to
permit him to give out to the public that I would
reply to Morris, and for every lick he gave Ford that
I would give him two. Said I, " my old friend, I give
you leave to make any use of my name you choose, and.
shall be only too glad if it serves you any purpose."
Ford did use my name in the manner indicated, and
he was not attacked by I. H". Morris.
Poor fellow ! When I was in Peoria many years ago,
he came there with his wife and family, in almost abject
poverty, he and his wife being both far gone with con-
sumption. But, to the eternal credit of the wealthy
people of Peoria, be it said, they, in the most delicate
manner imaginable, without Ford knowing the source
from whence it came, sent him dray load after dray
load of everything necessary to eat and wear, also fur-
nishing him with fuel, so that his and his wife's last
days were made as comfortable as possible. I was told
that upon one occasion when they came up with sev-
eral dray loads of bed clothes, wearing apparel and
provisions, Ford asked the drivers who had sent these
things. They told him they did not know: they had
been directed to unload them at Ids house, and that
they belonged to him. A spectator of this scene said
that Ford wept like a child, saying, " In God's name,
THOMAS FORD. 107
what have I ever done for this people that they should
thus load me with acts of kindness?"
Ford and his wife died not very far apart. The
wealthy people of Peoria divided his children amongst
them and supported them as if they had been their
own, looking after their culture and education.
Ford had a vein of dry wit and humor in him, min-
gled with a great deal of gall and bitterness. I remem-
ber his saying to me, on one occasion, alluding to a
distinguished man, whose name I shall riot mention,
who was known for his office-seeking propensities, and
his success in getting a great many, " Liuder, what
does he remind you of?"
" Indeed, I don't know, Governor."
" Well," says he, in that fine, squeaking voice of his,
which all will remember who knew him, " he reminds
me of a d — d old breachy hoss going around a corn-
field, hunting some place where there is a rider off the
fence, that he may jump over and help himself."
One of the principal objects which Ford had in
writing his history of Illinois, as I heard him say on
one or two occasions, was to do justice to some of the
men who had taken part in the Black Hawk war, whom
he thought had not been fairly treated or awarded their
due meed of applause — General Henry, of Springfield,
for one. He swore that he intended to strip the laurel
from two distinguished men's brows and lay it upon
the grave of General Henry.
Ford wras no half-way man ; he was either your de-
voted friend or your bitter enemy. I am proud and
happj" to say I was always numbered amongst the
former.
108
LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
These humble memoirs can add but little to the fame
of Tom Ford, but they are the testimony which an
old friend wishes to bear to his sterling worth. I now
take leave of my old friend Ford. It is melancholy to
reflect how many of the friends of my earlier days have
gone to that bourne from whence no traveler returns,
and left me, as I have said in another place, an old gray-
headed man, living with a new generation.
JOSEPH DUNCAN. 109
JOSEPH
fOSEPH DUNCAN" was Governor of the State
at the time I landed in Illinois, and was also
Governor during the session of 1836 and '37.
I remember his message was a very severe assault upon
General Jackson and the Democratic party, which was
referred to a select committee, of which John A. Mc-
Clernand was chairman. As I have mentioned in a
former part of these pages, Governor Duncan had been
for many years a member of Congress from this State;
was a Whig in his politics. He was thought to be
immensely wealthy, but having been security for his
brother-in-law, William Linn, Receiver of Public Mon-
eys at the Land Office at Vandalia, who proved to be a
defaulter to a very large amount, Gov. Duncan was
reduced to poverty. It stripped him of all his fine
lauds which he had entered in the State of Illinois,
which some were malicious enough to say he had
entered with money furnished by his brother-in-law
Linn out of the public moneys. How that is, I don't
know, but certain it is he did not shun his liabilities,
but gave up his property like an honest man. He
died, as I have understood, a very devout Christian,
and this is about all I now remember of Governor
Joseph Duncan.
110 LINDER'S HEMIXISCENCES.
O. B. FIOKLTN".
IT would be very unbecoming in me, were I to
neglect to give my old friend and comrade at
the bar, O. B. Ficklin, a place in these me-
moirs. He was among the first of the lawyers in the
Fourth Judicial Circuit with whom I became acquaint-
ed. He preceded me in our advent to this State. He
was here when I came, and was Prosecuting Attorney
in Judge Harlan's circuit. He was an ambitious
young lawyer of limited education, but of great perse-
verance and determination; he had an'iron will, which
made him successful at the bar and in politics. lie
was for a long time a member of Congress from the
district in which we both lived. When nearly forty
years of age, he married a young and accomplished
lady, the daughter of Senator Colquitt of Georgia, a
man of mark and decided talents. Mrs. Ficklin in-
herited her father's talents, and she and my family
were on the most intimate terms, and my wife and
children hold her in- the highest estimation.
My associations and relations with Ficklin were per-
haps more intimate and social and of longer duration
than with any other lawyer of the Wabash country,
spreading over a period of about twenty-five years;
and perhaps the happiest moments of my life were in
O. B. FlCKLItf. Ill
our unrestrained conversation when riding together
qn horseback, going around the circuit.
Ficklin had a considerable vein of dry drollery about
him, accompanied by a look and a comical lifting up
of his eyebrows that would provoke a laugh from an
anchorite. One little incident I will relate here, which
amused me very much at the time. We were going
to the Wayne county Circuit Court, in the month of
March, on horseback, together. We came to the Little
Wa bash river, which was very much swollen by the re-
cent freshets, and as we were bound next day to reach
our destination, we concluded that our only alternative
was to strip ourselves, tie our clothes upon our shoulders
and swim our horses across, which preparation we speed-
dily made; and when we were ready to plunge in, I told
Ficklin to lead the way, as he was the oldest. Giving me
the most comical look I ever saw, he said, " No, Linder,
that won't do; you have recently joined the church
(which was true), and made your calling and election
sure, and if you should be drowned it would give you
a speedy passport to heaven, and give me, a great sin-
ner, a further time for repentance."
I laughed and plunged in, and found the writer shal-
lower than I expected, my horse having to swim only
about ten feet. My horse landed me safely on the op-
posite shore; Ficklin followed, and after dressing our-
selves we struck for Fairfield, the county seat of Wayne,
and traveled till nearly twelve o'clock at night, and put
up at a poor man's cabin, who treated us very hospi-
tably, his wife cooking us a coarse supper of fat meat,
corn bread, and coffee made from parched buckwheat,
without sugar or cream; and I declare it was the best
112 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
rneal of victuals I ever ate, not having tasted a mouth-
ful since early that morning. To show yon the IcincU
ness and hospitality of these poor and humble people,
they actually gave us the only feather bed they had,
and slept, themselves, on. the floor. I objected to rob-
bing them of their bed, but they would not listen to
me. We had a sound sleep, you may well imagine;
got our breakfast in the morning, and went on to Fair-
field.
During all this twenty-five years, when Ficklin and
I Tode the circuit together, we were often as lawyers
associated in the same causes, and not infrequently
opposed to each other. Ficklin was a boon companion,
a little vain, to be sure, as perhaps I was myself. He
could sing as good a song as any man I ever knew,
and tell as good a story. He was the prince of good
fellows, and though we were rivals for political prefer-
ments, and he generally the successful one, I have
nothing now but the kindliest recollections of O. B.
Ficklin. If these memoirs ever meet his eye, I hope
he will be satisfied that I have tried to do him justice
in what I have written. I might have said a good
deal more, tending to show the claims of Mr. Ficklin
to the love and respect of his old friends and fellow-
citizens; let this, however, for the present suffice.
Old friend, I bid you good-bye!
AARON SHAW. 113
AABOlsT SHAW,
the men with whom I first became
acquainted on tli£ Fourth Judicial Circuit in
1836, was the Hon. Aaron Shaw, of Lawrence-
ville, Illinois, a man of considerable parts — more as
an advocate than as a lawyer. He is still living, and
I think he is now upon the circuit bench, though of
this I am not certain ; but he was Judge of the circuit
O-
court some few years ago. He was a warm and im-
passioned speaker, and a very warm and devoted friend
to those he liked, and, like Governor Ford, he was a
tolerably bitter enemy. He would fight at the drop
of a hat, and woe betide the man who undertook to
insult him! I would as soon have waked the lion
from his lair as to have aroused the anger of Aaron
Shaw; but when he was not angered, but in a social
mood, he was one of the most agreeable men I ever
knew. He loved his friends and hated his enemies,
lie was uo half-way man, but spoke out his sentiments
boldly and freely on every subject. I served with him
in the legislature (I think it was in 1846) when the
temperance question came before us. Shaw espoused
it with great zeal and fervor, and carried me with him
for the temperance cause, and I regret that I have not
stood by it to the present day. His speech upon that
8
114 LINDEK'S REMINISCENCES.
occasion was a terrible and scorching rebuke to saloon-
keepers. It showed how they would smile and use
their blandishments to entice into their dead-falls some
warm-hearted and unwary man, and when they had
robbed him of all the money he had arid made a beg-
gar and a drunkard of him, they would kick him out
of doors and tell him to clear himself out of their
house, as a vagabond and loafer. In this speech of his
there was more truth than poetry.
I know but little more of Aaron Shaw. I know for
a long time he was prosecuting Attorney on the Fourth
Judicial Circuit, and made a very efficient and vigor-
ous prosecutor. He had a beautiful and elegant wife,
and their house was the centre of hospitality and head-
quarters for his professional friends. His dinners and
social parties were of the most inviting and enticing
character.
WM. F. THORNTON. 115
WM. F. THOEKTOK
[ [IE next person I wish to notice, though I am
really afraid to introduce him, lest I should not
do him full justice, is the late William F.
Thornton, of Shelbyville, whom I have already inci-
dentally noticed in connection with the borrowing of
money in England on behalf of the Illinois and Mich-
igan canal.
General Thornton was here before I came to the
State. The first time I ever saw him was at the ses-
sion of 1836 arid 1837 of the Illinois Legislature. He
addressed us frequently from the lobby on the subject
of the construction of the said canal. One set of poli-
ticians were for what was called the shallow-cut, and
another set for the deep-cut, to which latter class Gen-
eral Thornton belonged. His speeches were the most
interesting and scientific that I ever heard. He was
perfectly at home on all geological questions, and was
listened to with profound attention and silence while
speaking, during which time you could have heard a
pin fall. He failed to carry his views at that time,
but they have since been adopted, and the deep-cut
system has prevailed, and the waters of Lake Michigan
have been let into the canal, the current of Chicago
river reversed, and the waters of Lake Michigan now
116 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
flow south through the canal into the Illinois river,
and from thence to the Gulf of Mexico.
General Thornton has but recently departed this life,
aged nearly ninety. He has left a large estate, worth
nearly three millions of dollars.
General Thornton might be said to be a walking bud-
get of facts and statistics. He was the most interesting
o o
conversationalist I ever heard, and equally interesting
as a public speaker. Nobody attempted to talk in his
presence, but only sat still and listened to him.
General Thornton I think was at the battle of Bla-
densburg, in the war of 1812, under Col. Monroe, after-
wards President of the United States. He commanded
a company there, 1 think. He was a chivalrous and
gallant man, and an intelligent stranger, to look at
him and hear him talk, would say, " what a very great
man he is."
I do not know now' which of our States was the na-
tjve place of General Thornton, but I think it was
Maryland. I know that for many years he lived in
Kentucky, and married his wife there, who was a most
amiable woman. I believe she is still living. She was
a member of the old Ironside Baptist Church, and
General Thornton always threw open his doors to the
preachers of that denomination.
General Thornton was a Whig. He was violently
opposed to Folk's Mexican war, and the way in which
he managed it. We were holding court at Shelby ville
at the time that Scott with his little army was in the
valley of Mexico, from whom we had not heard for
several weeks, and there was a prevailing opinion among
the Whigs, that for want of reinforcements he was
Wat. F. THORNTON. 117
hemmed in, and that he and his army were prisoners
of war in the city of Mexico. General Thornton boldly
asserted that it was so, and that Polk had done it for
the express purpose of sacrificing a great Whig leader.
He walked the floor at Tacket's hotel in a perfect fu-
ror, and addressing himself to Judge Treat, who was
a Democrat and a friend of Folk's, said: " I tell you,
Judge Treat, at this moment General Scott and his
whole army are prisoners of war in the city of Mexico;
all of which is chargeable to this d d administration
of Folk's." Thereupon General Thornton left.
The next morning the newspapers brought authentic
news of Scott and his little army. It brought the
welcome intelligence that they had stornied' the city
of Mexico, captured it, and that the stars and stripes
had been run up on the walls of the Montezumas, and
were then kissing the mild breezes of the city of Mex-
ico. Judge Treat immediately sent for General
Thornton, who quickly made his appearance, saying,
" Judge Treat, yon sent for me?"
"Yes, General," said the Judge, "We have glorious
news from Mexico — General Scott has captured the
city, and our flag is now floating from the Palace of
the Montezumas."
General Thornton's eyes blazed like lightning, and
slapping his fist in his hand, he said: "Hurrah for
General Scott! By G-cl, I told you so. I knew he
would whip them if he had half a chance."
This literally convulsed us all with laughter, but
General Thornton did not then seem to appreciate
that it was produced by his inconsistency.
General Thornton resided for a considerable time
118 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
in the city of "Washington; he published a small paper
there when quite a young man, as he himself informed
me. He was a great friend and admirer of Henry
Clay. It would have done your heart good to have
heard General Thornton deliver one of his eulogies
upon the great commoner of Kentucky. He was ac-
quainted with all the distinguished men that figured
at Washington in the two houses of Congress in 1812,
and from that period down to 1840. He knew most
of them personally, and has given me most graphic
descriptions of them.
I met General Thornton in a great many Whig
conventions, where we both addressed the vast multi-
tudes assembled on those occasions. At a great mass
meeting held at Yandalia in 184-1, he and Lincoln and
myself were appointed to address the vast multitudes
from the stand, which had been erected on the east side
of the old State House. This, as I remember, was in
the summer, and the committee of arrangements had
provided shade and seats covering acres of ground.
The shade consisted of green bushes covering a sort
of scaffolding. General Thornton was assigned to
speak upon the subject of the currency, Lincoln upon
the Tariff, and I to close, ranging through all the sub-
jects then under discussion between the two great
parties, Whig and Democratic. General Thornton's
speeches, to those who heard him, seemed like reading
from some great author, who knew all .he was writing
about. He was essentially instructive, furnishing facts
and data for other speakers to elaborate thereafter.
I was nominated, on his motion, at that mass meet-
ing to run against O. B. Ficklin for Congress, in our
WM. F. THORNTON. 119
district. We had a glorious time of it at this mass
meeting. Mv wife and two little boys were with me
CTJ •/ «/
— one about six and the other a little over two years
old. We stopped with Robert Blackwell, a glorious
old Whig, the uncle of the late "Robert Blackwell,
a distinguished lawyer, who died in the city of Chi-
cago some eight or ten years ago.
I was in the hey-day of life, being in the very prime
of my youthful manhood, and though my party had
not the strength to elect me to Congress, I never
mourned over my defeat, but I did shed tears — hot,
burning tears — over the defeat of Mr. Clay, who was
the Whig candidate for President, who would have
been elected had not the Abolitionists run a ticket of
their own in the State of New York, and that defeated
him by a few votes. And, oh, what a President he
would have made! It seems to be a part of the his-
tory of this country, since the days of Madison, Mon-
roe and Jackson, that no man of pre-eminent ability
should ever be President of the United States. Henry
Clay, Daniel Webster and John C. Calhoun, who did
more than any three men of their day to adorn and
embellish the history of their country, were quietly
laid upon the shelf, and men of second-rate talents,
with the exception of Lincoln, have from that day to
this filled the presidential chair.
I was one of the Clay candidates for election in
1844, as well as a candidate for Congress, and besides
addressing vast crowds in my own State, I was sent
for to come into Indiana to address the people there.
I remember of speaking to a vast crowd in Princeton,
Indiana, in connection with the late Jos Marshall, of
120 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
Madison, Indiana, and I think I never heard a greater
orator. He looked the great man. and physically and
intellectually presented to his audience a sort of leonine
aspect. He had few equals, if any, in the west, and I
think no superior; but death, that spares none of us,
has called him away, but he will be long remembered
by the people of Indiana.
The reader must pardon this digression, as I was
giving a sketch of General Thornton.
That convention closed very harmoniously, and my
acquaintance with General Thornton continued for
many years afterwards. He was the father-in-law of
Anthony Thornton, late Supreme Judge of the State
of Illinois, a man of marked ability and an excellent
lawyer, whom I may take occasion to notice more
extensively in these pages.
I feel loth to dismiss General Thornton at this place,
feeling that perhaps I have not done him full justice;
but I take pleasure in saying here that he had read
more and knew more than all of us, and none of us ever
hesitated (of the Whig party) to give him the first
place in our ranks. Thus much for General Thornton.
He was my friend, and I loved him, but for the present
I take leave of him. If he comes in again, it will be
incidentally.
JOSEPH GILLESPIE 121
JOSEPH GILLESPIE.
man whose name I desire to intro-
duce at this point, and whom I met at the
Edwardsville Circuit Court in 1837, was Joe
Gillespie, of Madison county, Illinois. He was then a
young man, and not eminent as he afterwards became,
but it struck me then that he had the stuff in him to
make a man, and I found out afterwards that I was
not mistaken. We formed an acquaintance and friend-
ship then that has lasted through many years and
grown with our age, and if there is any man in Illinois
who is no blood relation of mine, whom I love and
esteem more than Joe, I cannot call him to mind at
this moment.
In after years we met in the Legislature of Illinois
— he in the Senate and I in the House of Representa-
tives. We were mutually united in our efforts to get
a railroad from Terre Haute to Alton, through Edgar,
Coles, Shelby, Montgomery, Macoupin and Madison,
which the reader will discover was not a straight road,
and we had to fight a contemplated rival road from
Terre Haute on a straight line to St. Louis. We, Joe
in the Senate and I in the House, contended that it
should be the policy of the State;of Illinois to build up
towns and cities at the termini of her railroads, and
122 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
not allow roads to be constructed through it so termi-
nating as to build up a city outside of its limits that
would crush the cities on our western borders. Our
object was to build up Alton, and the reader will per-
ceive that a road from Terre Haute to a point opposite
St. Louis would overshadow our road and prevent its
construction. Hence, all our efforts were directed to
prevent their getting a charter till our road was com-
pleted, which we accomplished, Joe and I standing
shoulder to shoulder in this railroad war.
I have some anecdotes to relate in reference to friend
Joe which I defer to another page. He was a very
social, kind-hearted man ; a plebeian by birth, not of
liberal education, but possessing a very strong mind.
He had read Coke's Commentaries on Lyttleton, and
had made himself familiar with the black-letter law
of England. He had studied Chitty on Pleading with
passionate fondness, and was perfectly at home in the
science of pleading. He was recently on the circuit
court bench in his circuit, and many of the lawyers of
that circuit have told me that he made one of the best
judges they ever practiced before. Using rather a vul-
gar phrase, " You might bet your bottom dollar on his
honesty." He has been succeeded by William Snyder,
a very intelligent and well-read lawyer, and an honest
man, but I do not believe that he will make a better
judge than my old friend Gillespie.
I think it was in the year 1841, the times being very
hard and money scarce, 1 concluded to try my luck in
my old Mississippi circuit. I mounted my pacing
horse and struck for fKaskaskia, by the way of Nash-
ville, Washington county, Ills., where I expected to
JOSEPH GILLESPIE. 123
find the court in session, a distance of over one hun-
dred and twenty miles from Charleston, my home.
This was in the early part of the fall of the year. I
noticed, when passing over one of the prairies through
which my road lay, a singular fibrous little vine which
intertwined itself around the tops of the prairie grass
and had no connection by root with the ground. I
asked a young man whom I met in the road if he knew
what that vine was. He said they called it the " love
vine." It was a very singular phenomenon to me,
having no more connection with the ground than a
spider's web.
I went on my way towards my destination, and met
the St. Louis stage going east, and after it had passed
me about seventy-five yards, I heard some one crying
out behind me, in broad Irish brogue, " Lirithur, Lin-
thur, Linthur!" I turned around and perceived the
stage had stopped, and seeing a man's head protruding
from the stage window, I rode up and found it to be
the smiling face of my old Hibernian friend, General
James Shields, with whom I conversed about fifteen
minutes, who told me he was going to "Washington
City. We shook hands and parted.
I arrived safely at Nashville; found the court in
session, Judge Breese presiding, and I was overjoyed
to find attending this court my friend Joe Gillespie.
By the influence of one or two of my old friends with
whom •! had served in the legislature of 1836 and
1837, 1 got several fees — enough to pay mine and Joe's
tavern bill — Joe and I having formed a sort of tem-
porary partnership. It was agreed between us that
Joe should puff me up as one of the greatest lawyers
124: LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
and advocates that ever made a track in Southern
Illinois; and we were to divide the spoils between us.
The next court was at Kaskaskia, and we learned
on the way that our hotel keeper, an Englishman,
whose name I can't call to mind at this time, where
we all contemplated putting up, had a lawsuit in which
he was plaintiff. It seems that some young buck in
the town had had a fight with him (I now remember
the hotel-keeper's name — it was Vandeevers), and in
that fight Vandeevers had got a piece of his ear bit
off. Joe Gillespie turned to me as we were riding
along the road, and said, " Lin der, by h-11, there's a
chance to pay our hotel bill, and I'll bait my hook and
go for him in half an hour after we land. Joe was as
good as his word, and told the hotel-keeper what an
almighty big lawyer I was, and that he ought to
employ me as soon as possible, and not let the other
side get ahead of him; but Yandeevers would not bite
at the bait, but the defendant and his friends came and
gave me a fee of twenty dollars to defend him. This
was getting into a very awkward predicament, to appear
against my landlord, but there was no help for it. It
became known that I was employed for the defense,
and the court house was crowded with the citizens of
Kaskaskia, ladies and gentlemen — among the rest,
Judge Pope and his two beautiful daughters.
Vandeevers began to repent when it was too late;
but to make up the loss he employed Lyman Tru.m-
bull to assist his lawyer, David J. Baker, Avho was
called the Lord Coke of Illinois. But with all his
skill in pleading, he made a great mistake in framing
his declaration. He had inserted but a single count.
JOSEPH GILLESPIE. 125
I plead son assault. The proof showed that there had
been two fights on the same day between the parties,
with an interval of about half an hour between them.
Under the pleading, I had the opening and closing.
The rule of law in such a case is, and always has been,
under a plea like mine, if the defendant shows that
there was one fight in which the plaintiff made the
first assault the jury must find for the defendant^
though there might have been half a dozen other fights
in which the defendant was the aggressor; and Judge
Breese so ruled and instructed the jury, on my motion,
and they returned a verdict for the defendant; but the
argument of the case before the jury was the great
treat to the spectators present. Yandeever's lawyers
had magnified his wrongs and injuries before the jury,
complaining that he had been disfigured and shorn of
his fair proportions, having a piece of one of his ears
bitten off, and otherwise wounded, bruised and mal-
treated. In my closing remarks, knowing that I was
safe on the law of the case, I determined to give the
plaintiff the hot end of the poker, so I didn't spare
friend Boniface. " Gentlemen of the jury," says I,
u My client did not intend to disfigure this man by
biting off his ear, as he has told me himself. He
always knew that he had too much ears, and his only
object was to trim him up and make him look more
like a man than a jackass. Look at him, gentlemen
of the jury, and tell me if he was not a fool for not
lying still and allowing my client to finish up the job
he had commenced, by trimming his other ear."
I went on in this ludicrous strain, to the great amuse-
ment of the spectators, and though Breese stormed
126 LINDEE'S REMINISCENCES.
and raved, neither lie nor his sheriff could prevent the
loud peals of laughter that shook the old Kaskaskia
court house. At that time Kaskaskia had the most
refined and cultivated society in the State of Illinois,
of whom a large proportion were present on this occa-
sion. Judge Pope went into a perfect paroxysm of
laughter. He was a Kentuckian, and a great friend
of mine. He made a party thereafter expressly in
ray honor, where the court and all the bar were invited,
which was graced by the elite, beauty and fashion of
the town. It was not one of those empty parties
where they hand around a little cake and other things
which make a man dyspeptic; but it was a supper,
with roast turkey, wild fowl, venison and other things
which make my mouth water now to think of. But
to return to the trial.
After the jury had brought in their verdict for the
defendant, and Baker and Trumbull had done their
utmost to obtain a new trial, and failed, Vandeevers
left the court house in a perfect furor, swearing ven-
geance against me when I should next make my
appearance at his table; but I had hosts of friends,
who, together with my friend, Joe Gillespie, went to
him and told him if he did not want his other ear
trimmed he had better let me alone. He was not slow
in taking the hint, and taking counsel from his fears,
when I made my appearance at the next meal he
treated me with more consideration than he had ever
done before. He turned to Gillespie, who sat near
me, and said:
" If I had taken your advice, I might have avoided
this result."
JOSEPH GILLESPIE. 127
"Yes," said Joe, in his quiet way, "but you was
too d — d a fool, Varideevers, to take it." He laughed
heartily over Joe's reply.
Joe and I had enough money to pay our bills, and a
surplus left with which to settle our bills with our land-
lord on ahead of us.
We traveled from there on up to Monroe county,
Waterloo being the county seat. We made some fees
there, and from there we went to Belleville, St. Clair
county, and after court was over there, Joe and I
jogged on together socially to Edwardsville,Joe's home.
Here I made several hundred dollars.
Joe and I were more like brothers than any two men
who ever lived who were not brothers. I met him
during the last presidential election, at Edwardsville.
We spent a whole Sunday together, talking over old
times, and you may rest assured we had a hearty laugh
over the Vandeever trial. While it is pleasant to bring
up these old reminiscences, yet, worthy reader, there
is a bitter mingled with the sweet: and that is the
thought that in a short time we must pass away — and
where will we be? Echo answers, "Where?" I now
take leave of my dear old friend, Gillespie. If these
memoirs should meet his eye after I am gone, I know
lie will shed a tear to my memory.
128 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
PEAESOIsS.
OWE it to my own feelings, and old friend-
ship, to introduce here an old friend of mine
who has lately departed this life — I mean the
Hon. John Pearsons, late of Danville, 111. Oar ac-
quaintance commenced in 1836, on Judge Harlan's
circuit. I first met him at the Edgar County Circuit
Court, in the fall of 1836. We traveled round the
circuit together, and were often associated together in
the same causes. I had been elected to the legislature
at the previous August election, and being both Dem-
ocrats, in jogging along on horseback together, he
arranged my programme in the coining winter's ses-
sion. I remember his saying to me, " There will be
an attorney-general to elect by the legislature at the
coming session, and you must fill that office." I
laughed at the time, and told him I thought it a wild
and Utopian scheme, but it nevertheless came to pass.
Pearsons made his appearance at that session of the
legislature, and took an active part in promoting my
election. We members from the Wabash country
took him up and elected him Judge of the circuit
court, of which Chicago, in Cook county, was a part.
This gave great often se to the lawyers of Chicago —
Butterfield, Scammon and others — who, having many
JOHN PEARSONS. 129
good lawyers amongst them, thought we had no right
to import a judge from the Wabash country, outside
of their circuit, a stranger to their lawyers and their
O t/
people. But I remember that we of the Wabash at
that time, had no great love for these Yankee Aboli-
tion lawyers. Some of our members from Judge Har-
lan's circuit who did not like Pearsons voted for him
to get rid of him. I recollect old Jonathan Mills, who
was the member from Edwards or Wayne, and I don't
now remember which, who had very little love for
Pearsons, voted for him. He said he had two objects
to accomplish — one was to get him out of our circuit,
and the other was to annoy the d d Yankee Abo-
lition lawyers of Chicago. But Pearsons had better
never have accepted the office, for they made his seat
so hot for him that he was forced to resign before his
time expired. I remember that while he was on the
bench, before he resigned, Scam m on or Butterfield, who
had taken exceptions to some of his rulings, presented
him with a bill of exceptions, which he refused to sign,
and they finally obtained a peremptory mandamus
upon him, commanding him to sign it, which he fail-
ing or refusing to do, the Supreme Court issued its
attachment against him, and the sheriif followed him
and arrested him in Clay county, 111., and brought
him before the Supreme Court, and he was fined the
sum of one hundred dollars, which I got the legisla-
ture, when I was a member in 1846 or 1847, to re-pay
him with interest; and on that occasion I handled
those Chicago lawyers without gloves, which Scarnmou
remembers to this day.
Pearsons was a very warm friend and an uncoinpro-
9
130 LINDEK'S REMINISCENCES.
mising enemy. He was kind and charitable, and
when the news came from the South some few years ago
that they were suffering for want of food, Pearsons got
up a cargo of corn and other provisions, and had them
transported at his own expense to Atlanta, Georgia,
and distributed them amongst the needy, which must
have cost him several thousand dollars.
He departed this life a few months ago, leaving a
very handsome estate to his family. It might be said
of him, if it were not sacrilegious, that " he wras a man
of sorrow and acquainted with grief." He had some
tragical occurrences in his family, which were a sore
trial to him — that required all his patience and forti-
tude to 'endure; but he proved equal to the occasion,
and has now gone to his last account, where, I trust,
he will be dealt with with that mercy which he showed
to others. If he had his faults, he also had his virtues,
the lattev of which, I think, greatly overbalanced the
former.
JAMES 0. ROBINSON. 131
JAMES 0. EOBIIsrSOK
JORTHY reader, I will now introduce to your
notice James C. Robinson, now of Springfield,
formerly of Clark county, Illinois. He is a
remarkable instance of a man's rising by force of his
native talent to the highest distinction, with but little
or.rio education. When I first knew him, he lived near
a little village in Clark county, called Westfield. He
was a justice of the peace. This village was about ten
miles from Charleston.
The first time I remember him very distinctly was
when 1 was called to attend to a case before him, Fick-
lin being on the other side. I remember we had a
considerable struggle over the case, but I beat Ficklin,
for L had the right side of the case, and Robinson gave
such a clear view of it in his decision that it struck me
that he deserved a higher place than a mere justice of
the peace, and I advised him to educate himself, and
to read law, get a license and practice. He did so, and
his success has vindicated and sustained my judgment,
lie went to Marshall, studied law and commenced the
practice, and success attended his earliest efforts.
lie was a Democrat, and it was not a very long time
before they took him up and nominated him for Con-
gress, and he was elected and continued to represent
132 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
liis district for several successive sessions, and has
gained for himself much credit for the ability he has
displayed as our representative. He has since removed
to Springfield, Illinois, where he has practiced his pro-
fession with great success, especially in the criminal
department. He was the principal lawyer in the defense
of the man accused of the murder of Murray McCon-
nell, at Jacksonville. The name of this man was Rob-
inson, and I have understood from those who heard
the trial, that he was largely indebted to the ingenuity
and eloquence of James C. Robinson for his acquittal.
James C. Robinson was run once or twice by the
Democracy for Governor of this State, but of course
was defeated, the Republicans being largely in the
majority. He may be regarded as a very remark-
able man, and set down by the side of Lincoln, and
Andy Johnson of Tennessee, in that he has risen to
high distinction in spite of the deficiencies of his
education, by the force of his native intellect. I have
heard him make a good many stump speeches, and I
declare here that I have no recollection of hearing any
man on the stump that was his superior, unless it
might have been Lincoln or Douglas. Besides pos-
sessing great powers of natural oratory, he was gifted
with great conversational power, and I have often been
delighted and edified with his narrations of events that
were known to him and not to me.
What may be Robinson's future I know not; but if
he shall continue as he has begun, and add to his stock
of information, no man can say where he may land, or
limit his elevation. He is now a young man — not
exceeding forty -five years of age — of a fine constitu-
JAMES C. ROBINSON. 133
tion and health, and naturally an intellectual giant.
Who shall undertake to limit such a man? This is
but the beginning of his history, and I predict a very
small part of it. Some abler pen than mine will fin-
ish it after I am gone, when he has climbed to the
highest round in the ladder of fame.
At this point I must leave friend Robinson, fearing
that I have not done him full justice; but he was my
friend and I loved him, and I still love him, and I
desire in these memoirs to give him a place. My
best wishes will attend him through life, and the bless-
ings of an old man that never injured anybody will
rest upon his head. Friend Robinson, vale!
134: LINDEK'S REMINISCENCES.
3OTLN J. BEOWK
j|WILL now introduce to the attention of my
readers one of the most distinguished names
that has figured in the history of Illinois—
a most learned and accomplished lawyer, and a ripe
and finished scholar — the late John J. Brown, who died
in the city of Chicago, but who lived the greater part of
his life in Danville, Illinois. During his residence
there, and up to the time of his leaving there, Dan-
ville was but a mere village, but has since become a
city, of no mean irri] ortance by the concentration of
important railroad linis at that point. Its growth
has been very rapid, and it now bids fair to be one of
the principal cities south of Chicago in the State of
Illinois. I should say it numbered to-day fifteen
thousand inhabitants. About six railroads pass through
that place, and it is not saying too much that in ten
years it will have a population, of thirty thousand
souls. Some of the richest coal mines in Illinois are
to be found in Vermillion county, and across the line in
Indiana. Danville is the count}7 seat of Yermillion
county.
John J. Brown came from the State of Virginia, and
settled in Danville some time in 1839; it may have
been as late as 1840. He soon attracted public atten-
JOHN J. BROWN. 135
tion and commanded a fine practice. He was one of
the most accomplished lawyers of that day. He was
a cousin to theLamons, and of Ward Lamon, the part-
ner of Abraham Lincoln, who accompanied Lincoln to
Washington, and was either his private secretary, or
had some position in his household affairs. Suffice it
to say, Lincoln had sufficient confidence in him to send
him to Charleston, South Carolina, before the break-
ing out of hostilities, on a mission of peace. I have
said thus much to give the reader an idea of John J.
Brown and his connections. He died many years
before our Civil War.
He was a Whig. Dr. William Fithian wTas also a
Whig, and had filled high offices in that county. Some-
where about the year 1842 or 1844 he was a candidate
for the State Senate, and John J. Brown was brought
out to oppose him, and it becoming manifest that
Fithian would be beaten, he, Fithian, being as cun-
ning as a fox, just on the eve of the election had i
most scurrilous assault printed and published in hand-
bills against himself, in which he was charged with
the grossest crimes known to the decalogue. This
publication was kept secret, and on the morning of the
election Fithian despatched his agents to all the pre-
cincts in the county. The hand-bills were headed
" Pro Bono Publico" and signed "many citizens."
They were distributed just before the polls were opened,
amongst the voters, being read by Fithian's emissaries
and agents, the people became perfectly maddened,
supposing it was the work of John J. Brown and his
friends, and many of his warmest friends turned
around and voted against him, and he was defeated by
136 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
a small majority through the means of this miserable
trick and fraud. In a very short time after the elec-
tion was over, it became known, and fully authenticated
that Dr. Fithian was the author of the whole thing,
and that John J. Brown and his friends had no agency
in it. For a good while Fithian kept himself con-
cealed, and did not show himself, for such was the
state of the public mind, that he would have been
torn in pieces if he had made his appearance in public.
It thoroughly damned him, and he has gone by the
name of "Pro Bono Publico" ever since.
Brown was one of the most classical and accom-
plished speakers I ever heard. He made that impres-
sion on the people of Chicago after he came here.
Poor fellow! he had his faults, as we all have, over
which it is our duty to draw the veil of charity ; but no
foul blot or stain was ever fixed upon his character,
either as a lawyer or as a man. Those who knew him
will indorse this statement as true, if these memoirs
ever meet their eye. He was an honor and ornament
to the bar of Illinois, and I wish to God we had more
such men to redeem the profession from the reproach
which the chicanery of some of the members of the bar
have brought upon it.
I do not believe that Dr. Fithian was a bad man; for
the idea prevailed then, as it has prevailed through all
time, that all things were fair in politics, love and war.
Fithian being the choice of the Whig party and nom-
inated bv them, and John J. Brown bein^ also a Whiff,
«/ O O
having been brought out by the Democrats to defeat a
man of his own principles, it is but natural that he
should have resorted to almost any expedient to defeat
JOHN J- BROWN. 137
Mr. Brown. "While I don't justify the one to which he
resorted, I am not disposed to judge him very severely.
Fithian has always been my friend, and as a man I
esteem him very highly, notwithstanding the " Pro
Bono Publico."
This sketch ends here, so far as John J. Brown is con-
cerned, but I Avill continue my remarks, showing my
friendship and connection with Dr. William Fithian.
Many years ago, Dr. Fithian got into a paper war
with a man of the name of Cassady. They were both
members of the Methodist church. Cassady com-
menced the war, and charged upon Fithian that he had
murdered his wife, and many other crimes not neces-
sary now to mention. Fithian replied, denying the
charges, and employed O. L. Davis, then a young law-
yer of Danville, now judge of the circuit court of that
place, to bring a suit against Cassady for written slan-
der, and immediately wrote to Lincoln at Springfield
and myself at Charleston, retaining us in the case for
him. We made our appearance at the next term of
the court, when the case would come on. Cassady had
John Murphy, of Danville, and the celebrated and dis-
tinguished -Ned Hannegan, of Covington, Ind., as his
lawyers.
138 LINDEE'S KEMINISCENCES.
EDWARD A.
|OUTHY reader, you know, perhaps, but very
little of the Hon. Ned Hannegan, but he had
been Senator in Congress from Indiana, and
had borne off the palm as the most eloquent man that
had ever opened his lips in that Senate, and he had
also been our Minister, for a good many years, to Prus-
sia. Judge David Davis was then the Judge on that
circuit, arid as it is not my intention to go into the par-
ticulars of this trial, I wish only to say that we got a
verdict of five hundred and fifty-six dollars against
Cassady. .
We all roomed together at the hotel — Judge Davis,
Hannegan, Lincoln and myself— and Hannegan gave
us a sketch of his court visits and the court dinners
that were given him, and the blunders that he made.
He said that the first dinner- that he went to he
didn't know how he should dress, "but," said he, " I went
to our consul and his wife, who had been in that
country along time, and they rigged me out in appro-
priate costume; so I started, but got there a little too
late. This dinner was given by the Prime Minister,
Count somebody, whose name I cannot now recall, and
they were all sitting at the table. The Master of Cere-
monies ushered me in and placed me near the head of
EDWAKD A. HANNEGAN. 139
the table; the Minister and all his subordinates, or
staff, whichever you may wish to call them, sat there
in their military uniforms, wrapped in awful silence.
A servant brought me a bill of fare, and I indicated to
him that I would take a plate of soap, which was
brought me. During all this time not one word had
been spoken, and great drops of sweat rolled down my
face. The other side of the table from which I sat was
garnished with the most beautiful ladies I ever saw,
and while I was doing justice to my plate of soup,
a sweet voice from the «ther side of the table, in the
purest English, said: ' Mr. Hannegan, how have you
enjoyed yourself since you have been Minister to Prus-
sia?' I laid down my spoon and told her that hearing
my owrn language spoken with such purity and sweet-
ness there, I felt as though it was a voice from one -of
the angels from heaven. (She was the wife of the
Count, the Prime Minister.) ' Take care, Mr. Hanne-
gaii,' said she, ' or you will .make the Count jealous.'
'O!' said I, 'I have no fears of that, for he don't
understand a word of English.' ' Aye,' said she, ' he
don't converse in the language, but he understands
every word of -that language which is spoken in his
presence.' After enjoying a hearty laugh, in which
the Count himself joined, and after the interchange of
many compliments between the countess and myself,
I arose, made my bow and took my leave."
After Hannegan retired from the room, Judge
Davis, Lincoln and myself, all agreed that we never
heard a man of such interesting conversational powers
in our lives.
I should like sometime hereafter in the memoirs,
140
LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
to give to Senator Hannegan a wider space and a more
extended notice. For the present I must pass on to
the men who lived, and to the events which occurred,
in the State of Illinois.
SIDNEY BJREESE.
SIDNEY BEEESE.
JHAYE not as yet regularly taken up Judge
Breese, and so far as he lias been noticed in
these pages, it has only been incidentally, and
I am somewhat loath to sketch him at all, inasmuch
as it has been so extensively done by other and abler
pens than mine; but lest his friends should think I
purposely omitted him, if I should not notice him as 1
have other distinguished men, through some unwor-
thy or improper motive, I will in this place give my
personal recollections of Judge Breese, and what I
have learned of him from reliable sources. He was a
citizen of this State when I came here, and lived, I
believe, in Carlyle, Clinton county, 111. He first set-
tled in Kaskaskia, which was the early home of some
of our most distinguished men, to wit: Judge Pope,
Elias Kent Kane, David J. Baker, and others. Breese
was quite a young man when he came there, and it
was shortly before or after we ceased to be a territory.
Breese was a man who descended from a very wealthy
and aristocratic family, which lived, I believe, in the
State of New York. He received a collegiate and lib-
eral education, and studied his profession of the law,
and then came West to seek his fortune, and by dint
of his own talent and exertions to work his way up to
142 LEADER'S REMINISCENCES.
fame and distinction, which in time he effectually did.
He was elected to the circuit court bench, I think at
the session of 1834 and '35, which took place before I
came to the State. I have already said that he presi-
ded on the circuit of which Yandalia, the seat of gov-
ernment, was a part. He was considered, and I think
justly, the most learned and profound jurist in the
State. He continued on the circuit court bench until
he was elected to the Senate in Congress in 184-2, over
Stephen A. Douglas, who was then a candidate for the
Senate for the first time. In the caucus that nomina-
nated Breese, he only beat Douglas, I think, two
votes.
It was at this session of the legislature of 1842 that
that they changed our judicial system to the extent of
getting rid of the circuit court judges, and enacting
by law that the judges of the Supreme Court should
perform the duties which had theretofore been assigned
to the circuit judges. We had then only four Supreme
Judges, and this legislature provided by law for the
increase of their number to nine, which made five ad-
ditional judges. The object was to have a Supreme
Judge for each circuit, the State being then divided
into nine circuits. I remember distinctly that Douglas
was elected one of those five judges, and was assigned
to the circuit in the military district, of which Schuy-
ler county composed a part.
Judge Douglas was quite popular among the younger
members of the bar, but for want of sufficient dignity
rather horrified some of the older ones; for he would
occasionally at dinner vacation sit down on a brother
lawyer's lap and rattle away about politics and past
SIDNEY BEEESE. 143
times, for it was hard for him to forget his election-
eering traits. He was however soon taken off the
bench and elected to the House of Representatives in
Congress.
The reader must pardon this digression and permit
me to return to Judge Breese, who served out his six
years in the Senate of the United States, and was a
candidate for re-election, and would have been elected
(for he had made one of the most dignified and able
Senators of any member of that august body) had it
not been for two circumstances: the first was, he got
into a newspaper controversy with Senator Douglas,
who by that time had passed up from the House of
Representatives in Congress to the Senate. In that
controversy Douglas got greatly the advantage.of him.
The other circumstance was that General Shields was
the opposing candidate to Breese. He had come home
from the Mexican war (where he had been wounded,
as I have before related) all covered with glory, and
the Democratic party gave him the nomination and
elected him to the Senate.
Breese was never returned to that body. He con-
tinued, however, but a short time in retirement, when
he was elected by the people of his county a member
of the popular branch of our State Legislature. I
was a member of the same .body at that session. It
was my last year in the Illinois Legislature. We
elected him Speaker of our House, and he filled that
position with great dignity and ability.
The convention to form a new constitution having
made the judges of the Supreme Court elective by the
people, and re-established the old circuit court system,
144 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
save that those judges were also elected by the people,
and cut down the Supreme Judges to three — Judge
Breese, in 1855 was again elected Circuit Judge, and
two years later, on the resignation of Judge Scates, he
was again, for the second time, elevated to the Supreme
Bench, which position he has held ever since. He has
written and delivered more of the opinions of that court
than any other Supreme Judge that ever sat upon that
bench. He is now more than eighty years of age, and
with the exception of his being gray-headed, looks to me
almost as vigorous, physically and intellectually, as he
did twenty -five years ago. Certainly his recently deliv-
ered opinions show no decline in his mental powers. I
calculate that he will die with his harness on — a mem-
ber of -that court. It is the very station for which he
seems to have been cut out; he was hot adapted, either
by nature or education, to be a politician — to go into
the hustings and mingle with the crowd — but he was
formed for a great judge, which he is to-day.
I will go back and relate a circumstance which
occurred in his early life, and which hung like a dark
pall over his political aspirations. When General Jack-
son was a candidate for the Presidency, some of his
enemies got up a picture, which they supposed would
do him great injury. It represented six coffins and
six soldiers, each sitting on one of them, who had been
tried by a court martial for desertion and condemned
to be shot, while he lay at New Orleans with his lit-
tle army, whom General Jackson refused to pardon,
although entreated to do so by their mothers with tears
and supplications. Gen. Jackson could not do it with-
out demoralizing his whole army, and the British army,
SIDNEY BKEESE. 145
which lay in great force on the other side of his breast-
works, might have entered as triumphant victors, and
sacked and pillaged the city, for their watchword was,
" Booty and beauty." Gen Jackson therefore permit-
ted the sentence of the court to be executed.
Now Breese was charged, and I believe it was proven
upon him, with having circulated these odious coffin
hand-bills. Nothing ever made the friends of Jackson
so mad as these vile and miserable pictures, and they
never forgave any man known to have circulated them
amongst the people. Breese stoutly denied having
had any participation in their circulation, but he had
to profess Democracy for many years and do good ser-
vice in the cause before he could overcome the effects
of this charge. It was finally frittered away, and Breese'
was admitted into close fellowship with the Democratic
party.
Breese married a Miss Morrison, who is, if living,
one of the most amiable and estimable ladies of the
State of Illinois. She belonged to a very wealthy and
arris tocratic family, and is, I believe, a cousin of Col.
>Don Morrison.
Though Breese has been highly honored, yet I am
frank to confess that he has never had awarded to him
the full measure of his deserts; for he has certainly
done more to give character to our judicial history than
any one, two or even three men in the State of Illinois.
On the examination of our fifty or sixty reports, it will
be found that he has delivered opinions elaborating
and elucidating every principle of law, both of the
common law and equity, and many more on the science
and correct mode of pleading. Any intelligent student
10
146 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
of law who will read and closely study all of Judge
Breese's opinions and digest them thoroughly, will be
competent to go into the highest courts of the Union,
and would be at home even on the Queen's Bench of
England.
Breese possessed no mean conversational powers,
and at times in his social intercourse was exceedingly
pleasant. His face and head always struck me as
strongly resembling the portraits I have seen of the
First Napoleon. Though at times eminently social,
and could win with one of his smiles the heart of almost
any young lawyer, yet at other times he was reticent
and supercilious, and could make his associates feel
their inferiority. To this last statement I presume
there are many of his old acquaintances now living
who will bear testimony.
I will relate here a very amusing incident which
occurred in his court at Ed ward svi lie. A very respec-
table farmer had been indicted for negligently setting
fire to the prairie. His object was to burn the grass
inside of his fence and not let it get beyond his
enclosure. He started the fire there, but for want of
sufficient force it got beyond it, and burned some of
his neighbors' haystacks. The neighbors, however,
got together and extinguished it before it did any very
great harm.
The jury brought in a verdict of guilty, the assess-
ing the penalty belonging to the court. The extent
of the penalty which the court could inflict by the
statute was not less than five nor more than one hun-
dred dollars. The man had been defended by my
friend Joe Gillespie. The proof showed that the
SIDNEY BEEESE. 147
accused was a man of excellent character, a good
neighbor, and that the act for which he had been con-
victed was more accidental than otherwise.
Breese, in passing sentence, said this was a grave
offense, and under other circumstances he would be
induced to inflict a fine to the utmost limit allowed by
the statute, but the object of the law was- not ven-
geance but rather for reformation and prevention; he
would not inflict exemplary punishment. This man
having shown a good character, and this probably
being the first offense, " I shall therefore fine him
only in the small sum of seventy-five dollars."
Joe Gillespie, who had been sitting very quietly,
sprang out of his seat as if he had been shot, and
exclaimed, "Jesus Christ! God Almighty! the mod-
erate sum of only seventy-five dollars,! " He picked up
his hat and left the court room.
Reader, you should have been there to have heard
the peals of laughter that reverberated through the old
court house. I expected Breese would fine Joe, but
he didn't. He seemed to enjoy the thing as well as
anybody else, and chuckled, and his old fat sides shook
from half-suppressed merriment.
I believe I have said about as much of Judge Breese
as it is necessary to insert in this place.
148 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
JOffiT REYNOLDS.
I came to the State of Illinois, in 1835,
among the most prominent men was Gov.
John Reynolds. He had been Governor of
Illinois in the time of the Black Hawk "War, and had
also been a member of Congress in the House of
Representatives for the district, including Belleville,
the home of Gov. Reynolds. He himself has written
a history of Illinois, but I have never had the
pleasure of its perusal, and cannot speak therefore
of its merits or demerits. He lived to a very advanced
age, and wrote his book during his latter days. He
must have been eighty years of age when he wrote it.
I knew him well. Our acquaintance commenced
in 1836 and '37, at Yandalia. When I lived in Alton,
in the latter part of 1837, he was a candidate for Con-
gress and was elected. I remember that I supported
him. In speaking of the offices he had filled before I
came to the State, I neglected to mention that he had
been Judge of the Supreme Court of Illinois, when
the judges of that court performed circuit court
duties.
Reynolds was somewhat of an odd man and feigned
to be illiterate, when in truth he was a ripe scholar
(which I have from the best authority), understanding
JOHN REYNOLDS. 149
the Greek and Latin perfectly, and being familiar with
the ancient classics. He had drank deeply of the
waters of the Pierian spring, and had not allowed him-
self to be intoxicated by shallow draughts. But these
accomplishments of his he seemed more disposed to
conceal than to blazen forth to the world.
There is a very amusing anecdote told of him (which
I believe he has given in his history of Illinois), which
occurred while he was holding one of the terms of the
circuit court at Edwardsville. At that term a man
by the name of Green was tried before him on the
charge of having committed murder, and was con-
victed. Reynolds, who was always seeking popularity
whether on or off the bench and disliked to have the
ill will of any one, even of a murderer, after the verdict
of guilty had been read by the clerk in open court,
turned to Green, his face all beaming with sympathy,
and said: " Mr. Green, I am truly sorry for you; the
jury have found you guilty of murder, and I suppose
you know that you have got to be hung." "Yes,
your Honor," said Green.
Reynolds then went on to say: " Mr. Green, I want
you to understand that this is none of my work, but
of a jury of your own selection. I would take it as a
favor of you if you would communicate this fact to
your friends and relatives. The law makes it my duty
to pass sentence upon you and carry out the verdict
of the jury. It is a mere matter of form, Mr. Green,
so far as I am concerned, and your death can in no
way be imputed to me."
Reynolds had a peculiar way when he wanted to
make his remarks impressive, of laying the open palm
150 LIXDER'S REMINISCENCES.
of his hand on his forehead and drawing it down slowly
over his face. Making this manipulation, he said to
the convict: " Mr. Green, when would you like to be
hung?"
" Your Honor," said Green, " if I had any choice
in the matter, I should not like to be hung at all; but
as it seems I have not, I have no preference of one
time over another."
Reynolds, turning to old Jo Conway, the clerk,
said: " Mr. Conway, look at the almanac and see if
the fourth Friday in December comes on Sunday."
Conway being a man of considerable humor, with a
grave and solemn look turned to the almanac, and
running down to this period in December, looked up
at the Judge on his bench and said: "I find, your
Honor, to my utter astonishment, that that day comes
upon Friday!" " So it does, so it does," said Reynolds.
Reynolds delivered a very short sentence. Turning
to Green he said: "Mr. Green, the sentence of the
court is. that on the fourth Friday in December,
between the hours of ten o'clock in the forenoon and
four o'clock in the afternoon, the sheriff of Madison
county will take you from the jail to the place of exe-
cution, and there, Mr. Green, I am sorry to say, he
will hang you till you are dead, dead, dead, and may
the Lord have mercy upon your soul. And don't
forget, Mr. Green, that this is not my work, but that
of the jury which tried you."
By order of the court Green was remanded to jail
and finally executed.
I am not anxions to say anything more.of Governor
Reynolds, because his history will be found written by
JOHN REYNOLDS.
151
many abler pens than mine; and he is one of those
well and widely known characters that history is sure
to carry doAvn to posterity.
152 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
JOHN TOEK SAWYER
]HERE is a man to whose name I have not
heretofore even alluded. It is John York
Sawyer who was living at the time I came
to Illinois, I believe, and editing a Democratic paper
at Yandalia. Of the fact of his being alive at that
time I am not positively sure; but if he was not alive,
his demise had occurred but a short time before my
advent. For a fat man Sawyer was one of the
most ill-tempered and bitter men in Illinois, or per-
haps anywhere. I have been told (for I never saw
him), that he weighed over four hundred pounds
avoirdupois. He had been Judge of the circuit
court a considerable time before I came to the State,
and Greene county was in the circuit where he
presided. At that time the law provided for whip-
ping men for pe'tit larceny. Sawyer was a terror to
all such offenders, and was fond of snapping up the
lawyers who defended them. A fellow was tried be-
fore him at one of his terms in Green county, for petit
larceny, and convicted. He was defended by Cavarly,
a lawyer still living at Ottawa, Illinois, and now a
very old man. ^Cavarly moved an arrest of judgment
and for a new trial, and begged his Honor to allow
him time to go over to his office and get some authori-
JOHN YOKK SAWYEE. 153
ties which he wished to read in support of his motion.
" Oh, certainly, certainly," said Sawyer to him, as-
suming one of the blandest looks possible, " the court
will wait with the greatest pleasure on you, Mr. Cav-
arly." Cavarly made one of his profoundest bows and
retired. Scarcely had he left the. court house when
Sawyer said to the sheriff: " Mr. Sheriff, take the pris-
oner out to yon white oak tree " (pointing to one
through a window which was back of him, and about
fifty yards off), "strip him to the skin and give him
thirty-nine lashes on his bare back, well laid on."
The sheriff executed the sentence of the court with
great speed.
Sawyer turned around and looked out of the win-
dow while it was being executed, and in a loud voice,
while the blood was streaming down the culprit's back,
counted the number of strokes on' his fingers — one,
two, three, etc., until he had counted out the full num-
ber of thirty-nine.
The sheriff washed the back of the prisoner, re-
clothed him, and brought him into court. He was
scarcely seated when Cavarly made his appearance,
with his arm full of law books, and with great confi-
dence and pomposity said to the court: " May it please
your Honor, I am now prepared to show beyond a
doubt that my client has been wrongfully convicted,
and is entitled to a new trial."
" Yery well, Mr. Cavarly, go on ; the court will hear
you with great pleasure."
And he, Sawyer, had the malice to let Cavarly pro-
ceed, and read authorities for some time; but at last
interposed, and said: "Mr. Cavarly, you have satisfied
154: LINDEK'S REMINISCENCES.
the court, and if you desire it I shall grant you a new
trial." But at this point his client whispered in his
ear, "Don't take it, Mr. Cavarly, or they will whip
me again." The court went on to finish his remarks:
" But I will inform you that your client has been
whipped, and received thirty-nine lashes on his bare
back, well laid on, for I saw and counted them."
Cavarly exclaimed, with great indignation, " This
is an outrage, and I protest against such conduct upon
the part of a court." " Oh, Mr. Cavarly," said Saw-
yer, "you have a right to protest. Clerk, enter Mr.
Cavarly's protest on the record ;" and turning to Mr.
Cavarly, said: " Now, Mr. Cavarly, bring on your corn
merchant (meaning a client of Cavarly's who was
charged with stealing corn), and we will dispose of
him as we have with your hog merchant" (meaning
the man who had been whipped).
I never saw Sawyer. He died before I came to the
State, I believe.
STEPHEN T. LOGAN. 155
STEPHEN T. LOGAK
fSHALL introduce to the attention of my
readers the name of Stephen T. Logan, one of
the most distinguished lawyers of the State
of Illinois. He was born in the State of Kentucky;
was bred to the law, and became eminent in his native
State before he left it. He was living at Springfield,
Ills., when I came to the State. I knew him well,
both while he lived in Kentucky and since; we served
together in the State legislature -between 1846 and
1850, in one of its sessions. I think he is the finest
lawver I ever sawT. Logan is a very small man, and
he is now over eighty years of age, and has, I under-
stand, given up the practice of law. He and Lincoln
were at one time partners, and I heard Lincoln say that
it was his highest ambition to become as good a law-
yer as Logan. I also heard Col. Baker use the same
expression. Logan is extremely wealthy, owning a
large number of fine business houses in Springfield,
and some dozen or so fine farms in Sangamon county,
and has a large amount of money out at interest,
secured by mortgages on real estate. When Logan
and I were members of the legislature of the House
of Representatives, we were brought* in frequent col-
lision with each other. He was a man possessing
156 LIKDER'S REMINISCENCES.
strong powers of debate, and would give any man with
whom he came in contact as much as lie could do.
Logan and I had a running debate of four or five days
on the subject of districting the State from which
to elect delegates to the Convention to be held in 1848,
to form a new Constitution. Logan favored the meas-
ure; I opposed it, believing that the Constitution had
provided the districts from which the delegates should
come when a new Constitution was to be formed; and
that to make new and other districts was unconstitu-
tional, and I still believe that I was right; but the
measure carried, being supported by the northern
members in a body.
I will relate a little anecdote here which occurred dur-
ing the time of this debate. I had some local measure
that I wanted to get through the legislature as speed-
ily as possible; so one morning on the meeting of the
House, I moved the suspension of the rules to enable
me to do so. Hall Simms, a member from Edgar county,
a very crabbed and sour man, rose in his place and
opposed it, saying that I had had more favors from that
House and had consumed more time in debate than any
other member of the House, and he for one should
oppose the suspension of the rules. I replied that I
had received a good many favors from the House — per-
haps more than I was entitled to — and that I was aware
that my popularity in the House was somewhat on the
wane, but I took it as exceedingly unkind in the mem-
ber from Edgar county to attack me at such a time, and
that I would relate a fable from ^Esop, which would
explain my situation: "A lion got after a bull, and,
being hard pressed, the bull made for a cave that he
STEPHEN T. LOGAN. 157
knew of, and when he got there he found another enemy
in the mouth of that cave in the form of a formidable
he-goat, with a long beard and terrible head of horns,
shaking them as much as to say, ' You shall not enter
here.' But the bull, not being greatly dismayed,
pressed on and slipped in at one side of the goat, and
as he passed him, whispered in his ear: 'If I were not
so hard pressed by the lion, I would show you the
difference between a bull and a goat.' Now, Mr.
Speaker," said I, " Mr. Logan is the lion and I am the
bull, and he has been chasing me for the last four or
five days, and who is the goat I leave the gentleman
from Edgar to guess." There was a tremendous laugh
all over the House at poor Simms' expense, and my
motion fpr a suspension of the rules was carried almost
unanimously.
Logan did not come back to the* legislature at its
next session; but I was there and frequently saw him
in the lobby and in the Supreme court room, where
he had a large and lucrative practice.
Judge Logan's feelings towards me I know to have
been of a very warm and kindly character. I know too,
if it will not be immodest to mention it, that he enter-
tained a very high opinion of me as a public speaker.
I remember on one occasion when it was known that
I was going to speak on some interesting question
before the legislature, Logan, and his little daughter,
about thirteen rears of age, came into the gallery, and
he beckoned me to them. I went, and after introduc-
ing his little girl to me, he said, "My little daughter
having heard a great deal of you from myself and oth-
ers, has a strong desire to hear you speak, and know-
158 LINDEK'S REMINISCENCES.
ing that yon are to speak to-day, I liaye brought
her here to hear yon, arid hope we will not be
disappointed." I • relate this circumstance only to
show the kindly feeling existing between Logan
and myself.
Logan was eccentric in a good many things, espe-
cially iu his dress, being generally very loosely and
iinfashionably clad. A very amusing occurrence took
place between Logan and Mr. Lincoln. They were
engaged in a case in th,e circuit court of Sangamon,
on opposite sides. Logan undertook to play off his
wit upon Lincoln, and said to the jury, " In the com-
mon affairs of ordinary life Lincoln has no knowl-
edge." Lincoln in reply said, " Gentlemen of the"
jury, I make no large pretensions of knowledge of
any kind, but there is one thing that I do know which
Judge Logan does not — I know which is the front and
which is the back part of my shirt; now if you will
examine Judge Logan, you will find that he has put
on his shirt with the wrong side in front," and step-
ping up to Logan, deliberately opened his bosom and
revealed the fact that what he had said was true. It
was one of those shirts which is -open behind and not
in front, and Logan had reversed the order of things,
and put on his shirt in such a way that that part
which should have covered his bosom was on his back,
with the slit before. Lincoln said: "Now, gentlemen
of the jury, behold this man of wonderful knowledge
in the common-place affairs of ordinary life, who t.rits
me with want of such knowledge, and does not know
the back from the bosom of his shirt."
The laugh was turned terribly upon Logan; but
STEPHEN T. LOGAN.
159
Lincoln was a great friend to the last day of his life,
to- Stephen T. Logan.
This notice of Stephen T. Logan is more meagre
than I could wish it, for certainly in intellect he was
equal to any whom I have noticed. I therefore leave
him with the reader, and pass on to another man of
early times.
160 LINDEK'S REMINISCENCES.
ZADOOK CASEY.
U3OCK CASEY was not a lawyer, but a
Methodfst preacher. He was a native of the
State of Tennessee, and with his little family,
which-consisted of his wife and one little child, removed
to this State sometime abont 1822 or '23. For a good
while he followed his sacred vocation. It is needless .
to say that he was eminent therein, for there are quite
a number now living who knew him who can bear
testimony to the fact. He was a man of fine physical
form, about six feet high, as straight as an arrow, and
of as imposing appearance and address as I ever saw.
He was soon forced by favorable public opinion to go
into political life; he filled many public stations; was
at one time Lieutenant-Governor, before I came to the
State, and by virtue of that office presided as speaker
over the deliberations of the Senate; and I haye been
told by those who were eye-witnesses, that he was one
of the most accomplished presiding officers over a
deliberative body that they ever saw — prompt, and
quick in his decisions and generally right.
After this time he was elected to Congress from
his district in the southern part of the State, which
included Jefferson county, where he first settled, and
continued to represent it in Congress without any
ZADOCK CASEY. 161
break or intermission for ten or twelve years. He was
a member of Congress when I came to the State in
1835, and continued so for some considerable time.
He was often called upon by the speaker of the House
of Representatives in Congress to take the chair and
preside over its deliberations, from the fact that it was
well known that he knew more parliamentary law and
practice than any member of that body. He was
prompt, quick, correct and dignified in the perform-
ance of the functions of that station. He was a.
Democrat in politics, but disliked Martin Van Buren,
and voted against the independent treasury bill, and
did not vote for Van Buren, but gave a hearty support
to James K. Polk for President, and lived and died a
Democrat.
My personal acquaintance with- Governor Casey
commenced somewhere about 18-16 or '48, when we
were both members of the House of Representatives
of tins State — he from Jefferson and I from Coles
county. At one of the sessions between '46 and '50,
he was elected speaker of that body, arid I then had
an ample opportunity of having verified what had:
been said of him as a presiding officer.
Although he did not regularly pursue his vocation
as preacher, he not unfrequently preached Avhen called
upon by his Methodist brethren and friends — some-
times at their camp-meetings, and sometimes in their
churches. His great forte was, however, as presiding
officer. When he left the chair and spoke from the
iloor of the House, although always dignified and sen-
sible, yet he fell far below his performances when pre--
siding as Speaker.
11
162 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
We became very intimate, and I was very fond of
his society. He was not in the least hide-bound or
bigoted, but could enjoy a joke and tell as good a story
as any layman of my acquaintance. He was the father
of glorious old Sam Casey, who once had charge of the
penitentiary at Joliet, in connection with my friend,
Samuel Buckmaster, and who resembled his father
very much in personal appearance, and in all his high
social qualities. He has another son, Dr. Newton
Casey, who is now living at Mound City, Pulaski Co.,
and quite eminent in his profession ; and anotherliving
at Mt. Vernon, Jefferson Co., a lawyer, Thomas Casey,
who has recently and for a good many years, been a
member of the legislature of Illinois. He is said to
be a man of considerable talent; his son, Dr. John
Casey, lives at Joliet.
Gov. Casey has been dead some six or eight years.
His son Samuel died some three or four years ago.
I have inserted Gov. Casey's name in these me-
moirs because he made his mark here in early times
and filled high stations, both State and National, and
filled as large a place in public estimation for a period
of over forty years as any man who ever lived or died
in Illinois.
LYMAN TRUMBULL. 163
LYMAST TEUMBTJLL.
disposed of my old friend Zadock
Casey. I will introduce to the notice of the
public a man whose name is familiar to every
school-boy in this nation; and of course known to
every one who is familiar with the history of our
country, and I presume even beyond the limits of our
Republic — I mean Lyman Trumbull, late Senator in
Congress from the State of Illinois. My acquaintance
with him commenced (as well as I now recollect) about
1838-39 or 1840.
I have already incidentally alluded to him before,
where we were opposed to each other in the trial in
which Vandeevers, the hotel keeper at Kaskaskia, was
the plaintiff — in which he was for the plaintiff, and I
was for the defendant. He was a very able circuit
court lawyer, and indeed a profound and learned law-
yer in any court, State or National. I think it was on
the Mississippi Circuit in 1841, at the Circuit Court
in St. Clair county, that Trumbull, Koerner and my-
self defended an Irishman indicted for the murder of
his wife. ' According to the evidence this murder
should have occurred between St. Louis and Belleville,
fourteen miles distant from St. Louis. I relate this
incident for the purpose of enlivening these pages
164: LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
with a very amusing occurrence that took place during
the trial of the case. At the post mortem examina*
tion of the woman, a great many physicians were
present, the most eminent of whom was Dr. Smith;
also several others, and amongst them one Dr. Goforth,
who was familiarly known as old Pills. "We had the
precaution to have these doctors separated, that they
should not hear each other's testimony. Dr. Smith
was first examined, whose testimony was rather dam-
aging to our client; but we got him to state so many
particulars in reference to the appearances that we felt
assured in our own minds that the doctors who would
be subsequently called would never agree with Dr.
Smith, for he had sworn that the cause of her death
was choking or strangulation, and not from any blows
or external violence upon her body or chest. The
next doctor called was old Pills, who swore that he
was present at the post mortem examination, and we
asked him, " Did you and Dr. Smith agree as to the
cause of her death? "
He said they did. I asked him what was the cause
they agreed upon. He answered: "We perfectly
agreed that it was caused by blows and external vio-
lence upon her chest."
"Doctor," said I, "might it not have been caused
by choking or strangulation?"
" No, sir," said he, " we all agreed it was caused by
external violence, as I have already stated."
I .asked him if he had seen any marks or bruises
upon her chest. He said he had not. I said : " "Well,
how do you undertake to say, if there were no external
marks or bruises upon her chest, that death resulted
from the cause you have stated ? "
LYMAN TRUMBULL. 165
" Oh," said he, " that often occurs where violence is
used, and no outward sign appearing thereof ; con-
gestion of the lungs takes place, as in this instance."
There we dropped him. Trumbull and Koerner led
off in the argument on the part of the defense, and it
is due to them to say that they really made the main
argument in the case. They left the closing speech to
me, and I ventured upon a very dangerous experiment,
which I never did before, and never have done since,
and that was telling a story in a murder case, which
excited a universal laugh. I alluded to the testimony
of Dr. Smith, who had testified she died from choking:
7 O
or strangulation ; then I came to the testimony of Old
Pills (whose evidence was in direct contradiction of
Dr. Smith, as the reader will remember). I said:
" Gentlemen of the jury, there is an old adage or
motto 'that when doctors disagree,. who is to decide?'
Dr. Goforth (Old Pills), has sworn that death could be
produced by external violence upon the chest when no
external marks or bruises would appear thereon. This
reminds me, gentlemen of the jury, of a story I heard
many years ago of old General Scott (not Winfield),
who went from Virginia to Kentucky in very early
times, and on his return his friends and neighbors came
to see him, and asked him to give them a description
of the country. He said he never had seen such forests
in his life — oak, chestnut and sugar trees reaching up
two and three hundred feet in altitude, and being from
7 P5
fifteen to twenty feet in diameter, and growing so close
together that nowhere were these trees more than five
or six feet apart from each other. ' Now, General,'
said they, ' tell us something about the game in that
166 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
country.' ' "Well/ said he, 1 1 saw deer and elk there
whose enormous antlers would measure at least fifteen
feet from the tip of one horn to the tip of the other.'
'Did they frequent these forests, General?' said one of
his auditors. ' Oh, yes,' said the General. ' Then how
did they manage to get through these enormous trees,
growing so close together?' 'Oh, by h — 1, sir,' said
the General, ' that is their lookout and not mine.' "
The jury saw the application to Old Pills' testimony,
and all I have got to say in reference to that trial is
that the story did not prevent the jury from returning
a verdict of acquittal in a few minutes after their
retirement.
After the jury had returned their verdict, I left the
court house, and went across the street to my hotel
and sat down to dinner; and while I was partaking of
roast turkey and other good things, I suddenly felt a
man's hand in the hair of my head and lie lifted me
on to my feet, and turned me around towards him.
It was Old Pills. He let go of my hair and suddenly
produced a small pair of pistols, one in each hand and
said: " Linder, will you live or die? You have this
day ruined my reputation as a physician."
I speedily replied: "I prefer to live."
He invited me to take one of the pistols and defend
myself, but \>y this time Johnson, my landlord, and
several others of my friends, came to my relief, and
disarmed Old Pills. He left, and never attempted to
molest me thereafter.
Trumbull at this time I think resided in Belleville.
Judge Breese was our presiding Judge. After this
time Trumbull was elected to the legislature of Illi-
LYMAN TKUMBULL. 167
nois, and though a young man, he soon became the
leader of the Democratic party in the House of Rep-
resentatives. During Ford's administration as Gov-
o
ernorof the State of Illinois, Trumbull was appointed
Secretary of State, the duties of which office he dis-
charged with great ability. He went on to the
Supreme bench, and those who have read his opinions
know that he had but few equals as a jurist. He was
elected to the House of Representatives in Congress
from the Belleville* district, and that same winter
the Republican party failing to unite on Lincoln,
elected him to the Senate of the United States. This
was in 1855. This produced some heart-burnings
amongst some of Lincoln's friends, and one of them
publicly charged Trumbull with intriguing for and
cheating Lincoln out of his place.^ This charge I
have no doubt was false, of which Lincoln acquitted
him in 1858, when running against Douglas for the
Senate of the United States. Trumbull continued
our Senator until after the close of Johnson's admin-
istration as President, and if anything he has done as
a public man will reflect more honor upon him than
any other of his acts as a statesman and a patriot, and
hand his name down to the latest posterity, it will be
the course he pursued as Senator on the impeachment
of Andrew Johnson. Trumbull being a Republican
and having opposed the administration of Johnson,
it was expected by his party friends that he would,
on pure party grounds, vote for his conviction. But
Trumbull was too pure a statesman and patriot to allow
himself to be used by his party for such a base and dis-
honorable purpose. lie went for his acquittal, and the
168 LINDEK'S REMINISCENCES.
opinion that lie delivered on that occasion was one of
the best of all those delivered by any of the Senators.
That opinion will remain an enduring monument of his
greatness to the end of time, and will constitute the
brightest page in our country's history.
Towards the end of Mr. Trumbull's senatorial career,
he became dissatisfied with the course of the Republi-
can party, and when a considerable number of the dis-
affected Republicans united with the Democratic party
in forming what was called the "Liberal Republican
Party," Mr. Trumbull was one of the movers and
leaders of that coalition. His name was very favor*
ably spoken of as a candidate of that party for the
Presidency. But Mr. Greeley got the nomination, and
Mr. Trumbull supported him with hearty good will.
Since the expiration of his term in the Senate he has
retired from public life, and returned to the practice
of his profession, in which he is doing a very lucrative
business in the courts of Chicago, both State and Fed-
eral, and in the Supreme Courts of Illinois and of the
United States, standing at the very head of the bar.
But I have no doubt, if he will consent, that the
Democratic party, which is just coming into power,
will recall him into political life. What place they
will tender him I cannot say, but I doubt not that it
will be one of the highest.
Judge Trumbull is now about sixty-two or three
years of age, but does not look to be more than fifty.
He has always been a very temperate man, and hav-
ing had a good constitution, is therefore very well
preserved. Judge Trumbull's name I see is amongst
the list of those who lately formed the Jefferson ian
LYMAN TBUMBULL. 169
Club in Chicago, which is but another name for Demo-
cratic Club. It must be very gratifying to him that
after the abuse heaped upon him by the'hot partisans
of the Republican party for the course he pursued on
the impeachment of President Johnson, nearly the
whole nation now indorse and approve his course on
that trial.
He would make a splendid President, and if my
vote would elevate him to that office, he would not be
long out of the "White House. Judge Trumbull and
myself for more than thirty years have been warm
personal friends, and I have received many kind favors
at his hand. He bids fair to yet live some fifteen or
twenty years. That his life may be a long and happy
one is the warm wish of his old friend, the author of
this imperfect sketch.
170 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
EICHAED J. OGLESBY.
1IIE next person I shall introduce in these
memoirs w^ll be Richard J. Oglesby. He is
a native, I believe, of Kentucky, but of that I
cannot speak positively. I became acquainted with
him somewhere about the year 1841, when lie was a
very young man, and had been but a short time at the
bar. At that time he lived in Sullivan, Moultrie
county, Ills. From the beginning of his professional
career he gave evidences of great promise and of future
eminence and distinction. He was one of the most
social young men I ever knew, and paid deference to
the talented and senior members of the bar, not obse-
quious, but respectful and almost filial. I loved him
almost as a man \vould love a son, which was fully
returned. Some of the happiest days of my life I spent
in his society, and he has often made me laugh to the
very splitting of my sides.
I will relate a little incident here which occurred at
the Shelbyville Circuit Court, where "Dick" and I
were attending as lawyers, to which I know he will
not take any exceptions. But that the reader may
perfectly enjoy what I am about to relate, I will go a
little behind it and say that he had previously told me
that he had courted a beautiful girl in Macon county,
RICHARD J. OGLESBY. 171
Ills., to whom he had been engaged and was very
much attached, but through the influence of her rela-
tives she had been forced to throw him overboard,
and had become engaged to a wealthy farmer, a brother
to her brother-in-law. This he told some days before
the incident I am about to relate happened. When
one day during court week at Shelbyville, he came
to my hotel, at Tacket's, with a woe-begone counte-
nance,'and invited me to take a walk with him, which
I cheerfully did. Said I, « What is it, friend Dick? "
after we had started. Said he, " My lady-love with her
husband is at the next hotel ; they were married yes-
terday, and are making their bridal tour. I want you
to go with me and look at her, and see if she is riot as
beautiful and lovely as I have described her to you."
Dick and I went to the hdtel and took our position
at a door outside of the hotel, where we had a full view
-of her in the sitting-room and she had a full view of
us. She was as beautiful as " Hebe " — a perfect vision
of loveliness. I saw in a moment that she took cog-
nizance of Dick's presence, having turned her face, full
of love and tenderness, towards him, which look she
did not withdraw. Dick said to me, in a tone I think
loud enough for her to hear:
"Look at her; isn't she an angel? She loves me
better than she does her husband, and by heaven! this
moment her heart is breaking for me! " Said he,
" Linder, do you see that ring on her finger? I gave
her that ring and placed it on her dear finger. It was
our engagement ring. By Heaven! isn't it too hard
to have such a treasure as she is thus rudely snatched
from my arms?"
172 LINDEK'S REMINISCENCES.
I could stand it no longer. I pulled him away from
where we were standing, and after we had got far
enough where I could do it with impunity, I gave
vent to an uproarious fit of laughter, in which Dick
after a time heartily joined. It certainly was one of
the most laughable scenes I ever witnessed. I don't
think however that it broke Dick's heart, for I noticed
that he could eat as hearty a dinner after this incident
as before.
My acquaintance with Dick continued until he went
into the Mexican war. He belonged to Col. E. D.
Baker's regiment, and was I think a lieutenant in
one of his companies. He was at the battle of Cerro
Gordo, and fought all the way up to the city of Mex-
ico. He gave me a very graphic description of the
battle of Cerro Gordo. The Mexicans occupied the
heights of Cerro Gordo, while our army occupied the
foot of the heights be^v, and had almost literally to
climb to get to the enemy. The Mexicans had strongly
fortified their position, and it looked almost like an
impossibility to scale the heights and drive them from
their fortifications. Dick told me that our army was
drawn up at the very foot of Cerro Gordo heights, and
had orders not to make any attack or forward move-
ment on the enemy until the General-in-Chief, Gen-
eral Scott, should make his appearance on the field.
General Scptt had arranged his plan and mode of attack
with consummate skill and ability, and each General
and Colonel had received written orders from him of
their precise position, and the route by which they
should ascend the acclivity. He said as soon as they
had taken up their position, the enemy opened with
RICHARD J. OGLESBY. 173
their artillery upon them, but having to shoot so
straight down, their shot mostly went over their heads.
But being within range of their smaller arms, their
fire here and there took effect and caused some gallant
fellows to bite the dust. It was here that General
Shields received the wound which I have heretofore
related in the sketch I have given of him, which very
nearly cost him his life.
Dick said: "We waited with the greatest impa-
tience for the appearance of General Scott, and after the
lapse of about thirty minutes we heard shouts and
cheers coming up from the left wring of our army that
made the very \velkin ring. We looked down our line
and saw General Scott, dressed in splendid uniform,
mounted on a white charger, approaching our center
from the rear. It was the most imposing sight I ever
saw; he looked more to me like a god than a man,
and the difficulties of our situation vanished from our
thoughts. His appearance inspired universal confi-
dence, and I don't believe there was a soldier in that
army but who felt assured of victory.
"After giving him another hearty cheer from our wing
of the army, our bugles sounded the charge, and with
fixed bayonets we ascended the heights by the differ-
ent routes which had been before designated in the
written orders of General Scott, and in less than twenty
minutes we were in possession of the enemy's fortifi-
cations, and he was on his flight to the city of Mexico."
Said he, " Linder, had we been defending those
works instead of the Mexicans, an army of five times
our number could not have taken them; but I do
believe that the shout of our American boys was
LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
almost enough of itself to put a mongrel and degen-
erate race of men to flight."
He went with Scott up to the city of Mexico, and
was in every battle that took place between Cerro
Gordo and the ancient capital of the Aztecs, and did
not leave the army until he saw the stars and stripes
waving over the halls of the Montezumas.
Dick then returned to the United States, covered
with glory; and when it was ascertained that gold had
been discovered in large and paying quantities in Cal-
ifornia, which we had acquired by our arms and treaty
with Mexico, Dick rigged up an outfit and crossed the
plains to this new El Dorado. After working in the
placers till lie realized between eight and ten thousand
dollars in gold, he returned again to the States, and
after putting his financial affairs into a favorable pos-
ture by forming a mercantile partnership with his
brother-in-law, Mr. Prather, being still unmarried, he
determined to pay a visit to the Holy, Land, and he
did so; and at our last meeting, at the unveiling of
Lincoln's statue, he gave me a description of his trip,
which being too long to insert at full length here, let
it suffice to say that he crossed the ocean and landed
at Grand Cairo, and took the route as near as he could
guess along which Moses had led the armies of Israel,
lie gave me a description of Mount Sinai, on the top
of which he had stood; also of Petrea, that city liter-
ally hewn out of solid rock: also of Jerusalem, the
Dead Sea, the Jordan, the Sea of Galilee, and many
other places in the Holy Land where our blessed Lord
and his disciples had sojourned and delivered to the
people the glad tidings of peace on earth and good
BICHAKD J. OGLESBT. 175
will towards man. He told me that he was in Beth-
lehem, Cana of Galilee, and the tomb, as it was sup-
posed, where Joseph of Aramathea laid the body of
our Savior.
I don't know how long he sojourned in the Holy
Land, but he returned to the United States safe and
sound, and when the civil war broke out in 1861, he
raised a regiment, and before the war had been long
pending he rose by his gallantry to the position of
Brigadier General. He was in several skirmishes and
battles, and particularly the battle of Fort Donaldson,
where he was severely wounded; so much so that he
was forced to throw up his commission, leave the
army and return to his family at Decatur, Illinois.
Since that time his course has been onward and
upward, having been twice elected Governor of Illi-
nois, but did no*7 serve his second term, having been
elected by the Legislature of Illinois to the Senate of
the United States, which position he now fills, and in
which I trust and believe he will so act as to continue
therein for aiany long years, or be elevated to a still
higher place.
I had the pleasure of meeting Oglesby, as I have
already hinted, at the unveiling of Lincoln's statue
near Springfield, where a splendid monument has been
erected to the honor and memory of our martyr-
President, Oglesby being appointed to deliver the ora-
tion commemorative of Lincoln's life and public ser-
vices, which was done in a masterly manner. In this
oration he ran the parallel between Lincoln and
Douglas, doing equal honor to both, and not in the
slightest degree detracting from the merits and glory
176 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
of Douglas. On that occasion there were present
many invited guests; and among them were President
Grant, Gen. Sherman, Gen. John Pope, ex- Vice Pres-
ident Colfax, our late Yice President Henry Wilson,
Hon. David Davis, Hon. Joe Gillespie, Gen. Custar,
Hon. John A. Logan, and others, amongst whom was
your humble servant. This is the last time but one
that I saw Richard J. Oglesby to speak to him,
when and where we had a long and agreeable conver-
sation about past times. I met him at the Governor's
mansion, where he gave a reception, and all persons
who desired it were permitted to come and shake him
by the hand.
I must now take my leave of my old friend Oglesby.
1 am getting old and do not expect to live long enough
to dispose of the materials which he shall hereafter
furnish for some future biographer. Doubtless some
abler pen than mine will take charge of his future
fame, and give him his proper place in history.
WILLIAM H. BISSELL. 177
WILLIAM H. BISSELL.
[jHE next name that I shallintroduce into these
memoirs is that of Gov. William II. Bissell.
He was an intimate acquaintance and a warm
personal friend of mine, but the precise time when our
acquaintance commenced I cannot now call to mind,
hut it was prior to the Mexican war and since I come
to think of it, it was in 1841. He had been a prac-
ticing physician, but becoming disgusted with his pro-
fession, studied law, and was admitted to the bar about
that time, and I met him at Greenville, in Bond county,
at the spring term of the Bond Circuit Court.
He was a man of great elocutionary powers, and there
was a vein of scathing and burning satire which occa-
sionally ran through his speeches. I remember at that
term of the court a case in which a quack physician had
brought suit for his professional services, wherein Bis-
sell WRS for the defendant. Bissell having been a 'good
physician himself, managed to get in testimony show-
ing the plaintiff's want of qualifications, and that he
had mismanaged the case. In his speech to the jury,
after he had reviewed the testimony, showing up the
fellow's ignorance, he told them that if ever the United
States should get into a war with England, it would
be very foolish in Uncle Sam to waste the blood and
12
178 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
treasure of the nation in the prosecution of such a war;
for all it would be necessary for him to do would be for
him to hire this plaintiff to go over into Canada and
there practice his profession, and he would slaughter
the Queen's subjects with his nostrums worse than
Samson slaughtered the Philistines with the jaw-bone
of an ass. Suffice it to say the jury returned a verdict
in favor of Bissell's client.
Bissell was one of our Colonels in the Mexican
war; had one of the best disciplined regiments in the
service, and was with General Taylor in all his battles
from Palo Alto to Buena Vista. I was told by a friend
who was in that battle, that they fought more like
regulars than volunteers; that they would deliver
their fire and charge the Mexicans with fixed bayonets,
and then retire in slow and regular step and in good
order, with their face to the enemy, re-loading their
guns as they slowly retired, and when accomplished,
they returned and again delivered their fire and charge
and again retire as before, and this they kept up,
maintaining perfect order, for three or four hours dur-
ing one of the three days of that bloody battle where
we had about four thousand men, all volunteers with
the exception of about four hundred regulars, and
Santa Anna had twenty thousand regulars, mostly
lancers, being the very flower of the Mexican army.
It was in this battle where Col. Henry Clay, Jr., the
favorite son of the glorious old " Harry of the West,"
Col. Key of Kentucky, and our own Col. John J. Har-'
din, of Illinois, fell.
I must relate a little incident here that occurred
^between old Zac Taylor and one of his aids. After
WILLIAM H. BISSELL. 179
our troops had fought for two long days, and the tide
of battle seemed going against us, his aid rode up to
him and said, " Gen. Taylor, our boys are certainly
whipped." " Yes," said Taylor, " I know it, but the
d d fools don't know they are whipped, and they
will fight on un'.il the Mexicans will be compelled to
retire ingloriously from the contest," which prediction
was fully accomplished on the last day of the battle.
In this battle Col. Jeflf Davis, late President of the
Southern Confederacy, commanded a Mississippi regi-
ment that did good execution, and behaved with great
bravery; but Davis, not being willing to shaje with
the rest of the army, tried to run off with all the glory;
and after the war was over, and he and Bissell were
both members of Congress, the first in the Senate and
the latter in the House of Representatives, Davis
inflde a speech in the Senate in which he attempted
to claim for his regiment the glory which truly be-
longed to the Illinois troops, and especially to Bissell's
reoriment. ' Bissell called the attention of his House
to the speech of Davis, and administered to him a most
withering rebuke, and charged him with deliberate
O » - o
slander. Thereupon Davis sent him a challenge,
which Bissell promptly accepted; and Bissell having
the choice of weapons and the distance, selected mus-
kets loaded with buckshot, with which to fight at the
distance of twenty paces, Tbeir friends, seeing that
this would probably result in the death of both par-
ties, interfered, and the matter was amicably settled,
which was not displeasing to Davis and his friends.
After this affair, Bissell's popularity, which was great
before, became still greater, and he was elected Gov-
180 LIXDER'S REMINISCENCES.
ernor of Illinois. He was originally a Democrat, but
finally, I think, became a Free Soiler. He died before
the expiration of his term of office. Shortly before
his death he attached himself to the Catholic Church,
and died in the triumphs of that faith.
I know of nothing more of interest in reference to
Gov. William H. Bissell. I leave him therefore to
history, which doubtless will deal kindly with him.
He had some faults, but they were to himself, over
which we should kindly draw the veil of charity. He
has left to posterity the stainless name of a soldier,
statesman and a patriot, and he will never be for-
gotten as long as the battle of Buena Vista and the
victories of General Taylor are remembered.
DAVID DAVIS. 181
DAYID DAVIS.
HE object of writing these memoirs Is not sim-
ply for the purpose of making a book to filch
from the public their money, but to preserve
the memory and deeds of worthy men, and hand them
down to posterity, that the coming generations may
profit by their example. I have already given to the
public some of the most brilliant geniuses of the State of
Illinois. I will here introduce the name of a man
with whom I became acquainted at a very early period,
to whose reputation I cannot add by anything I may
write in these memoirs. He is still living, and one
of the first men in America, and is one of the judges
of the Supreme Court of the United States. I mean
his Honor, David Davis, of Bloomingtoii, McLean
county, Illinois. He is a native of Maryland, and
descended from one of the first families of that State,
and is a cousin to the late Winter Davis, of Maryland.
After graduating in one of the first colleges of New
England, and having studied law with a distinguished
barrister whose name I have been told was Bishop, he
came to this State when quite a young man, and set-
tled in the town of Bloomington, McLean county, Ills.,
and opened a law office there, where, by his sagacity,
economy and industry, he soon won his way to a
respectable independence.
182 LINDEK'S REMINISCENCES.
He was elected Circuit Judge some time between
1846 and '50 in the judicial circuit embracing McLean
county, and also Sangamon, including Champaign,
Yermillion and Shelby; for which promotion he was
largely indebted to his old and tried friend, Abraham
Lincoln ; and to the eternal credit of Judge Davis be
it said, he never forgot it; and when a member of the
convention of 1860 that nominated the Republican
candidate for President, his Honor, David Davis, had
as large if not a larger share in bringing about the
nomination of Mr. Lincoln, than any other member of
that convention. And when Mr. Lincoln was elected,
Davis was invited to accompany him as one of his
suite to Washington. Mr. Davis is a very large man
— about six feet high, very corpulent, and weighing
some three hundred and fifty pounds. He accepted
Mr. Lincoln's invitation, and being somewhat conspic-
uous for his size and for wearing a white silk hat, the
aspirants for office perceived by the attentions paid him
by Mr. Lincoln that he had no small influence with
the President-elect, and they paid about as much court
to the man with the white hat as to Mr. Lincoln him-
self.
But I wish to go back to the time when he was Cir-
cuit Judge of the State of Illinois, and Mr. Lincoln and
myself both practiced in his circuit — Mr. Lincoln in
the whole of it, and I in the counties of Yermillion,
Edgar and Shelby, and occasionally in Champaign.
Judge Davis was a very impartial judge, and though
not intending to show a preference for one of his law-
yers over another, such was the marked difference he
showed to Mr. Lincoln that Lincoln threw the rest of
DAVID DAVIS. 183
us into the shade. But as Mr. Lincoln could not take
both sides of a case, Anthony Thornton, myself and
other prominent lawyers, were employed on the oppo-
site side of cases in which Mr. Lincoln was engaged on
one side or the other. Judge Davis. always treated me
with great kindness and consideration, and I wish to
state here before going further, lest the reader should
think that my practice was confined to cases in which I
was opposed .to Mr. Lincoln, that in weighty and hotly
contested cases we were often associated together, so
o *
that I cannot say that I was at all damaged by the
friendship shown for him by his Honor, Judge Davis.
I think it quite likely that had I been placed in the
same relation to Mr. Lincoln that Judge Davis was,, I
should have shown to him the same consideration as
was shown by his Honor, Judge Davis.
Lincoln and myself generally put up at the same
hotel, and frequently slept in the same room, and not
unfrequently Lincoln and I occupied the same bed..
Judge Davis was too large to take either of us for a.
bed-fellow.
Among the most pleasant days of my life, I recall
those when we three traveled together from Danville
to Paris, and from there to Shelbyville. The courts
of those three places lasting on an average from two to
three weeks each. Ah! What glorious fnn we had
sometimes!
I will give a little incident here to show the eccen-
tricity of Judge Davis, which occurred at the Paris Cir-
cuit Court. Judge Ilarlan. who was then judge on the
circuit sonth of him, came up to Paris on some special
business of his, and Judge Davis, observing him in-
184 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
the court house, invited him to come up and take a
seat on the bench beside him, which Judge Harlan
did ; and while there a little appeal case came up, in
which there was only about three dollars in controversy,
in which I was .engaged. I read a decision of the
Supreme Court which I thought and which was deci-
sive of the case. Jud<?e Davis turned to Harlan and
O
whispered in his ear, as I afterwards learned from
Judge Harlan, "Great God!" said he, "for a lawyer
of Linder's age and standing to read a decision of the
Supreme Court in a little appeal case where there are
only three dollars in dispute! " lie nevertheless gave
a decision in favor of my client.
Another little circumstance I will relate, going fur-
ther to show his eccentricity and his friendship for me.
Sometime in the year, I think of 1850, I went up to
Springfield, either on a visit or on some business or
other, when Judge Davis was holding his court there;
and I "had landed but about an hour when the prose-
cuting attorney hearing that I was in town, came and
employed me to assist him in the prosecution of a
woman and her paramour for the murder of her hus-
band by the administration of poison. As I entered
the court room, Judge Davis being on the bench and
perceiving me enter the room with my pipe in my
mouth, said in an audible voice: "Mr. Sheriff, you
will permit no one to smoke in this room while court
is in session except General Linder."
It created quite a laugh all over the house, and you
may rest assured I was not so modest or self-denying as
to refuse to take advantage of the permission thus given
me to smoke my pipe during the progress of the trial.
DAVID DAVIS. 185
On this trial the ablest lawyers of Springfield were
engaged in the defense. Amongst those in the defense
known to me at the time I was engaged in the prose-
cution, were Abraham Lincoln, his Honor Judge
Stephen T. Logan, of whom I have given a sketch in
these memoirs, John T. Stewart, Benjamin Edwards,
and some younger lawyers who were not known to me.
The woman on trial sat in the midst of her eminent
counsel, and close by her a young and handsome man,
whom I took to be her paramour and associate in
crime. During the progress of the trial, he showed
no contrition, but put on, as I thought, a bold and im-
pudent look, and frisked about and got law books and
pointed out "pages to Lincoln and the rest of the law-
yers in defense.
Thinks I to myself, " My young chap, when I
come to conclude this case, I will not fail to pay my
special respects to you." So when the evidence was
through, and the prosecuting attorney had opened the
case, and Lincoln and his three associates had made
their speeches in the defense, it came to my time to
conclude the case. I had no intention to deal with
the case but in a-serious and solemn manner, and after
summing up the evidence and showing how strongly
it pointed to the guilt of the woman and her paramour,
turned, and pointing my finger to the man I supposed
to be her associate in crime, I said: "Gentlemen of
the jury, if you wanted any additional evidence of
this man's guilt, it would only be necessary for you to
recur to his boldness and impudence on this trial;" and
pointing to his face said, " you can see guilt written
all over his countenance," when he calmly rose from
186 LINDEK'S REMINISCENCES.
his seat and said, in not an angry tone: "General
Linder, you are mistaken; I am not the criminal, but
my name is Rosette; I am a lawyer, and one of the
counsel for the defendants."
Worthy reader, you cannot imagine my revulsion
of feeling. This unfortunate mistake thoroughly broke
me down, and I limped lamely through the remainder
of my argument. This miserable mistake of mine
soon made its appearance in all the leading papers in
the Union.
I have already stated that Davis, by invitation of Mr.
Lincoln, went with him to Washington, and was present
at his inauguration, and I was informed remained there
for some considerable time. And although he held
no cabinet office under Mr. Lincoln, yet it was pretty
well known that Mr. Lincoln had great confidence in
Judge Davis, and consulted him on public affairs fre-
quently during those dark and perilous days just before
and after the war commenced. I am inclined to think
that Mr. Lincoln tendered him a place in his cabinet,
but Judge Davis waited for a safer and more perma-
nent place. His ambition was to reach the Supreme
Bench of the United States, and after a while, a vacan-
cy occurring, Judge Davis was appointed to fill the
place, over the heads of such men as Salmon P. Chase
and other formidable aspirants. His nomination was
confirmed by the Senate of the United States, and he
still holds the office to which Mr. Lincoln appointed
him.
He has made a most excellent judge, and he has
delivered some opinions on constitutional questions
which have given him a national reputation and made
DAVID DAVIS. 187
him quite popular with the Democratic party; for
instance, the case of Millikin, Bowls et al., of Indiana,
who were convicted by a court-martial during the late
war. The opinion of the Court, delivered by Judge
Davis, so clearly showed the illegality and unconsti-
tutionality of the action and sentence of the court-mar-
tial, that everybody of all parties at once acquiesced
in the correctness of the opinion of the Court. Judge
Davis from that time forth was spoken of by nearly
all the Democratic party and a portion of the Repub-
lican party as a fit person to be run for the presidency
against Grant. But the liberal Republicans gave him
the go-by, and nominated Mr. Greeley.
Perhaps after all it is well they did, for it is doubt-
ful whether any one at that time could have beaten
Gen. Grant; so it saved Judge Davis' popularity and
leaves it unimpaired for future uses. He is still a man
in the prime of life, with vigor and health enough to
live to be an octogenarian, with unimpaired intellectual
powers.
I should have said at a former place in these memoirs,
that after. the death of Mr. Lincoln, Judge Davis, at
the request of the relatives and friends of Mr. Lincoln,
administered upon his estate; and he did it so faith-
fully and efficiently that in no long time after he entered
on the duties of administrator, and perhaps as guar-
dian of the children, too, he settled up with the court
and distributed to Mrs. Lincoln and the heirs over one
hundred thousand dollars in cash.
I have nothing further to say as to Judge Davis.
After he shall have ended his career, some abler pen
than mine will write up his history, to whom and pos-
188
LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
terity I now leave him, feeling assured that he has a
brilliant future ahead of him. But if he should never
get any higher up, a Supreme Judge of the United
States worth three millions of dollars, may snap his
at the future.
GUSTAVUS KOERNER. 189
GUSTAYUS KOEEKER
| HE next name I shall introduce into these my
.recollections, is Judge Gustavus Koerner, of
Belleville, Ills. My acquaintance with him
commenced in 1837, at the spring term of the St. Clair
or Belleville Circuit Court. He was introduced to me
by Adam Snyder, and by him commended to my kind
regards and friendship. I was then Attorney-General
of the State of Illinois, and was performing my duties
as such on that circuit. I at once took him into a close
friendship, and sent him in my place to the grand juries
to take notes of the evidence and frame the bills of
indictment which they might find, which he did well
and faithfully. Mr. Koerner was an educated young
German, having graduated at one of the best universi-
ties of Germany ; was deeply read in the civil law of
Continental Europe, and all that seemed most wanting
in him at that time was the ability to correctly pro-
nounce the English language; but it takes along time
to so fix and school the mouth and tongue of a Ger-
man to enable him to speak and pronounce our lan-
guage correctly. In time however Koerner overcome
to a considerable extent his deficiencies in that respect,
but never thoroughly
190 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
After lie had practiced law for several years, his
countrymen in St. Clair county, who constituted a
majority of that county, sent him to the Legislature;
and my recollection now is that he continued to rep-
resent them in the lower House thereof for several
sessions.
During Ford's administration as Governor of Illi-
nois, there occurred a vacancy on the bench of the
Supreme Court of Illinois, when that court consisted
of nine judges, who held the Circuit Courts also, and
Ford appointed him to fill that vacancy, and he became
one of the nine judges of the Supreme Court. His
decisions, which are to be found in our published
reports, read well and give evidence of his being pro-
foundly read in the civil law, and also in the common
law of England.
I do not remember now when he went off the bench,
but I do know that he was afterwards nominated and
elected by the Democrats to the office of Lieutenant-
Go vernor of the State. He has filled other important
offices since then, and I think has been consul to one
of the German States.
When he was appointed Judge of the Supreme
Court, Ford did it in deference to the German Demo-
crats of St. Clair county, as he told me himself.
There were from six to ten thousand of them, and they
were nearly all Democrats, and at that time there were
more Germans in St. Clair county than in any other
locality in the State. In reference to Koerner's defi-
ciencies in the pronunciation of the English language,
I will give one word which has stuck to him till this
day. He could never correctly pronounce the word
GUSTAVUS KOEKNER. 191
arrive, but always said aioive, and lie don't stand alone
in reference to this error amongst educated Germans.
I will wind up my notice of Mr. Koerner by saying
that when the Liberal Republican party was formed,
lie gave his support to that party and was run on the
ticket with Horace Greeley, as the liberal candidate for
Governor of this State, but as we all know, he was
defeated.
Judge Koerner is still living in Belleville; enjoys
good health, and is about sixty-two years of age. May
long life and happiness attend him to the last.
192 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
TIMOTHY K. YOUNG.
WISH now to introduce to the notice of the
reader a lawyer friend of mine who is still
living and not a very old man either, but one
of the most genial, whole-souled fellows in the world;
I mean Timothy R. Young, of Marshall, Clark County,
Illinois. The beginning of my acquaintance with him
dates back to the year 1840 or '42. We frequently
met on the circuit, and no man could tell a better story
or crack a richer joke than my friend Timothy. A
great many of his stories, if I could remember them,
would not detract from the interest of these pages, and
there are others, like some of my friend Lincoln's, that
I should be rather afraid to introduce here.
Timothy served one or two sessions in Congress
from Ficklin's old district. He was a member of the
House of Representatives when Col. Benton was a
member of the Senate from Missouri. I allude to
this circumstance for the purpose of relating a very
amusing story that " Tim " told me about Col. Benton.
The reader will remember that Col. Benton prosecuted
a showman for having advertised that he would exhibit
a " woolly-hoss " which Col. Fremont had captured
in the Rocky Mountains, and had tamed him. Col.
Fremont, as everybody knows, is the son-in-law of
TIMOTHY K. YOUNG. 393
Col. Ben ton. Benton left the Senate temporarily, and
was fourteen days engaged in prosecuting the show-
man at Washington City. One day about the end of
the prosecution, Timothy met Col. Benton on Pennsyl-
vania avenue, who came strutting along like a con-
quering hero. Tim asked him how he got along with
the prosecution of the showman. It is well known
by all those who know anything about Col. Benton,
that although a man of considerable talent, he was
O 7
vain, egotistic, and exceedingly profane, and embel-
lished his discourse at the beginning or end of nearly
every sentence with an oath, which I will have to
omit, as I expect these memoirs will meet the eyes
of many pious persons; so those who would like to
have his answer to friend Young in full must supply
it from their imagination. "O!" says Benton, "I
have beat him, by — ; beat him on chronology, by —
sir. I took the date that he gave as the time of the
capture of the ' Wooly-Hoss ' by Col. Fremont, and
proved, by G — , sir, that Col. Fremont was not within-
a thousand miles of the place of the capture of the
horse at the time fixed for his "capture by the d — d'
showman."
" Well," said Tim, "Col. Benton, I am at a loss to
understand how you or your son-in-law. Col. Free-
mont, could feel the least annoyed or bestow the least
attention on this showman ; for what does it matter
whether Col. Freemont caught a ' Wooly Hoss ' or not
in the Rocky Mountains?"
"What does it matter? By G — d, sir," says Ben-
ton, " this a matter of no importance? By G — d, sir?
shall I suffer a d d showman to connect my son-
13
104: LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
in-law's, Col. Fremont's name — a man of historic char-
acter, by G — d, sir, as being the catcher and tamer of
his d d '"Woolly IIoss' ? and leaving it to be in-
ferred, by G — d, sir, that Col. Freemont was a sort of
silent partner of his, and had some interest in the pro-
ceeds of his d d exhibition? ~No, by G — d, sir, if
it had taken a hundred days instead of fourteen, Mr.
Young, I would have freely given it to expose this
vile showman and disconnect the name of my son-in-
law with this vile showman and his d d '•Woolly
Hoss? by G— d, sir! "
I have very little more to say of my old friend
Timothy R. Young. I had some hesitation about in-
troducing his name into these memoirs, for the reason
that he is certainly not a great man, and equally cer-
tain it is that he is not a little man. Though he did
not figure in Congress as a speaker, yet by his social
qualities and private intercourse with the members,
bein^ beloved by all who knew him, and making sun-
Ot/ O
shine wherever he went, he was enabled to wield a vast
influence, which he turned to good account for the
constituents of his Congressional district.
I have only this apology to offer for introducing the
names of men of mediocrity, that there must be a foil
or shade to every picture, and it is impossible for me
to have none but great and heroic characters, and my
readers must not expect that amongst my numerous
acquaintances I shall introduce none but a Lincoln,
Douglas, Ford, Palmer or Hardin. This world is
made up of great and small men and men of medium
size, and it often happens that men who belong to
.the two latter classes have been more worthy and
TIMOTHY R. YOUNG.
195
done more valuable service for their country and
friends than the shining lights of talent and . of
genius.
My friend Tim Young, I am happy to say, is in the
most easy of circumstances, for besides a considerable
real estate which he owns in Chicago, he has a fine
farm in Glark county, where he dispenses the hospital-
ities of host to his visiting friends, and those are to be
numbered by hundreds.
196 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
EJKBY BENEDICT.
10RTHY reader, I will liere introduce to your
acquaintance an old and cherished friend of
mine, with whom I became acquainted Jong
years ago. His name is Kirby Benedict, a lawyer of
considerable talent and genius; and for oratorical
power, I think he was equal to any of the best speak-
ers I know of in the west. In that particular he had
great versatility of talent. Now he would convulse
his hearers with laughter, and in the next breath melt
them into tears.
He used to practice on Lincoln's and my old circuit,
before Judge David Davis, and also before Judge
Harlan. His voice was like a bugle note, and full of
musical sweetness. He was a man above the medium
size, of fine personal appearance, of good address, but
somewhat pompous in his manners, but not offensively
so. Kirby was quite vain, fond of popular applause,
and very sensitive if he thought himself to be the sub-
ject of either censure or ridicule. If his opponent at
the bar got the advantage of him by setting a trap
for him to fall into, he would be mortified to death,
almost, when he found it out. I will give a circum-
stance here which occurred between Kirby, Anthony
Thornton, late Judge of the Supreme Court, and
KIRBY BENEDICT. 197
myself. It happened while we were attending the
Mo ul trie County Circuit Court.
Thornton and myself were defending a man charged
with hog-stealing, and the State's Attorney employed
Kirby Benedict to assist him in the prosecution.
There was a vast crowd in attendance, the trial excit-
ing a great deal of interest, the prosecutors of the
accused being his sister and her husband, who swore
against him with a vengeance. When the evidence
was through, our client leaned over aud whispered to
Thornton and myself and asked us what we thought
of his chances. Thornton told him that he did not
think they had make out any case against him; but I
differed with Thornton, and told our client that the
chances for his acquittal were very slim. 1 shall never
forget the look he gave us when he said. "Boys, shall
I take to the brush?"
" Oh no," said I, in an ironical tone, " I should be very
loath to give you such advice as that; but this is a very
warm day, and you must be thirsty, and the water here
is about as bad as any I ever drank." Turning to
Thornton I said, in a low tone, " Anthony, don't you
think the water in Kentucky a great deal better than
here?"
" Oh yes." said he, u much better."
Our client was not slow to take the hint.
Said I to him : " If you are dry, go and get a drink;
your presence is not particularly needed here during
the argument, and we will make that consume the rest
of this day."
He quietly slipped out of the court house, and I
have never seen him from that day to this. I arranged
198 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
with Thornton a plan of operations to make the argn-
ments consume the rest of the day, so that our client
might get away as far as possible before he was missed.
The trap set was this: after the prosecuting attorney
had made the opening speech, Thornton was to follow
in a long 'speech, in which he was to pour out ven-
geance on the prosecuting witnesses, and touch up Ben-
edict by way of anticipation. I was to wind up the
argument on [our side in a similar style. Thornton
consumed about one hour and a half. I determined to
consume about twice that length of time if I could
do so. When it came my time to speak I was put to
the very end of my wits to know how I should make
a three hours' speech upon evidence which was short,
plain and to the point; but I was enabled to do so. I
consequently put on a bold look and manufactured the
principal part of my speech in anticipating Benedict.
I made all sorts of ludicrous comparisons in reference
to him. Said I: . "Gentlemen of the jury, he thinks
himself a great man, but you and I know that he is
not; but that he is a living and moving mass of van-
ity and egotism. And what claim, gentlemen of the
jury, has he to enroll his name with respectable law-
yers, when he has come here and for the small sum of
five dollars has hired himself to these wicked and dia-
bolical witnesses to assist them in the prosecution of
their brother?" and I went on in this strain as long as
I could have any decent excuse for doing so.
Benedict fairly snorted through the court house. O,
but he was anxious to get at me! And what gave him
greater offense than all, was that every now and then
I would stop and burst out into a great horse laugh,
KIRBY BENEDICT. 199
when no man of sense could see any cause for it; but
as laughing is contagious, the jury and the crowd joined
me in my merriment, but Benedict did not participate.
lie strode across the floor, and the spirit of ten thou-
sand storms had painted itself upon his face. About
this time some of the crowd had discovered that the
defendant had sloped, and they tried to make Benedict
acquainted with the fact, but he wraived them off and
would not listen to them, being intent on the castiga-
tion he was going to administer to me. He was like
a volcano on the eve of an eruption. He commenced
his speech when the sun was about two hours high, and
O, didn't I catch it! But. I was content, knowing that
^Benedict had fallen into my trap. About this t!me a
large portion of the crowd had begun to see what was
in the wind, and as I came outside of the bar I met
Major Poor in a perfect fury. Said he to me: "Lin-
der, your client has ' cut sticks,' and I am inclined to
think you advised it."
" O, no, no, Major," said I, " I hope you don't enter-
tain such an opinion of me. I didn't advise him to
run away. During the trial he asked me if he should
take to the brush, and I told him no; "but," said I to
him, " as the day is hot, and you are perhaps thirsty,
and being out on bail, you have a right to go and get
a drink of water," and that was all I^said to him; but
I asked Mr. Thornton in his presence, Major, if he did
not think the water in Kentucky was much better than
in Illinois, and he said it certainly was." "Now,"'
said I, " Major, if my client should have taken this as
a hint to leave and jump his bail, I shall feel exceed-
ingly sorrowful!"
200 LINDEK'S REMINISCENCES.
" O the devil take you and your sorrow," and we
both burst out into a hearty laugh.
That evening I settled my hotel bill and mounted
my horse and started home. This was just about
dusk. As I passed by the court house I heard Bene-
dict's sonorous voice pouring out wrath upon my head.
I went home and did not return to the next term of
court at Moultrie. I learned from the sheriff that the
jury had returned a verdict of guilty against my cli-
ent. " Well," said I, " sheriff, what did you do with
him?"
" What did 1 do with him?" said he, "what could I
do with him? He had sloped before the verdict was
rendered, and the court issued its writ directed to me,
commanding me to take the body of the defendant if
found within my county, and to bring him into court
at the next term thereof to hear the verdict of the jury
and receive the sentence of the court."
" Well," said I, " why don't you take him ? "
"For a very good reason." said he; "he never
comes into Moultrie county, but he stands on the other
side of the line dividing Moultrie from Coles, and will
jaw- me for an hour at a time; and now," says he,
" Linder, I want }TOU to tell me what I shall do in this
case."
" Well," said I, " sheriff, if ever you can lay your
hands on him in Moultrie county, do you put him in
jail; but I don't think the writ you have gives you
any authority to cross the line into Coles and arrest
him there/'
When Benedict learned the trick that had been
played upon him, he was exceedingly mortified for
KIRBY BENEDICT. 201
awhile, as 1 learned, but finally laughed it off, and said
he had gained the victory, but that we had cheated
him out of the fruits ot it.
When I first knew Kirby Benedict he lived in the
town of Decatur, 111., which was on Lincoln's Circuit,
he and Lincoln being great friends and cronies, and I
know from Lincoln's own lips that he enjoyed Bene-
dict's society hugely. The truth is, all the lawyers
liked Benedict. Judge Davis I know was extremely
fond of him.
There was a lawyer who practiced on Judge Davis'
circuit by the name of David Campbell. He and
Benedict were in the habit of playing their tricks on
each other. The hotels in those days I remember
being scarce of beds, used frequently to put two of us
lawyers in one bed ; and it frequently fell to the lot of
Campbell and Benedict to occupy one bed between
them. One day I heard Campbell say to Benedict,
with a smirk on his face: "Benedict, you must get
the landlord to furnish you a bed to yourself."
" Well, suppose he hasn't got one? " said Benedict.
" Then you must sleep on the floor, or get the land-
lord to furnish you a bsrth up in his hay-mow."
" What is your objection to sleeping with me, Gen-
eral David Campbell?" said Benedict.
" D — you," said Campbell, " I never did sleep
with you, but have lain with you. To sleep with you
would be impossible. You snore like a Cyclops, and
your breath smells so of mean whisky that 1 would
as soon breathe the air of a charnel house and live in
reach of its eternal stench."
' " Well," said Benedict, " General Campbell, I will
202 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
show you that you shall sleep with me, and if either
of us has to sleep on the floor or go to the hay-mow,
it will be you, d — you, and not me."
" Well, well," said Campbell, with a sinister smile
on his face, " we will see about it."
So that night Dave Campbell went to bed earlier
than usual, and at about twelve o'clock at night along
comes Benedict, pretty much " how-come-you-so."
Addressing himself to Campbell, who feigned to be
half-asleep, he said: "Hullo there! Dave, lay over
to the back of the bed and give me room in front.''
Before going to bed that evening Dave had armed
his heel by buckling on it one of his spurs. When
Benedict got undressed, even to the taking off of his
drawers, he jumped into bed and began to fondle on
Campbell. Dave quietly drew up the heel that had the
spur on and planted it about six inches above Bene-
dict's knee and gave it a turn down wards, crying u Get
up there! Get up there!" as though he was speaking
to his horse. Benedict gave a sudden leap and landed
about the middle of the floor, crying out in great
agony: "Jesus! the d — d fellow has got the night-
mare or delirium tretnens, and has taken me for his
d — d old horse."
Judge Davis and Lincoln, who were sleeping in the
same room, could stand this no longer. They burst
out into the most uproarious laughter.
Benedict was a hard man to beat before a jury, but
if you could pierce him with the keen shaft of ridicule,
he was not so hard to beat, for he was apt to get irri-
tated and say something that would make him assail-
able, and give the advantage to his opponent
KIEBY BENEDICT. 203
Benedict has for a long time been out of the States,
having been sent as United States' Judge to ~New
Mexico during the administration of President Pierce,
where he has been ever since. . He was the Chief Jus-
tice of that territory when Mr. Lincoln was elected to
the Presidency, and though he was strongly besieged
by political aspirants to remove Benedict and appoint
a man of his own party to fill the place, Mr. Lincoln
positively refused to do so; and when asked for his
reasons, told them that he had enjoyed too many
happy hours in his society, and he was too good and
glorious a fellow for him to lay violent hands upon;
that he could not find it in his heart to do so, and he
wouldn't; nor did he. I have no farther reminiscences
I can call to mind now of friend Benedict, but I desire
to bear testimony to his shining genius and talent,
and his eminent social qualities.
204 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
ALEXANDER P. FIELD.
jHERE is a man that I cannot overlook,
because he has occupied too prominent a
place in the public inind of Illinois for nearly
fifty years, and I must give him a place in these
memoirs. It is Alexander P. Field, who was Secre-
tary of State under Governor Duncan when I came
to Illinois in 1835. He was decidedly the most prom-
inent lawyer in the State at that time, especially as a
criminal lawyer. He was sent for everywhere in the
State by persons charged with murder, and other high
offenses, and was very successful. He was a man of
fine personal appearance — about six feet four inches
high, with long arms, and possessed of very graceful
gestures; a fine voice, that he could modulate almost
at will, and his power and influence over juries were
almost unlimited. I have already alluded, in my
sketch of Gen. John A. McClernand, of his and Field's
contest for the Secretary of Stateship, before the
Supreme Court of the State of Illinois, in which Field,
was successful and kept the office. The opinion of
the court, delivered by Chief Justice Wilson, can be
found in the first or second of Scammon's Reports,
which is very long and able, but was not considered
as authority in after years, when five democratic judges
ALEXANDER P. FIELD.
were added to the number of the four old judges, and
a Democratic Secretary of State was appointed. Field,
knowing that the court as then constituted would
reverse the decision of the old court, declined to con-
test the appointment and retired from the office.
Field was not only a great criminal lawyer, but he
was great in all that class of cases which sounded in
damages — such as slander, seduction, and breach of
marriage promise, etc. He obtained some of the
largest verdicts of any lawyer in the State. He was
not only great before courts and juries, but he was
great as a political speaker, and he could madden or
convulse his audience with laughter, at pleasure. In
1836 and '37, when we embarked in, as was then
thought, our wild scheme of Internal Improvements,'
Field frequently addressed the lobby, he believing the
scheme to be Utopian and impracticable. He ridiculed
the idea of constructing a railroad like the Central,
from Chicago to Cairo. First, we could not get the
money to build it; and second, if we could, and the
railroad should actually be built, the trade and travel
between those points would never be sufficient so sup-
port it. u Ladies and gentlemen, let me imagine I
see one of our plain Illinois suckers standing near
the road as a train of cars comes dashing up from
Cairo to Chicago; the sucker exclaims, 'Railroad,
ahoy!' The conductor checks up his cars, when the
sucker continues, ' where are you from and where are
you bound?' The conductor answers in a fine and
feeble voice, ' From Kiro to Chicago.' ' What are
you loaded with?' says the sucker. The conductor
answers, ' With hoop-poles and bull-frogs.' "
206 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
Field believed that there was not money enough in
the whole world to build the roads that we had mapped
out in our scheme; but he has lived to see his egregious
error, for the money has been furnished to build twice
as many miles of rail road as we mapped out in our
scheme of internal improvements for ths State of
Illinois alone.
A. P. Field removed from this State to New Orleans
about twenty or twenty-five years ago, and has become
a man of mark and placed himself at the very head of
the Louisiana bar. Field was a fearful and terrible
opponent in a political campaign. He was withering
in sarcasm and repartee. I recollect to have heard
him on one occasion on the stump, when replying to
a political opponent whom Field charged with having
finally got on the side opposed to himself (Field) after
changing his politics once or twice. " Gentlemen,"
said Field, "I don't know where to find him. He
reminds me of the negro in Kentucky whom his mas-
ter had set to listing off the field into furrows for the
o
purpose of planting corn, who coming up and looking
at the darkey's work, said to him: ' Ned, your furrows
are not straight; you should stand about four feet from
your last furrow and take an object upon the opposite
side of the field and drive straight towards it. Now
put your plow in here, which is about four feet from
your last furrow, and drive for that cow which is on
the opposite side of the field, and make straight for
her tail, and you will come out right.' His master
went away, and in about an hour came back to see how
Ned had obeyed his instructions. He went to where
he had started Ned, and looked along down his furrow,
ALEXANDER P.- FIELD. 207
but didn't see anything of Ned; but on casting his
eye off obliquely to the right, he saw Ned close to the
cow, and made for him, following the furrow around
until lie got to him, which took him in a very circuit-
ous route. Being in a great passion, he said to Ned,
'Didn't I set you to plow straight furrows?' 'Yes,
massa,' said he, ' but you told me to make straight for
dat cow's tail, and I have followed the d d hussey
wherever she has gone, and if de furrows ain't straight
enough to please you, I am berry sorry for it.' Now,
gentlemen," said Field, " the gentleman who has pre-
ceded me has followed his '•loco foco"1 cow wherever
she went, and behold what a political furrow he has
made!"
This produced a tremendous effect upon the crowd.
Field was not only a splendid orator, political deba-
ter, advocate and lawyer, but he could sing a good song
and tell a good story. I remember at the Carmi Cir-
cuit Court he perfectly thrilled and electrified me by
singing that beautiful song to be found in Moore's
Melodies, commencing thus:
"So slow our ship her foaming track
Against the wind was cleaving,
Her trembling pennant still looked back
To that dear isle 'twas leaving."
My readers doubtless remember the balance of this
beautiful song, and suffer me to say that it lost none of
its beauties from the style, manner and voice in which
Field sung it. It was upon this occasion, Jeff
Gatewood, of Shawneetown, being present, that Field
related the rencounter between Judge Jephtha Hardin
and Jeff, in which Jeff used the words " little court,"
208 LINDEK'S REMINISCENCES.
which I have already related in the sketch I have given
of Judge Ilardin.
I have only to state that Field was elected one of the
members to the House of Representatives in Congress
from the State of Louisiana after the close of our civil
war, but as the reader will remember, they were not
permitted to take their seats. I will state here that
Field was descended from one of the most talented
families in Kentucky, on his mother's side of the house.
She was a Pope, and the sister of Governor John Pope
of Arkansas, and of our own Judge Nathaniel Pope,
of this State, both natives of Kentucky. I was person-
ally acquainted with both these men.
I fear that I have not done full justice to Mr. Field.
If so, I shall be sorry for it, and can only say if I have
left out anything, it is the result of the failing memory
of an old man.
ANTHONY THOKNTON. 209
ANTHONY THOENTOK
JWILL take the liberty of introducing at this
place a man who is still living and well known
to the public, especially to the legal fraternity,
His Honor Judge Anthony Thornton, of Shelbyville,
111. His first wife was Mildred Thornton, the daughter
of the late William F. Thornton of Shelbvville. An-
thony himself was either her second or third cousin.
Anthony Thornton is a native of Kentucky, and hails
from somewhere near the Blue Grass region thereof —
I think from Paris or Cynthiana.
My acquaintance with Judge Thornton commenced
when he was quite a young man, and must have been
somewhere in 1839 or '40. He was attending the
Coles county Circuit Court at Charleston, my then place
of residence; and that was the first time I saw his
Honor, the late Charles Constable. I was introduced
to them both at the same time, and thought then, and
I still think, that they were two of the finest, most
imposing and handsome men that my eyes ever looked
upon. They were both over six feet in height, well
shaped and symmetrical in form, and it would have
troubled the most tasteful young lady to have given
preference to either of them. They had both but
recently been admitted to the bar. Thornton was well
210 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
educated, and graduated at the Transylvania Univer-
sity of Kentucky. My acquaintance with him from
that time up to 1860, when I removed to Chicago, has
been close and intimate. We were often associated
together in important causes; at least three cases of
murder, many of slander, and a large number of other
cases, both at law and in equity. He was a pleasant
man to get along with if you took care to keep him
in a good humor. He was a sound lawyer; prepared
his cases well, and but seldom, if ever, came into court
unprepared. As a man of honesty and honor, there
is none to-day who stands higher with those who know
him than does Judge Anthony Thornton with all
those who have the honor of his acquaintance. An-
thony had however his deficiencies, as I have been
told, one of which was he had no ear for music; could
not distinguish one tune from another, and could not
tell when the fiddler was playing a tune or only tuning
his fiddle; and on one occasion, having led out his
partner to the head of a set of dancers, he actually
commenced dancing when the fiddler was only tuning
his instrument. Ah, Anthony! Anthony! this sad
mishap of yours put you in a long state of quarantine,
but you finally triumphed, as you richly deserved to do.
I served several sessions in the lower House of our
State Legislature, he being the member from Shelby
and I the member from Coles. It was between 1846
.and 1850. It was during the time when we were
struggling for our Terre Haute and Alton railroad,
which ran from Terre Haute through Edgar, Coles,
Shelby, Montgomery, Macoupin and Madison coun-
ties, terminating at Alton. Thornton and I had the
ANTHONY THORNTON. 211
same interest, and stood shoulder to shoulder for this
road, and to prevent a rival road from Terre Haute
straight to St. Louis, which would have effectually
killed ours. This is the same matter I have heretofore
related in the sketch I have given of my old friend
Gillespie, and should not have introduced it here,
except to show the part taken therein by Mr. Thorn-
ton. No man gave to it a more effectual support
than he.
Some years elapsed after he reached the legislature
before he was elected to Congress from the Sangamon
district — Lincoln and Yates' old district. I think
however that he never served but one term in Con-
gress. I have nothing to relate as to the part he took
while a member of Congress.
He was an old line Whig, and was a delegate to the
Constitutional Convention of 1848 that formed our
Constitution of that date. He was one of Henry Clay's
greatest admirers, and a1 most worshiped him; and
could not tolerate any man who attempted to disparage
Mr. Clay. In this Constitutional Convention there
was a delegate from Edgar county, a Baptist preacher
of the old hard-shell order — a pretty talented man,
whose name I will not mention here. He was no great
friend to Mr. Clay, being of a different school of poli-
ticians. He and Thornton both boarded at Chenery's
hotel. One day while sitting at dinner together writh
a great man}7 other delegates, a discussion arose between
Thornton and this preacher delegate, in which the lat-
ter claimed that John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina,
was greatly Mr. Clay's superior in talent, eloquence
and statesmanship, but wound up by saying in rather
212 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.*
a depreciating tone of voice, "Yet I will admit, Mr.
Thornton, that your friend Mr. Clay is a very smart
man."
Thornton in a towering fit of passion, jumped to
his feet and said to the preacher: "Do yon apply the
mean, Yankee, horse-jockey word 'smart9 to such a
man as Henrj' Clay? If you ever do it again in my
presence I'll thrash you, d — n you, as long as I can
feel you."
Judge Harlan, who was also a member of this Con-
vention, and present on this occasion, gave me a graphic
description of it, and he said that Thornton's construc-
tion of the word " smart " produced a universal burst
and roar of laughter, and they kept it up till Thorn-
ton and the preacher had to join therein, and the mat-
ter was not attended with any serious consequences.
I will relate a matter here with which friend An-
thony is connected, which would perhaps have found
its place more properly in the sketch I have given of
Gen. Wm. F. Thornton, his father-in-law. At a term
of the Shelby Circuit Court, which was being held
either by Koerner or Judge Treat, a good many law-
vers from other counties were in attendance — among1
•i O
the rest David Davis, now Supreme Judge of the
United States Court, O. B. Ficklin, myself, and a good
many others. General Thornton had procured the in-
dictment of a fellow who had stolen a bridle and a
pair of martingals from his store. The fellow being
tolerable cunning, got his friends to employ Anthony
Thornton, the General's son-in-law, to defend him;
and not being very vigorously prosecuted, of course he
was acquitted. I was not in the court house when the
ANTHONY THORNTON. 213
jury rendered their verdict of not guilty; but after it
was over Anthony came to me at my hotel and said :
" The General is in a perfect fury, and he expected
you or Ficklin to have prosecuted, and I am sorry you
did n't," said he: " And so am I," said I; and in a few
minutes afterwards General Thornton made his ap-
pearance in the room where the Judge and all us law-
yers were assembled. We all knew what was coining,
He swore that the law, in the way that it was adminis-
tered, was a mere farce; that the d d rascal who
had been acquitted was guilty, as everybody knew; and
went on with a terrible tirade against law and lawyers
in Illinois; and when he had pretty well exhausted
himself, Judge David Davis, who was then nothing
but lawyer Davis, in a very quiet and soothing way,
said to General Thornton: "General, you know it is
an old and humane maxim of the common law that it
is better that ninety-nine guilty men should escape,
than that one innocent man should be convicted."
" No, sir" said General Thornton ; " by G — d, sir,
the maxim is false, sir! I say, sir, that it is better
that nine hundred and ninety-nine innocent should
suffer, than that one G — d d d rascal, like the fel-
low who stole my bridle and martingals should go
unwhipped of justice."
Now it may seem strange to the reader that a man
of General Thornton's intelligence should have given
utterance to an expression so absurd as this, yet it
must be remembered that he was in a terrible passion;
but it was impossible for us to repress our merriment,
and we all laughed to the very splitting of our sides.
In every position in which friend Anthony has been
214 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
placed, he has filled it with distinguished honor to him-
self and benefit to the country. I have not lost sight
of my distinguished frieifd since I moved away from
that part of the country, and am aware, as my readers
know, that he was elected as one of the members of
the Supreme Court of Illinois, which ofiice he filled
with distinguished honor, and has delivered some of
the opinions of the court which will hand his name
down to the latest posterity, especially one in reference
to the rights of husband and wife under our recent
statutes.
I know that he "was veiy popular with his brother
judges, especially with Judge McAllister; but to the
astonishment of his friends and the public, he resigned
and retired to private life. He had a handsome for-,
tune to fall back upon, and the truth is, that no man
of his talents, who has a good practice as a lawyer as
he had, can abandon it and forsake the pleasant walks
of private and professional life for the insignificant
compensation given to our Supreme Judges.
I have given to friend Anthony such a notice as I
think he is entitled to, and if I have fallen short of
doing him justice, it is not willful, but the failure of
memory. I wish to state in conclusion, that my recol-
lections of him are of the kindliest character, which
I believe he knows and fully appreciates.
NATHANIEL POPE. 215
POPE.
| HE next name which I propose to introduce
into these memoirs is that of Nathaniel Pope,
late judge of the United States District Court
of Illinois. He has alre'ady been referred to in my
sketches of other persons. He was a man of great
legal attainments, and as I am writing these memoirs
from memory, the readers must not hold me to a very
strict account as to dates.- My present impression is
that Judge Pope was our first delegate in Congress
from Illinois when it was but a territory. Judge
Pope and myself were intimate, personal friends. I
became acquainted with him in 1836 and '37, and we
were warm friends to the last day of his life. He
has gone to his rest.
I have not much to say of Judge Pope, except that
he was an eminent lawyer at Kaskaskia, when Thomas
Benton, from Missouri came across the Mississippi and
practiced in the courts of Kaskaskia, and I believe
Pope at that time practiced at St. Louis, and other
towns on the Mississippi. He was the uncle of A.
P. Field, about whom I have already written. He-
was pretty severe upon the lawyers who practiced in
his court, and was not very choice as to the words he
used when he saw fit to reprimand them.
216 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
Judge Pope is eminently a historical character, and
was the father of General John Pope, who figured in
our late civil war, and is memorable for having dated
his military orders thus: "From head-quarters, in the
saddle;" and is also memorable for having said in
those orders that he was accustomed to victory, and
that the term "retreat" was not to be found in his
tactics or dictionary. But it is melancholy to relate,
and I am sorry to have it to do, that he had to change
his tactics and revise his dictionary when that man
Stonewall Jackson got after him, who was a very pious
man, and whose negro servant said, when asked about
the habits of his master, " I tell you, sah, dat when
massa Jackson get up free or foil' times in de night to
pray, you might look out for hell de next day ! "
Judge Pope, the father of General John Pope, sat on
the bench of the United States District Court of Illinois
for many years. I was a young man at the beginning of
my acquaintance with Judge Pope, and a sort of pet
of his, and he used to scold me for not coming to his
room oftener than I did. He gave me a sketch of the
characters of the principal men in Congress when he
was a delegate, and especially of Ben Hard in, of Ken-
tucky, of whom he did not entertain a very good opin-
ion, although he admitted that he was a man of con-
siderable talent, yet he was coarse and ungentlemanly
in his deportment, and would cheat when playing at
cards with gentlemen.
In the contest which I had with Stephen T. Logan, to
which I have heretofore alluded, Judge Pope was with
me on the constitutional question, and furnished me
with very valuable thoughts and arguments. Judge
NATHANIEL POPE. 217
Pope's physical form was not very remarkable; he was
rather above than below the medium height, and rather
corpulent; a man could not look upon him without
thinking that he was a man of considerable intellectual
power. As I have said, he was the uncle of Field,
and also of Ninian Edwards.
I heard Stephen T. Logan, whose opinion upon legal
matters is entitled to great respect, say that Judge Pope
was a man of the finest legal mind he ever knew, and
this is entitled to the more respect from the fact that
Judge Pope never showed Logan much favor in his
court.
It would be a source of considerable pleasure to me
if I could give more incidents in the life of Juge Pope,
but the reader must be contented with what I have
here written down.
I have often partaken of the old man's hospitality,
and I desire to pay a tribute of gratitude and respect
to his memory by saying that I cherish for him the
kindest and most grateful remembrance.
218 LINDEN'S REMINISCENCES.
JAMES SEMPLE.
|IIE next prominent man of my early days
with whom I was acquainted was General
James Semple. I met him in the legislature
of 1836 and '37. He was one of the members from
Madison county, Illinois; at that session he was
elected Speaker of the House of Representatives, of
which he and I were both members, being both of the
same political sentiments; but I did not vote for him
for Speaker, but voted for my friend, Col. John De-
merit, the son-in-law of old General Dodge, of Wis-
consin.
Gen. Semple was one of our self-made men. Like
Lincoln, Douglas and others, he rose into notice by
the force of his own intellectual powers and worth,
without the advantages of a liberal education.
My personal intercourse with General Semple was
not of the most cordial character. He was inclined to
be an overbearing man, and was not eloquent, and was
envious of every man who was so; and when I was
elected Attorney-General at that session, he took good
care not to vote for me, and cast his vote for John
Pearsons, who was not a candidate for the office, but one
of my warmest and most devoted friends. Yet I do not
cherish unkind feelings toward General Semple. "When
JAMES SEMPLE. 219
lie was sent as Minister to Bogota lie left his law busi-
ness in raj hands in preference to all the lawyers in
Madison county. His family and mine had the closest
social relations, and Mrs. Semple I think was one of
the most agreeable women I ever knew. The General
has been dead for a number of years. Whether Mrs.
Semple is living I know not.
General Semple was appointed by President Yan
Buren Minister to Bogota; and in 1843 he was ap-
pointed by Governor Ford as the successor of Samuel
McKoberts, deceased, in the United States Senate,
and after serving for one session as such appointee
the legislature in December, 1844, confirmed his ap-
pointment by electing him for the unexpired term of
his predecessor. On his return from Bogota, I being
a member of the legislature, heard him deliver many
interesting lectures in reference to that country.
General Semple was a tanner by trade, and rose by
force of his native intellect to the high stations which
he filled. He has not left us any speech or report which
would hand his name down favorably to posterity, but
I feel myself charged to some extent with that duty,
and trust that some friend who has known me will not
fail to transmit the name of old Linder to posterity.
220 LIMBER'S KEMINISCENCES.
JOHN DEMENT.
]HAVE a friend whom I cannot leave out of
these memoirs, though he is not a lawyer; yet
he is better than that — he is a brave and hon-
est man. His name is John Dement, and he is still
living at Dixon, 111. I first met him at Yandalia, at
the session of 1836 and '37. He was a member of the
lower House, from Fay ette county, Yandalia, and I
took an active part in trying to elect him Speaker of
that body. I have already, in another place, stated he
was the son-in-law of General Dodge (the old General
Dodge). I suppose he must be at this time over sev-
enty years of age.
Jack Dement, if I mistake not, was a colonel in the
Black Hawk war, and was at Stillman's defeat, and
also at the engagement known as the battle of Kellog's
Grove. Stillman's defeat was a most disgraceful
thing, and a dishonor to the arms of Illinois. It oc-
curred in 1832, before I came to the State; I therefore
speak from information furnished by others. I have
understood that Colonel Dement did all he possibly
could to rally his men and make them fight; that he
turned more than once in his saddle, and fired his gun
at the savages, but to rally his men was utterly impos-
sible. They ran like sheep chased by a gang of wolves.
JOHN DEMENT. 221
Colonel Dement would ride and get in advance of
them, and waving his sword, would cry out, " Halt!
halt ! halt! " but it was all of no avail. On they weut?
until the Indians got tired of chasing and scalping
them. Some prisoner who escaped from the Indians,
reported that when they returned to their camp they
were in great glee; and flourishing their scalps,
repeated the words of Colonel Dement, "halt! halt!
halt! " in a laughing and derisive manner. Black
Hawk, after he was taken prisoner and carried around
through the United States to all our principal cities,
for the purpose of satisfying him, if there was any
purpose in it, that a war with us by his naked and
half-starved tribe", was a most unequal contest, is
reported to have s?i-d to one of our interpreters, that
Colonel Jack Dement was the bravest man he ever
faced in battle; and it affords me great pleasure to
indorse the opinion of this great savage.
Colonel Dement was not only brave, but in the face
of clanger he was cool, cautious and prudent. That I
am a living man to-daj', I owe, perhaps, to his friend-
ship, bravery and prudence. In 1837, after I was
elected to the office of Attorney-General of Illinois, I
got into- a difficulty with a very desperate man, who
was a member of the Senate, and he challenged me,
and General James Turney was selected by him as his
second, and he delivered the challenge to me. I
accepted it, and referred him to Colonel John Dement
as my second, who would fix the distance and select
the weapons. Having expected this before I received
the challenge, I had informed my friend Dement that
I expected to be challenge! and that I should select
222 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
him for my second, and should place my honor and
life in his hands. He said to me: " Linder, I will
take charge of both; and, without letting your honor
suffer, will take good care that you never fight; for if
you do, he will be sure to kill you, for he is as cool
and desperate as a bandit." I replied that the matter
would be placed in his hands, and I should refer his sec-
ond to him (Colonel Dement) as my second, to arrange
the distance and select the weapons with which we
would fight. Accordingly, when General Turney called
upon Colonel Dement, Dement informed l.im that we
would fight with pistols at close quarters, each hold-
ing one end of the same handkerchief in his teeth.
" My God!" replied General Turney, " Colonel Dem-
ent, that amounts to the deliberate murder of both
men."
"It don't matter," said Dement, "your principal is
cool, desperate and deliberate, while my friend is ner-
vous and excitable, and if he has to lose his life your
friend must bear him company."
General Turney beino- a very humane and honorable
man, and really as much my friend as he was his prin-
cipal's, said to Colonel Dement: "Colonel, this meet-
ing must never take place; so let you and I take this
matter in hand and have it settled in an- amicable way,
honorable to both parties."
"The very thing," said Colonel Dement, "that I
have desired to bring about. Linder is a 3 oung man
and has just been elected Attorney- General of the State,
and -has an interesting wife, and little daughter only
four years old, who have only been in this town (Van-
dalia) but a few days, and it would be next to break-
JOHN DEMENT. 223
V
ing my heart to have the one made a widow and the
other an orphan."
They agreed that a hostile meeting should not
take place; and the matter was amicably and honora-
bly arranged between the Senator and myself. We
met, made friends, shook hands, and to the last day of
his life we were the best of friends.
Col. Dement has filled various offices of honor and
trust under the State and National government. He
has been once or twice Receiver or Register of our
Land Offices in Illinois; and in every position he has
filled he has acquitted himself with honor.
Col. Dement, I believe, is a native of Kentucky.
He has always been a Democrat in politics. He had
an utter abhorrence of Abolitionists; but in our late
civil war he and I both stood shoulder to shoulder in
favor of a vigorous prosecution of that war. We spoke
together at the same public meetings in the northern
portion of this State, for the purpose of calling our
young Illinois chivalry to arms. We both asserted
publicly in our speeches that it was a war to save the
Union, and not to emancipate the negro, or to make
him the equal of the white man, for we both believed
with our friend Douglas, who had often asserted it on
the stump and elsewhere, that this was a white man's
government, made by white men and for the benefit
'of the white race. But let it be remembered that
these joint efforts of Col. Dement and myself were
made before President Lincoln's emancipation procla-
mation, which I supported as a war measure, believ-
ing that it would end the war and prevent the further
shedding of fraternal blood, in which belief it seems
224: LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
I was sadly mistaken. "Whether Col. Dement sup-
ported that proclamation I do not know. Upon that
subject the Democratic party were somewhat divided.
I remember nothing more in reference to the public
or private career of Col. Dement necessary to be stated
in these memoirs. I wish my readers to understand
that my object has been not to introduce any names
into this history except those who are worthy to go
down to posterity, and that the name, patriotism and
public services of Col. Dement are entitled to be so
perpetuated I have not the least doubt. I hope that
some future historian will do more justice to the name
of Col. Dement than one who has had to draw upon
the memory of a frail old man. If these memoirs
should go into print during the life of Col. Dement,
and ever meet his eye, I hope he will pardon me for
any errors of memory. I take my leave, therefore, of
Col. Dement, and will pass on to some other historic
character.
EICIIARD YATES. 225
KICHABD YATES.
i|E AR reader, if you think it a pleasant task to
awake the memories of the past, and call back
the features of beloved ones that are gone, and
recount the pleasant intercourse that occurred between
you and them, you are very much mistaken. Onr rec-
ollections of our living friends can be recounted with-
out any sadness; but of those who have long been
dead, such recollections are like visitants from the
grave. I will now introduce the name of a cherished
friend who died some time ago — I mean Richard Yates,
of Morgan county, Illinois. He was several times a
member of the House of Representatives in Congress
from his district. lie was repeatedly a member of the
Legislature of Illinois; once Governor of the State of
Illinois, which was during the civil war; and in my
humble opinion President Grant is in a considerable
degree indebted to him for the position and fame he
now enjoys; for he gave him, when he was a private
citizen, the first military appointment he received. It
was about the time of the commencement of the civil
war. It is true, somebody, whose name I do not now
remember, recommended him to Governor Yates when,
we were sadly in need of some qualified person to dis-
cipline our troops. Governor Yates was looking
15
226 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
around for such a person, and asking every intelligent
person where he could find such a one, when he who
recommended Grant said to him:
" Governor Yates, there is Captain Grant, late of
the United States Army, and a graduate of the West
Point Academy; why not give him the commission of
a State Colonel to drill and train our Illinois volun-
teers?"
Yates did so, and I am inclined to think it was a
fortunate thing he did so, for Grant had the peculiar
talents that were needed at that time, and he went on
from one promotion to another; and with the excep-
tion of one or two unfortunate reverses, he ascended
from victory to victory, until the surrender of Lee
crowned him as the great captain of the war, and cov-
ered him with unfading glory, and made him the most
prominent man as candidate for the future presidency.
At the time of his appointment by Governor Yates,
Grant was unknown to fame; but a few knew him as
an ex-captain of the Mexican War, and but for this
fortunate selection, perhaps the war might have
resulted in misfortune to the Union. To what little
-causes are we indebted for great results! Bonaparte,
who conquered nearly the whole of Europe, and of
whom England stood in awe, was perhaps indebted for
his ultimate success to the i'act of his having returned
the sword of General Beauharnais to his orphan son,
Eugene Beauharnais, which introduced Napoleon to
the boy's mother, to whom he became attached, and
afterwards married; and through whose influence,
counsel and advice, anSr the influence of her friends,
J^apoleon rose from one position to another, until he
RICHARD TAXES. 227
cast his mighty shadow across the civilized world, and
the eagles of France were hoisted upon the capitals of
nearly all continental Europe, and her lilies were
fanned by the breezes that swept over the pyramids
of Egypt. How great a fire is sometimes kindled from
a mere spark! But if ever Grant should kindle such a
fire as Napoleon did (my readers must not understand
me as predicting such a result), yet I do not want to
be understood as underating the talents of General
Grant, especially as a military man. I am free to
confess that he is no ordinary man ; and I have been
informed by some of our Democratic Generals that he
possessed the rarest powers of military combination.
I was told by one of them that when he came into the
army of the Tennessee, the army was thoroughly
demoralized, their communications were cut off, but
that in less than ten days the morale of the army was
restored; their communications re-opened; the half-
starved army re-victualed, and order, plenty and disci-
pline prevailed throughout the army. This is really
no small praise to be bestowed upon any man, especially
coining from a political opponent.
Now, worthy reader, if I have not led you away too
far from my friend Dick Yates, be good enough to
consider him as the starting point of all these grand
results.
Governor Yates, as my readers all know, was eleva-
ted to the Senate of the United States. -He was a man
of very rare elocution, and as a Fourth-of-July orator
had but few equals, if any; he had the rare facility of
stringing beautiful words and sentences together.
Yates was a handsome man, and I never saw a frown
228 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
upon his countenance in my life. He was eminently
social and a little too convivial, as most of us were in
early times. He was my warmest friend and most
devoted admirer. I learned from a mutual friend of
ours that Yates, who was listening to an effort I made
in the House of Representatives, said to him after it
was over: "There is no use talking, Linder is the
greatest orator of this State."
Reader, pardon this vanity for repeating what my
old friend Yates said, and may I not be pardoned also
for saying that I was not displeased with the compli-
ment paid by him to me? If he had any faults it is
not my business either to remember or record them.
" Teach me to feel another's woe,
To hide the fault I see;
That mercy I to others show,
That mercy show to me."
I will say this, in regard to my old friend Yates:
that whatever is good in his character I will transmit
to posterity; but whatever is otherwise, I shall be
inclined to be governed by the sentiment expressed in
Sterne's " Life of Tristram Shandy," where Corporal
Trim, the servant of " my Uncle Toby," had visited a
wounded officer by the direction of his master, reported
to his master that the officer must surely die. " ISTo,
Trim," said he, " he must not die. We will take him
and nurse him, and he shall not die."
" I tell you, master, he will surely die; no human
efforts can save him."
"I tell you," said my Uncle Toby, " by G-d, he shall
not die."
And Sterne says that the accusing spirit that flew up
RICHARD YATES. 229
to heaven's chancery with the oath, Hushed when he
gave it in, and the recording angel, when he wrote it
down, dropped a tear upon the word, and blotted it out
forever." And with a charity like this am I disposed
to deal with the faults of ray old friend Yates. I
believe that I shall meet him in a better world, for he
was a devout Christian, and died in full fellowship with
the Methodist Church.
He, Lincoln, Hardin and myself were warm perso-
nal friends. I don't believe, so far as his honor and
integrity were concerned, that he has left a single blot
on his name.
230 LINDEK'S REMINISCENCES.
JOHJST SCHOLFIELD.
{WILL now introduce a living character —
Judge John Scholfield, of Clark county, Illi-
nois, recently elected to the Supreme bench
of this State, to fill the vacancy caused by the resigna-
tion of Judge Anthony Thornton, of Shelbyviile, 111.
He is quite a young man to be elevated to so high a
position; but he is a bright and shining light in the
legal world, and should he reach the age of fifty or
sixty, will doubtless make himself a name that will
deserve to fill a much larger place in our legal history
than I can give to him at the present time. He has
not been at the bar over twenty years, and never filled
any judicial station previous to his elevation to the
Supreme Bench, although he was a member of the
legislature from Clark county once or twice previous
to his election as Judge of the Supreme Court. He
was in the Constitutional Convention of 1870. I knew
him before he was admitted to the bar — when but a
mere boy. He rose from the very humblest walks of
life. He graduated at the Law School of Louisville,
Ky., and in a very few years made for himself a repu-
tation at the bar that older lawyers might well envy.
I have met him repeatedly at the bar, and have been
associated with him and opposed to him; and, in my
humble opinion, he is one of the best lawyers of his age
JOHN SoilOLFIELD. 231
I ever knew. I have read but few of his opinions as
Supreme Judge, but I entertain no fears of his future.
In giving my testimony to his high and transcendent
legal ability, I know that I am in excellent company.
Judge Breese, of our Supreme Bench, who ought to
be considered good authority as to a man's legal at-
tainments, asked me some eight or ten years ago if
I had kept the run of John Scholfield since I had been
living in Chicago. I told told him that I had not to
any very great extent. u Well, sir," said he, " differ
me to say to you that he is one of the most promising
young lawyers in America. He has practiced regu-
larly in our court in such cases as came up by appeal
and writ of error from the Wabash Courts, and I have
had a good opportunity of estimating his ability, and
know of no lawyer, old or young, that I can place above
him." And Col. John Baird, of Terre Haute, himself
one of the best lawyers in Indiana, told me not four
years ago that Scholfield was the best lawyer he ever
knew; and that seems to be the prevailing opinion
with the legal fraternity wherever he is known.
It may be thought in bad taste on my part to intro-
duce so young a man into these memoirs, but I could
not deny myself the pleasure of heralding his approach
to the coming generation of lawyers, and to them I
leave the task of finishing what I have begun, which,
duty, I have no doubt, will be performed with more
ability and accuracy than I have discharged mine..
His future I leave with them, knowing that he will be
' O
in safe hands; so for the present, friend John, I bid
you good-bye and God-speed, in your onward march up.
the slippery heights of fame.
232 LINDEK'S REMINISCENCES.
JAMES HUGHES.
Y READERS must pardon me for stepping
across the State line dividing Indiana and
Illinois, and introducing the names of a few
men eminent in the legal profession and not unknown
to the political world, and nearly as well known in Illi-
nois as Indiana. I therefore introduce to my readers
the name of Judge James Hughes, before whom I prac-
ticed when he was Judge of the circuit court at Terre
Haute and other Wabash counties. When I knew
him, he resided in Bloomington, Ind., and I also prac-
ticed in his court at that place.
Besides being judge of the circuit court, he was
also professor and secturer in the Law School at
Bloomington. My acquaintance with him continued
until he retired from the circuit court bench, and we
often met as lawyers at the Terre Haute and Sullivan,
courts, and were sometimes associated together in
important causes. The last one that I recollect was in
Sullivan county, in which the Yincennes University
was plaintiff, and Samuel Judah, an old and eminent
lawyer of Yincennes, Ind., was defendant. It was on
that occasion that we had a long and confidential con-
versation in reference to some of the great men of this
country. I remember to have said to him when he
JAMES HUGHES. 233
and I were on a long walk, that] Mr. Webster, though
I had never seen him, was in my opinion the greatest
orator in America. " Well," said he, " Linder, I have
heard him and Clay in the Senate of the United States,
and suffer me to say to you that that little man
Douglas, of your State, whom I have also heard repeat-
edly in the same body, as a speaker and debater,
dwarfed both of them. Although," said he, "Judge
Douglas, from his political course, has not made for
himself a very warm place in my affections, as a
debater, in my opinion Judge Douglas never had an
equal in that body." And Judge Hughes was certainly
no incompetent judge of men.
Since I removed from Coles county to Chicago, my
personal intercourse with Judge Hughes has ceased.
My readers, I presume, are aware that for a considera-
ble time he was one of the Judges of the Court of
Claims at Washington, and if my memory does not
fail me, he was appointed to that office by James Bu-
chanan One of my principal reasons for introducing
Judge Hughes was, that I might give his opinion of
Mr. Douglas, my old friend, whose memory is inter-
twined with every fibre of my heart, and whose name
and fame, as far as I am able, I wish to exalt in the
opinion of my countrymen.
234 LINDEK'S REMINISCENCES.
ALFEED W. AEEISTGTOK
[CANNOT refrain from introducing here the
name of a man who died in the city of Chicago
a few years ago. He was really one of the
eminent lawyers in America, and a .man of great
learning — I mean Judge Alfred W. Arrington. He
was over sixty at the time of his death. I do not know
the State where he was born, but I do know that it
was some one of the Southern States, for I have heard
him say he was a Southern man. He began his career
as a Methodist preacher in the northern part of Indiana,
and rode the circuit in the Whitewater region ; and
the clerk of the United States Circuit Court of Indi-
anapolis, told me that he had often heard him preach
while on his circuit and at camp-meeting, and that he
literally set all that country on fire by his magical elo-
quence and oratory. During the time of my acquain-
tance with Judge Arrington, his voice was very much
shattered and impaired, which I attributed to his
speaking in the open air wyhen a preacher. His voice
was a kind of whisper, but he could make himself
heard by his audience, for such was the respect paid
to his talent and genius that the most profound silence
prevailed while he was speaking; during such times
you might hear a pin fall. He was generally sought
ALFRED "W. ARKINGTOK. 235
for by one side or the other in the most important
causes in the State and Federal Courts. The case, how-
ever, in which lie most distinguished himself was the
divorce case brought by Mrs. Stewart against her hus-
band, Hart L. Stewart, Judge Arrington being in the
defense. His statement of the facts in his opening
speech to the jury and his comments thereon, is one of
the finest specimens of legal eloquence I ever read.
Nothing that ever fell from the lips of Phillips, Cur-
ran or Grattan surpasses it.
He not only practiced in the Federal Courts of Chi-
cago, but in the Supreme Court of the United States
at Washington, and was as much distinguished there
as he was ill the courts of Illinois.
In the Stewart trial great efforts had been made on
the part of the plaintiff to make out a case against him
(the defendant). They had employed lewd women to
seduce him, and put detectives on his track to watch
and report the result of their plan. I should have sta-
ted that Stewart was a young preacher of the gospel.
But Stewart got wind of their plans to entrap him into
criminal intercourse with these women, and employed
detectives of his own to watch those of the other side.
One of these women followed Stewart to some one of
the Eastern cities and managed to get into his room:
but Stewart was too fast for her and had already secreted
his detective under the bed in his (Stewart's) room.
This demi-monde had the power of making herself
very bewitching and attractive when she chose. She
had got into the room and thrown down the bed-clothes
and caught Stewart round the neck and pulled him
down on to the bed, and as she was pulling up the
236 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
bed -clothes Mrs. Stewart's detective entered the room,
exclaiming, as he did so: "I've caught you, have I,
Mr. Stewart? " And at that moment Stewart's detective
came out from under the bed, saying to the other detec-
tive: "I rather think I've caught you; -I have been
aware for some time of this nice little trap which you
and your principal have set to catch Hart L. Stewart,
and I think I have circumvented you."
On the first trial of this divorce case, where Judge
Arriugton displayed such marvelous talent and elo-
quence, the jury returned a verdict in favor of Hart L.
Stewart, the defendant; but on a new trial, in which
Judge Arrington did not defend, the plaintiff got a
verdict and they were divorced. There are many other
cases that I might enumerate, going to prove the pre-
eminent talents of Judge Arrington, but I will let this
suffice.
Judge Arrington was not only a great orator, but
he was also a very considerable poet, and I believe his
wife or daughter since his death has published a
small book of his poems. I have never seen the book,
but Judge Arrington in his life-time showed me quite
a number of his poetic effusions, and they possessed
many characteristics of excellence. One of the finest
things that was ever written fell from his pen — I
mean his "Apostrophe to Cold Water." I wish I could
recall it so as to insert some specimens of it here.
Judge Arrington, as I have already stated, was a
preacher in the Methodist Church, but shortly before
his death he became a Catholic, and died in that faith.
After he ceased preaching and became a member of
the bar, he went to Texas, and in a short time he was
ALFRED "W. ARKINGTON. 237
made Judge of one of their circuit courts. He did
not remain long in the South; he told me himself that
there was too much rowdyism there to suit his taste.
I think he was as profoundly and deeply read in the
common and civil law, and also in equity law as
any one I ever knew. He had a very large brain — as
large, if not larger, than that of Daniel Webster.
It would be interesting to any lawyer to collect and
read his printed briefs, on file in the Federal and
State courts. He was a ripe classical scholar. I have
heard him quote by the paragraph from the Pandects
and Novels of the civil law. His knowledge of Greek
was equal to that of his knowledge of Latin. Henry
Clav Dean, of Iowa, told me that Arrington was a cous-
tt * i O
in of his. He also told me in the same conversation
that Arrington used to write speeches for the members
in Congress, and that many of them got credit for elo-
quence which was really not theirs, but Arlington's.
It is painful to have to write the biographical sketch
of a man to whose memory and fame you feel you
cannot do full justice; and such is my condition at
the present time in reference to Judge Arrington,
the materials which I have being too scant and mea-
gre to do him full justice. I must therefore do with
him as I have done with some others — leave his his-
tory to be written up by some abler pen than mine,
and by some person in possession of larger and ampler
materials than mine. I wish to say to the bar gener-
ally, and especially to the younger members, that he
was the most perfect model of a gentleman and law-
yer that I ever knew, and they would do well to take
him as an example, and walk in the lofty path he trod.
238 LLNDEK'S REMINISCENCES.
AEOHIE WILLIAMS.
(SHALL now introduce the name of a man
widely and favorably known in Illinois and
the West as one of the most profound lawyers?
and especially as a land-lawyer, that Illinois has ever
produced — I allude to Archie Williams, who was late
one of the Federal judges of Kansas — one of Mr. Lin-
coln's appointees. He was a member of the Legisla-
ture of Illinois in 1836 and 1837, and of the same
House with Lincoln, Douglas and myself. He was
over six feet high, and as angular and ungainly in his
form as Mr. Lincoln himself; and for homeliness of
face and feature, surpassed Mr. Lincoln. I think I
never saw but one man uglier than Archie, and that
was Patrick II. Darbey, of Kentucky — also a very great
lawyer, who once had a brace of pistols presented to
him by a traveler he met upon the road, both being
on horseback, who suddenly stopped, and asked Darbey
to stop also, and said to the latter gentleman: "Here
is a brace of pistols which belongs to yon." " How
do you make that out?" said Darbey. "They were
given to me a long time ago by a stranger, who
requested me to keep them until I met an uglier man
than myself, arid I have carried them for over twenty
years; and I had begun to think that they would go to
AKCHIE WILLIAMS. 239
my lieirs when I died, but you are the rightful owner
of the pistols. I give them to you as they were given
to me, to be kept till you meet with an uglier man than
you are, and then you will present them to him; but
you will die the owner of this property, for I'll be
d d if there is an uglier man than you in the world,
and the Lord did his everlasting best to make you so
when he created you."
Darbey accepted the pistols, and I never heard of
their passing out of his hands. I know not what
might have occurred had he and Archie Williams
ever met. If there had been a jury trial of the right
of property between them, I think it altogether likely
it might have resulted in a " hung jury."
Archie Williams sat near to Mr. Lincoln in the
southeast corner of the old State House in Vandalia,
on his left, and I remember one day of a friend of mine
asking me "who in the h 1 those two ugly men
were." Archie and Mr. Lincoln were great friends.
I recollect Mr. Lincoln asking me on one occasion if
I didn't think Archie Williams was one of the strong-
O
est-minded and clearest headed men in Illinois. I
don't know what reply I made at the time, but I know
Mr. Lincoln said that he thought him the strongest-
minded and clearest headed man he ever saw. In
1852, when the old Whig party made its last fight on
old General Scott, I received a -pressing invitation
from Archie, O. H. Browning, and others, to come
and canvass the district in which Mr. Brownin^ was
O
running against Wm. A. Richardson for Congress.
After some time I accepted the invitation. I remem-
ber that Richardson was very much a'armed when he
240 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
heard that I had come to canvass the district against
him, and it was not long till he had Mr. Douglas there
canvassing it for him, and kept him there till the elec-
tion was over. It was during this time that there was
an anniversary convention of the Whigs at Rock
Island, to commemorate a treaty made with the Indians
by General Scott some twenty or twenty-one years
prior to this time, which was held on the lower point
of the island, where the stand for the speakers was
erected. I was invited to this convention by the citi-
zens of Rock Island and accepted the invitation,
and it was there I first met Governor Bebb, of Ohio.
We both spoke there to a great multitude of people.
It was there also I met a very wealthy man of the
name of Le Glair; he wa> half Indian and half French,
and was the interpreter at that treaty between Gen.
Scott and the Indians. He was the owner of the Le
Clair House in Davenport, just across the river from
Rock Island, and a splendid hotel it was. I had a long
conversation with Le Clair, and he told me some very
amusing anecdotes of old Gov. Reynolds, who was
present at this treaty, which I have now forgotten,
over which I know I laughed heartily at the time of
their recital by Le Clair.
But as I have wandered far away from my friend
Archie Williams, I will return again to Quincy, where
he resided. There was a Whig convention held there
after my return to that place, at which I was one of
the speakers, and having learned that a low, dirty
loco-foco, who had by some inscrutable will of Provi-
dence got into the legislature when I was a member,
and who had also risen to be mayor of Quincy, had
ARCHIE WILLIAMS. 241
been going around the count}7 attacking my personal
character. I opened upon him in my speech and held
him up to the scorn and indignation of my auditors.
.His name was William Pitman, and the cowardly
wretch waylaid me as I was passing from the post-office
to my hotel, the Quincy House, having hid himself be-
hind a couple of goods boxes, being armed with a large
hickory cane, jumped out from his place of concealment
just as I passed, and commenced striking me with his
cane oyer my head, from behind. It is a wonder he
did not kill me, for I had nothing with which to defend
myself, with the exception of a small gold-headed
ebony cane. I turned upon him, however, and broke
as well as I could the force of his blows with my small
cane, which broke near up to my hand. I still pressed
on upon him, and fortunately for me, his cane broke
close up to his hand; but not until I had received
upon my head some eight or ten blows. I however
caught him by his hair, but being so much weakened
by the loss of blood and the concussion upon my
brain, I could not hold him, though 1 struck him sev-
eral blows in the face, and he finally pulled loose, and
without his hat, turned tail and ran like a turkey.
After I had <jot mv head dressed by a r>hvsician, whom
£5 u (/ I »/
my friends, Williams, Browning and Gen. Singleton
brought to me, I armed myself with a good revolver
furnished me by Gen. Singleton, and made straight for
his house, but he was not there. I went boldly into
his house and inquirei of the inmates where he was.
They told me he had left town a short time before. I
was determined if I had met him in his own parlor to
plaster its walls with his brains. He did not return
16
242 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
for several days, and when he did he took remarkably
good care to keep out of my way. * * * *
On this occasion Archie AYilliams acted the part of
a man and true friend. He sympathized with me to
the fullest extent, and I feel it my duty here to say
that an honester man and a more devoted and faithful '
friend never lived than Archie Williams.
I wish to say here in this connection, before my leav-
ing entirely the subject of this rencounter with Pit-
man, that after it had taken place about a dozen young
chivalric Whigs from St. Louis came to my rooms to
oifer their sympathies to me and express their admira-
tion for the gallant way in which I had acted on that
occasion, and oifered their services to hunt up my
assailant and take vengeance upon him, which I kindly
and politely declined; telling them that I felt myself
adequate to that task and did not wish to leave it in
the hands of another, although he might be a brother.
I learned from a female relative of mine, who \vas a
visitor at the house of Col. Richardson, that in two or
three days after the occurrence between Pitman and
myself, he came to Richardson's and entered the parlor
where she and Mrs. Richardson were sitting, there
being no others present, he evidently expecting sym-
pathy from Mrs. Richardson ; but he was sadly disap-
pointed, for the first words she addressed to him were:
^'Pitman, lam ashamed of you ; you have disgraced
•our party; you have acted the part of a coward and an
assassin; you waylaid Gen. Linder, armed with a great
hickory bludgeon, when he was wholly unaware of your
intention to attack him, and as soon as he had passed
you on the sidewalk you slipped out from your con-
ARCHIE WILLIAMS. 243
cealment and struck him with your bludgeon from
behind his back, and .when he turned upon you, com-
menced retreating, and finally fled in a most dastardly
manner, hatless and honorless; and as soon as you could
saddle your horse fled from the city of Quincy to escape
the punishment which your cowardly heart told you
he would inflict upon you; and if you have come here
for sympathy from me or Col. Richardson because we
are of the same politics as you are, I want you to under-
stand that you are mistaken, for we have no fellow-
feeling with such a craven coward as you are."
My relative told me he looked like he could sink
^through the floor, and without saying a word in reply,
he bowed to the two ladies and left the house.
I know not at this time whether Pitman is dead or
living. * * * I am a Uni versa! ist in my
religious creed, in which I may be wrong, but if I
were offered a seat in heaven by the side of Pitman I
am not sure that I would accept it.
I now take my final leave of my friend Archie Wil-
liams, who has long since gone to his last account;
and if I am right in my views of the mercies of God,
he is now walking the golden streets with Douglas
and Lincoln, where I expect at no distant day to join
them; and on the green and sunny banks of deliver-
ance, strike hands with the old friends about whom I
have written, and sit down with them and sing the
song of "Moses and the Lamb;" till which time I
O '
bid farewell to the memories of them all, and will now
turn my attention to another name.
244: LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
JAMES SOTGLETON.
jjHE next name that I shall introduce here is
that of my old friend General James Single-
ton, now of Adams county, Illinois, and I
believe a resident of the city of Quincy, where he
lives, as I have been informed recently, in a palatial
private residence, and dispenses his hospitalities to all
his old friends who call upon him, with the elegance
and munificence of a prince; and what is still better,
the cordiality of an old Virginia gentleman, in which
glorious old commonwealth he was born and educated
. until he came to man's estate. How old he was when
he came out to the Western country I know not.
The commencement of my personal acquaintance with
him dates back as far as 1840, and it may be a year
or so earlier. I served in the legislature with him
in the lower House one or two sessions, between 1846
and 1850. We did not always agree upon matters
which came before that body, but we were from the
commencement of our acquaintance up to the last time
we met, intimate and devoted friends. In 1852, he
lived in Brown county, I 'believe at the county seat,
through which I passed after leaving Quincy, and at
which I stopped with my female relative before al-
luded to, and there partook of General Singleton's
hospitality.
JAMES SINGLETON. 245
Gen. Singleton was a Whig of the Henry Clay
school. He was a man of unquestioned bravery,
and was descended from a race of brave men. I have
had it from men who knew the facts, that his father
whipped and killed a great black bear in the moun-
tains of Virginia in a fair stand-up fight, with no
weapon on his part other thau a butcher knife. This
may seem strange to those who know nothing about
the bear. But those who are acquainted with that
gentleman, know that when attacked by a man he will
rear himself upon his hind legs and box like a pugilist,
and woe be to the man who comes to close quarters
with bruin, and gets within his hug. But Mr. Sin-
gleton, the father of the subject of this sketch, knew
what an enemy he had to deal with, and so skillfully
conducted the combat, that after having several large
pieces of flesh bitten out of his body, he dispatched the
gentleman and went home with his skin and choice
bits of his flesh, upon which flesh he and his family
made a most delicious repast. My father, who was an
old bear-hunter, has often told me there was no meat
so delicious as bear-meat, and I have heard him say
that he has drank a pint of bear's oil in the form of
what we would call gravy, without turning his stom-
ach. When I was but a babe, some sixty-five years
ago, Kentucky was a perfect hunter's heaven, full of
deer, elk, bear and buffalo, beaver, otter, turkey and
many other kinds of game; and they made bacon of
the bear and cured his meat as we do that of the hog
at the present day.
General Singleton, with John J. Hardin, Stephen
A. Douglas and others, figured prominently in what
24:6 LINDER*S REMINISCENCES.
was called the Mormon war which occurred during the
administration of Governor Ford, when the Mormon
power, under Joe Smith, was located at Nauvoo, on
the Mississippi river, but which was happily settled
by a skillful negotiation with Joe Smith, conducted on
the part of the State by Stephen A. Douglas, and no
blood at that time was spilt.
After 1852, 1 met Gen. Singleton in Springfield, 111.,
during the session of the legislature, when neither
of us were members of that body. Since that time I
do not recollect to have met Gen. Singleton, but I
have learned from good authority that he went to
Washington City during our civil war, on the invita-
tion of President Lincoln, who sent him to Richmond
on a secret and confidential embassy, to feel the pulse
of the South, for the purpose of ascertaining if an
amicable arrangement could not be made, restoring
the Union and preventing further bloodshed. A bet-
ter man for that purpose could not have been sent.
Being a native of Virginia and having a large and
extensive acquaintance, and being also brave and popu-
lar with Yirginians, it might reasonably be expected
that if any man could effect an vthing with the South-
ern Confederacy it would be Gen. Singleton; but the
South were in no mood to listen to any terms of accom-
modation coming from or through whatever source
they might. So General Singleton returned to Wash-
ington City and reported to President Lincoln the
fruitlessness ot his embassy. The foregoing facts I
did not derive from Gen. Singleton, but got them
from other sources. If I am wrong in the character
of his visit to Richmond, he, when these memoirs meet
JAMES SINGLETON. 247
his eyes, can set me right. Taking what I have said
to be true, there is certainly nothing in it discreditable
to him, but his conduct was every way patriotic and
honorable.
There is little more I have here to say of Gen. Sin-
gleton, save that I have heard through a long series
of years, that he has made and spent some three or
four fortunes, and now is the owner of a splendid and
nnincumbered estate in Adams County, 111.; and I am
safe in saying that in all the vicissitudes through which
he has passed, he has not left a single blot or stain
upon his honesty or honor. He is a lawyer by profes-
sion and of decided talents and ability as such; but he
has figured more in the political than the legal arena.
If I have not done full justice to Gen. Singleton in
this sketch, it has not been for want of a warm and
ardent desire to do so; and it would grieve me to the
heart if a failure on my part in that respect should
disturb for a moment the long and cordial friendship
which has existed between us. I look back to the
intercourse and intimacy which has existed between
Gen. Singleton and myself for more than thirty-five
years, with as much pleasure as I do to my friendship,
and intercourse with any other man.
248 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
E. D. BAKER
SHALL now introduce to my readers the name
of Colonel E. D. Baker, of Springfield, Illi-
nois. He was elected to the lower House of
the legislature of Illinois, from Sangamon county, to
fill some vacancy that occurred by death or resignation,
and took his seat at the special or call session, whicli
occurred in the summer of 1837. At that time I was
not personally acquainted with Col. Baker; bat became
so in the fall of 1837, in Carrollton, at a term of the
Green county Circuit Court, at which term Judge
Stephen T. Logan, whose life I have already sketched,
and Col. Baker were in attendance ; and it M'as
arranged between the friends of these two gentlemen,
who were of the extreme Whio; and bank school, and
O *
the friends of Josiah Lamborn and myself, of the
opposite school, should debate the several questions —
a bank tariff, etc. — -then at issue between the two great
parties of the nation. The debate lasted for three or
four consecutive nights.
On a later occasion, when Col. Baker and myself were
both battling together in the Whig cause, at a conven-
tion held in Springfield, I made a speech at the State
House, which I think now, looking back at it from this
point, was the very best I ever made in my life; and
E. D. BAKER. 249
while I was addressing the vast assembly some ruffian
in the galleries flung at me a gross personal insult,
accompanied with a threat. Lincoln and Col. Baker,
who were both present, and warm personal and political
friends of mine, anticipating that I might be attacked
when I left the State House, came up upon the stand a
little before I concluded my speech and took their sta-
tion on each side of me, and when I was through, and,
after my audience had greeted me with three hearty
cheers, each took one of my arms, and Lincoln said
tome: " Lin der, Baker and I are apprehensive that
you may be attacked by some of those ruffians who
insulted you from the galleries, and we have come up
to escort you. to your hotel. We both think we can
do a little fighting, so we want you to walk between
us until we get you to your hotel; your quarrel is our
quarrel, and that of the great Whig party of this
nation, and your speech upon this occasion is the
greatest one that has been made by any of us, for
which we wish to honor, love and defend you."
This I consider no ordinary compliment corning
from Mr. Lincoln, for he was no flatterer, nor disposed
to bestow praise where it was undeserved. Col. Baker
heartily concurred in all he said, and between those
two glorious men I left the stand, and we marched
through our friends, out of the State House, who
trooped after us, evidently anticipating what Lincoln
and Baker had suggested to me, accompanying us to
my hotel; but the anticipations of my friends were
not realized, and after reaching my hotel, and receiv-
ing three more hearty cheers from the multitude, I
made my bow and retired to my room.
250 LINDER'S REMIJSISCESTCES.
Now, worthy reader, permit rne to say that this was
one of the proudest days of my life; not so much on
account of the applause paid me by the multitude as
on account of the devoted friendship shown by Lin-
coln and Baker. Dear friends, you both sleep in
bloody graves — one falling by a shot fired by a miser-
able assassin, and the other falling at Ball's Bluff,
pierced with many wounds, fighting in the cause of
ths Union. Your names and memory are embalmed
in the hearts of your countrymen, and to your memory
history will erect a more enduring monument than all
that stone or marble can do. My heart has, does and
will make a periodic pilgrimage to your graves as long
as my life shall last !
Col. Baker, or rather I should say Gen. Baker —for
that was the office he filled at the time of his death-
filled high places in the Federal Government previous
to his death at Ball's Bluff. He was Colonel, and com-
manded a regiment in the Mexican war under Gen.
Scott — the best disciplined and best trained regi-
ment in the whole army — and fought with hi in at the
battle of Cerro Gordo, and clear up through the Valley
of Mexico to the taking of the city of Mexico, the an-
cient city of the Montezumas. If I have not already
stated it in the sketch I have given of my friend Dick
Oglesby, I will here state what I believe is the fact:
that he, Oglesby, was a lieutenant in Col. Baker's
regiment. Col. Baker I think, after his return from
the Mexican war, was elected a member of Congress to
the House of Representatives from what -was known as
the Galena district of Illinois, when it was believed
that no Whig could be elected from that district. He
E. D. BAKER. 251
afterwards removed to the State of Oregon, and was
elected by the legislature of that State to the United
States Senate for six years. Had he continued in civil
life, and not sought military honors, he might have
been living to-day; but seeking that kind of fame, he
fell a victim to his ambition at Ball's Bluff.
Baker was one of the most eloquent men that I ever
heard speak to a public audience. About the time
when the question was being agitated before Congress,
whether we should extend our territorial limits as
against the British government in Oregon, he advoca-
ted that claim, and I heard him make a speech before
the lobby in Springfield while the legislature was in
session, in which he said " there was not an inch of
ground, however barren and sterile it might be — not
one inch of sandy desert — that he would consent to
yield to the arrogant and grasping pretensions ot
Great Britain." The Whig party did not unanimously
agree with him at that time, but how that is I cannot
say, for finally Mr. Benton, Senator from Missouri,
showed clearly in the body of which he was a mem-
ber, that our c'.aim did not extend beyond forty-nine
degrees north latitude, and upon that line the two
governments finally settled. One remark made by
Col. Baker in the speech to which I have before allu-
ded, which I have left out, was, he " would not con-
sent to give her an inch of sand that glittered in the
sunbeams, that did not clearly belong to her."
I must say that in this I agreed with Col. Baker.
I must here relate an anecdote which is 'told of Col.
Baker, going to show his great vanity, for all great
men are more or less vain, but I must confess I believe
252 LINDEK'S REMINISCENCES.
the anecdote a fiction. Col. Baker was born in Eng-
land and brought to this country when but a small
babe, and the story runs thus: After he had grown to
fame and distinction, he was found in the woods seated
on a log, crying and sobbing as though his heart would
break. A friend coming unawares upon 'him, said to
him: "My God! Baker, what is the matter? Have you
lost some dear friend ? " " No," said he, but I was born
in England and am not a native of the United States;
and looking over the Constitution I find that I am
forever excluded from being President of the United
States."
He was certainly a very vain man ; but he had a
right to be so. I have often noticed him after making
one of his finest efforts, go around the crowd to catch
what it might say of his speech. He had more of this
kind of vanity than any man I ever saw.
He was an excellent lawyer, and I have seen him go
into causes without any previous preparation, especially
cases in chancery, and after hearing the bill, answer
and depositions read, would pitch into the cause, and
a bystander who didn't know the facts, would have
supposed that he had been familiar with the case and
had studied it for months before.
At this point I bid my friend Baker farewell; and
as he has gone to the summer land, I trust I shall
meet him there, with all the rest of my dear departed
friends.
DANIEL "W. VOOKHEES. 253
DANIEL W. YOOEHEES.
1WILL here introduce the name of a man not
of our State, but who is almost one of us, for
he has practiced law up and down the Wabash
country, on both sides of that river, as well in Illinois
as in Indiana — I mean Dan. Voorhees, of Terre Haute,
Indiana. I have had great hesitation about giving a
sketch of his career, because I do not wish to re-publish
what has heretofore been published a thousand times
in reference to his political career, his speeches in
Congress and elsewhere.
Dan does not belong to Indiana alone, but he
belongs to the nation. He is emphatically a national
character. He has made speeches in Congress that
would do honor to a Burke, a Fox, or a Lord Chatham.
I have sat under his speeches many a time perfectly
entranced and bewitched by his eloquence. I really
think that I can in truth say that I never heard so fine
a speaker. I can't give my readers a better description
of Dan's eloquence than what the old Ranger, Gov.
Reynolds, said of Henry Clay. Being called upon by
us younger men (who knew that the old Ranger had
often heard Clay, Webster and Calhonn address the
Senate of the United States), to know what he thought
of Mr. Clay's eloquence, and to give us some idea of
25i- LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
it. "Well," said he, "gentlemen, fancy fifty fiddles
finely played, and all in full blast at the same time,
and you have only reached the half-way point to the
enchantment and charm produced by his voice and
eloquence." "But," said one of our number, " Gov.
Reynolds, you certainly overlooked Mr. Calhoun and
Daniel "Webster." " JSTo I haven't," said he; "I have
heard them all in their pride and power, and at the
summit of their fame, and I tell you, gentlemen, set
them beside Henry Clay, and measure them with him,
and they would strike him about the waistband of his
breeches." And so I think in reference to the modern
orators and speakers when compared with Daniel W.
Voorhees, for I am free to confess I would rather hear
him speak when under the proper inspiration than
listen to the finest band of music that ever filled the
air with its melodies.
There is not a man in Europe or America who ever
surpassed Dan Voorhees in the powers of elocution.
Now I don't want my readers to understand that I
mean to exalt Dan to the rank of a great statesman,
or philosopher; I only mean to say as a great jury
lawyer and popular declairner he has no equal — and
there I stop.
Dan is a convivial soul. He studied law under Ned
Hannegan — a fine school of eloquence it was. He is
still a young man, and had he not been somewhat
erratic in his political course, might have had a fair
chance to reach the Presidential chair; but such men
never reach the presidency. Who would not have
thought that such men as Mr. Clay, Webster or Cal-
houn, would have been elevated to the presidency,
DANIEL "W. YOOEHEES. 255
when such men as Pierce and Polk were elevated to
that position?
I am not writing this work to praise any man or
any party, but to deal out even-handed justice to all
men and all parties. I am sura that Dan Yoorhees,
with myself, has sympathies connected with the South.
I love the South and the Southern people; and though
I live in the cold and frozen regions of the north, yet
when summer dawns upon the South, my soul is in
the first leaves of her roses; and when they send forth
their fragrance, it is the poetry of my soul which God
in his omnipotence has planted in my heart.
There was a mass meeting at Covington, Ind., when-
Dan was running against a very small fellow by the
name of Wilson. I was invited by Ned Hannegan
and others to address that meeting. I accepted the
invitation. It was a meeting almost altogether got
up for me. Such was the great vanity of Dan Yoor-
hees, being himself a candidate for Congress, that he,
on the call of but a few friends, took the stand that
was intended for me, and commenced in his verbose
manner. At this point Hannegan and I reached the
stand. He, Hannegan. caught Dan by the sleeve and
pulled him back, and said: " "What in the h — 1 are you
doing? This was a meeting got up, not for you, but
for Gen. Linder." Dan wilted.
I don't relate this to the prejudice of Yoorhees —
neither he nor I have the qualities to make a president
of the United States. It is true I should like to see
Dan aJSeriator in Congress from Indiana, and I trust
the day will come when he will reach that honor. One
thing is certain, that there is not a man on earth who
256 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
charmed me more in his speeches than Dan Yoorhees.
lie looks the orator, acts the orator, and is the orator.
He is over six feet high — the finest physical form that
ever rose to address an audience. To say he was an
Adonis, is too mean and effeminate a phrase to express
the full idea I mean to convey, for he had all the
beauty and loveliness of woman combined-with the
strength and vigor of man. It is impossible to con-
ceive, by those who have never heard Dan Voorhees,
the force of his oratorical powers. Even Governor
Reynolds has not given a full idea of the powers of
oratory in his fifty-fiddle comparison of Mr. Clay, so
far as the eloquence of Dan Voorhees is concerned.
Dan was many years a member of the lower House
of Congress, and his speeches therein have made for
him a world-wide reputation and fame; and I trust
that nothing I have said will detract from his claims
to a higher place. Merciful God! What are the
claims or talents that shall entitle a man to the Presi-
dency of the United States? How long are we to be
governed by caucuses? When shall we cease to be
controlled by them? I think I see the dav coming'
«/ •/ CJ
when we shall be controlled by a venal power influ-
enced by money, that will not only control our elections
but our legislation. May God forbid such a result!
The present times show the most corrupt state of things
in political high places that has ever been known.
If Dan wishes to place himself on the record prop-
erly, he has got to shape his course anew. He has not
got to watch where the wind blows, but he must shape
his course to the point of the compass where the wind
ought to blow.
DANIEL "W. YOOEHEES. 257
Dan Yoorhees is still in active life — in the practice
of his profession, the law — and is sought for from
every quarter to defend criminals in the most danger-
ous class of cases; and also to prosecute where not
so employed.
Dan Yoorhees has a reputation that needs nothing
from rny pen to spread it wider than it is already
extended. He is a man so well known and so fully
appreciated that it would be supererogation to say
more than I have already said.
17
258 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
JOSIAH LAMBOEI^.
] DON'T know but that it would be better to
put no name in these memoirs save those that
have been bright and shining lights of honor
and integrity, yet I feel disposed to make one excep-
tion, and that is Josiah Lamborn, who was Attorney-
General of the State some eight or ten years after I
filled that office. I became acquainted witli him in
1836 and '37. He was attending the Supreme Court
at Vandalia during that session of the legislature.
He was a very remarkable man. Intellectually, I
know no man of his day who was his superior. He
was considered by all the lawyers who knew him as a
man of the tersest logic. He could see the point in a
case as clear as any lawyer I ever knew, and could elu-
cidate it as ably, never using a word too much or one
too few. He was exceedingly happy in his conceptions,
and always traveled the shortest route to reach his con-
clusions. He was a terror to his legal opponents, espe-
cially those diffusive, wordy lawyers who had more
words than arguments. I heard Judge Smith, of the
Supreme Court, say that he knew of no lawyer who
was his equal in strength and force of argument.
Lamborn was a native of Kentucky, born in "Wash-
ington county of that state. He had received a liberal
JOSIAH LAMBORN. 259
education and graduated either at Danville or Transyl-
vania University. He possessed high social qualities,
and his conversational powers were of the very highest
order, and when this is said I am sorry to say it is all I
can mention in his praise. He was wholly destitute of
principle, and shamelessly took bribes from criminals
prosecuted under his administration. I know myself
of his having dismissed forty or fifty indictments at the
Shelby ville Court, and openly displayed the money he
had received from defendants. He showed me a roll
of bills amounting to six or eight hundred dollars,
-which he acknowledged he had received from them —
the fruits of his maladministration of his office as Attor-
ney-General of the State. He grew worse and worse
towards the latter end of his life, and finally threw
himself entirely away, consorting with gamblers and
wasting his substance upon them. He gave him-
self up to intemperance, to the neglect of his wife
and child, whom he abandoned, and finally died mis-
erably at Whitehall, Green county, Ills.
It is painful to dwell upon a character like this; but
I introduce him for the purpose of holding him up as
a beacon-light and warning to the rising generation of
young lawyers, hoping that Illinois will never afford
another example of a man. of such shining and splen-
did talents associated with such utter depravity. I
leave him with his God, upon whose mercies we shall
all have to rely in the final settlement of our accounts;
and may the Lord have mercy upon his soul.
260 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
THEOPHILITS W. SMITH.
I have alhided to Judge Theophilus "W.
Smith in my last sketch, I will here intro-
duce him to my readers. He was on the
bench of the Supreme Court when I came to the State*
of Illinois. At the legislative .session of 1836 and
1837, to which I have so often alluded, he boarded at
the same private house with my wife and self, the
Supreme Court being then in session. Judge Smith
was a native of New York. He was a man of very
ardent temperament. He came to this State I think
when it was yet a territory. He was a co temporary
of old Governor Ninnian Edwards, and as far as I
gathered the history of their relations, they were rivals
and enemies, and had a terrible, personal rencounter
on one occasion, Judge Smith drawing a pistol on Gov.
Edwards; the latter snatched it out of his hand, and
struck Judge Smith a blow which broke his jaw, and
left upon his face a very ugly scar.
Judge Smith was esteemed by most of the lawyers
who practiced in the Supreme Court at that time, as
one of the most talented of the four judges who pre-
sided on that bench. He was very warmly attached
to me, and I very cordially reciprocated the attach-
ment. I had been a member of the legislature some
THEOPUILUS "W. SMITH. 261
two or three weeks before taking any active part in its
proceedings, when one night the judge asked me if I
would not like to be a great man. I told him I cer-
tainly would not object to be such. " Well," said he,
" I will put you on the high road to become such, if
you will follow my advice a:id instructions." "Well,"
said I, let me hear them, and if I see no objections I
will do so."
He then sat down and drew up a string of resolu-
tions calling for an investigation into the affairs of
the State Bank of Illinois, which he said was a most
rascally institution, which resorntions required them
to show how they had distributed their stock, and
poking a great many uncomfortable questions at them.
I introduced these resolutions, and they produced a
most excited debate, which lasted for some two or three
weeks. They fell like a bombshell in the House, and
at the end of that debate we carried the resolutions by
a large majority.
It was in that debate that I won most of my laurels
in the House of Representatives at that session, and
the popularity which made me Attorney-General of
the State. During all this debate Judge Smith stood
behind me, furnishing me with facts and arguments
and keeping me thoroughly posted.
He was a most invaluable friend of mine, and stood
by me in all my difficulties. Our intercourse was of
the most pleasant and agreeable kind. He visited me
and my family after we had removed to the city of
Alton. Our friendship continued to the last day of
his life.
His opinions as one of the Supreme Judges of the
262 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
State, occupy a considerable portion of Scammon's
Reports, and I think will compare favorably for abil-
ity, with those of any of our Supreme Judges since
the foundation of that Court.
I do not remember the year when he died, but it
has been a considerable time since.
Judge Smith wTas the father-in-law of the late Judge
Jesse B. Thomas, and grandfather to the present Rev.
Jesse B. Thomas, one of the most distinguished and
devout Baptist preachers in the city of Chicago. He
was also father-in-law to our wealthy fellow citizen,
Dr. Boone.
He was a man of. eminently social qualities — devoted
to his friends and bitter toward his enemies. In his
early life he was a sailor, and had been in all the ports
of the civilized world. Knowing that he had been a
considerable ladies' man, I once asked him what nation
had produced the most virtuous women. He answered
without hesitation, " Ireland, sir." He gave me many
interesting descriptions of the people of the different
ports where he had visited. I have passed many
agreeable hours in Judge Smith's society.
I have understood that General Semple courted one
of his daughters, who gave him the mitten, which
made him a bitter enemy of Judge Smith's for life.
I will relate a little circumstance that I heard from
the lawyers who practiced before Judge Smith when
he was Circuit Judge. It happened at Hillsbovongh.
Gen. Semple and another lawyer, who were trying a
case in Smith's court, got into a fight; and Smith, not
having much love or respect for either of them, ordered
the sheriff to adjourn court for an hour, and got up
TIIEOPHILUS W. SMITH. 263
and deliberately went out of tlie court Louse, and left
them fighting, Sample chasing his antagonist, John
S. Great-house, a small man, around a table. Some
lawyer stepped up to Judge Smith, and asked him
why he had not fined them. Smith answered that it
was a case for the justice's court, and that his court,
did not take cognizance of so small offenders.
Judge Smith delivered the opinion of the Supreme
Court in the case of Beaubien against the United
States, involving the title to the old Fort Dearborn
property in Chicago. The opinion was given in favor
of Beaubien. It was written out at considerable
length and with much ability. Beaubien had laid
out the ground into town lots, and had made deeds of
gift to the different children of the Judges of the
Supreme Court, of a considerable number of these
lots. The court then consisted of Wilson, Brown,
Lockwood and Smith. Wilson and Lockwood had too
much modesty to sit in the case, inasmuch as their
children were interested parties, but Smith and Brown
had no such scruples. The case went up to the
Supreme Court of the United States, where the opin-
ion of our State Court was reversed. I -understand
however that Beaubien finally compromised with the
United States, and the Government gave him a hand-
some portion of this property.
Judge Smith was widely known to the lawyers of
this State, and by most of them regarded as the most
talented member of the bench. Of that, however, L
have my doubts.
264 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
SAMUEL D. LOOKWOOD.
1UDGE SAMUEL D. LOCKWOOD will be
the next name I shall take up. He was a
member of the Supreme Court of Illinois
when I came to the State, and continued to be such for
many years. He had been Attorney-General prior
to that time. He was a sound lawyer, a scholar, a
gentleman, and an honest man. He lived to an ex-
treme old age, and died a year or so ago at Batavia, 111.
All lawyers should feel great reverence and venera-
. tion for his name, for he was an ornament to the
court and bar. He was brought up and educated in.
the State of New York. I met him during the civil
war, when I was making speeches to raise troops to fill
the ranks of our gallant volunteers. The old man
seemed delighted at finding me engaged in this
patriotic work.
Judge Lockwood was not an exceedingly ambitious
man. He pursued the even and noiseless tenor of his
way, making no enemies, but a host of friends. He
was a religious man, and was respected by all who
knew him. His opinions, which will be found in our
earlier reports, are not lengthy, but they are pithy and
to the point, and there is not one of them which is
not good lawr at this day. No man belonging to the
judiciary and bar is better entitled to a place in these
SAMUEL T>. LOCKWOOD.
265
memoirs than Judge Lockwood. He is well worthy
the imitation of all the younger members of the bar,
for he lived and died with clean hands, and left a
name and character without spot or blemish. Judge
Lockwood, I bid you adieu.
266 LINDEE'S REMINISCENCES.
B. WEBB.
ORTTIY reader, I will introduce to yon a
name for which I feel the profoundest respect
— Edwin B. Webb, of Carmi, White county,
Illinois, commonly known amongst us lawyers as "Bat.
' Webb." He was one of the members of the legisla-
ture in 1836 and '37.
He was a small man, but of elegant and courtly
manners, rather aristocratic, being descended from a
good old Virginia family. He himself was born in
Fayette county, Kentucky. He was decently educated,
and for our day and time was what might be called a
first-class lawyer. He Was a son of George Webb, who
was a compeer of Henry Clay's.
There lived in Carmi during the years I practiced
law in that county, a coterie of elegant gentlemen,
with their families, composed of Judge Wilson, Col.
Davidson, Sam. Ready, the Hon. John M. Robinson,
Geo. Webb, and the subject of this sketch, who invar-
iably flung open their doors to the judge and bar dur-.
ing our sojourn there at the various terms of the court;
and they always extended to us a bright and elegant
hospitality, and none of them dispensed it more cor-
dially or made his guests more welcome than the sub-
ject of this sketch — Edwin B. Webb.
EDWIN B. WEBB. 267
My acquaintance with him was long, and our friend-
ship and attachment warm to the last day of his life.
I hardly ever knew a man of more refined and elegant
manners than my old friend, Bat. Webb.
He was at one time run for governor of this State
by the Whig party, but failed to secure the election.
He was the very pink of honesty and honor. I never
knew him to do a mean action, or to utter a low or
mean sentiment. He always came into court with his
cases well prepared, and occasionally when excited
he could become really eloquent, and he was always
argumentative. He understood the science of plead-
ing well, as all his brother lawyers who knew him can
testify. He was always good natured, kind and gen-
tlemanly. He was a devoted friend to Abraham Lin-
coln, which friendship Lincoln returned with interest.
He was a staunch Whig, and had an utter detestation
for demagogues.
I have understood that Bat. suffered much in his
last illness. He died of what physicians call gastritis.
He was not an old man at the time of his demise; wTas
a widower, and left one child. And I wish here to
say in conclusion, that no man has ever left a brighter
name or more spotless reputation; no man ever died
having fewer enemies or more friends.
268 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
JOHN M.
1HE next name which I shall introduce to the
reader is that of John M. Robinson, the broth-
er-in-law of Edwin B. Webb, the last gentle-
man about whom I have written. He was Senator in
Congress from this State when I came here, and he
served some eleven or twelve years in that capacity.
My acquaintance witli Mr. Robinson commenced some
eight or ten years after my advent to this State. He
and Mr. Webb married two sisters, the daughters of
old man Radcliffe, the clerk of the Circuit Court of
White county, and the proprietor of the hotel where
we all stopped — a large and spacious brick house, too
large indeed for a town no larger than Carmi. He
was an old Kentuckian, and generally bored with a
tolerably big auger.
John M. Robinson was one of the finest looking
men I ever saw — over six feet high, and intellectually,
and every other way, one of the noblest specimens of
the genus homo.
He conceived a warm attachment and admiration
for me at our first acquaintance, which I fully returned.
No man with whom I ever became acquainted ever
excited in my breast a warmer love and friendship.
After he left Congress he did not resume his prac-
JOHN M. ROBINSON. 269
tice on his old circuit, which was the one in which I
practiced the greater part of my life; to which my
memory now turns with a fondness equal to that of
some exiled Irishman to his green and emerald isle.
Although General Robinson did not resume his prac-
tice after his return home, yet he traveled around the
circuit with the judge and us lawyers for the purpose
of seeing his old friends whom death had not snatched
u.vay; and he resorted to a very ingenious method of
getting to see them. He got the State's Attorney to
have subposnas issued and served upon them by the
Sheriif to appear as witnesses before the grand jury;
they came, as a matter of course, and were not a
little amazed to find that their testimony was not
needed, but that their old friend Robinson had
brought them there, that he might once more take
them by the hand and renew the recollections of past
years; and none of them were offended at this, for
no one ever knew General Robinson that did not love
him. It was actually an interesting spectacle to see
him and his old friends meet. What a glorious thing
it is for a man to have lived such a life and to have
so impressed himself upon his acquaintances as Gen-
eral Robinson had, and after many years of separation
to meet them, and to be taken to their hearts" and
bosoms. I have actually seen his old friends shed
tears of joy at meeting with him. Mrs. Robinson, his
wife, a very handsome, refined and cultivated lady,
literally worshiped him, as well she might.
General Robinson never went back into political
life after leaving the Senate of the United States; but
after the legislature of 1842 reorganized our judicial
270 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
system, increasing the number of supreme judges from
four to nine, and assigning to each of them circuit
court duties, the legislature elected General Robin-
son one of those judges, and assigned him a northern
circuit, embracing Ottawa, in which to perform the
duties of a circuit court judge; and it is melancholy
to think that, he died on his first trip around that cir-
cuit, far away from his home, wife, children and home
friends, though he had the friendship and kind atten-
tion of the lawyers practicing before him on that cir-
cuit, and lacked for nothing that assiduous love and
friendship could procure. New friends attended him
in his illness, closed his eyes and consigned him to
his last resting place, and buried him with the most
distinguished honors.
O
John M. Robinson had some faults, but none of
them would bear the name of vices, for he was as pure
as thesnowflakes that fall from heaven, or the pure and
limpid mountain rivulet whose waters leap from rock
to rock, and run dancing in the sunbeams with whis-
pering melody, to the ocean.
General Robinson was a native of Kentucky, and
James F. Robinson, a brother of his, was a most dis-
tinguished and eminent lawyer, and at one time Gov-
ernor of Kentucky.
I know nothing more in reference to General Rob-
inson that ought to be here recorded. I trust that
when I am done with time and time's things, that I
may meet him again in another form of existence,
where pain, disease and poverty cannot reach us, and
where the " weary are at rest."
Dear reader, I have gathered up the names of my early
JOHN M. EOBINSON. 271
acquaintances in Southern Illinois, as far as I now can
recollect; but if there are any others that I have over-
looked that deserve a place here, 'and their names
should occur to me as I proceed with these reminiscen-
ces, I shall riot fail to go back and pick them up and
do full justice to their7 memories. Dear reader, if you
think that the writing up of these recollections is a
pleasant undertaking, when }rou are my age go to the
graveyard and read from the tombstones there the
names of your departed friends, and then you will know
something of the feelings that I have in reviewing the
past. It is true that it is pleasant to me to embalm
and commemorate the virtues of my friends, but oh,
how sad to reflect that they are gone, and gone for-
ever! 'As Job has said : " Man that is born of a woman
is of few days and full of trouble. He cometh forth
like a flower, and is cut down; he fleeth also as a
shadow, and continueth not." My readers will know,
and I trust will appreciate, the fact that these memoirs
are not written particularly to catch the eyes of the
living, for most of those of whom I have written have
O1
passed away from earth forever.
272 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
"WM. H. DAYIDSOK
HE next name which I propose to take up is
Wm. H. Davidson, an old and departed friend,
the brother to Mrs. Wilson, the wife of Chief
Justice Win. Wilson. As I have before said, he lived
in Carmi. He was a Virginian by birth, and was in
the legislature of 1836 and '37; a member of the Sen-
ate from the White county senatorial district, and was
elected speaker of that body over John D. Whiteside,
of Monroe county, Illinois, the lieutenant-governor
having died or resigned.
I think that Davidson was the handsomest man I
ever saw — a perfect gentleman of the old Virginia
school — refined, cultivated and wealthy. He was bred
to the law but became a merchant, and prospered as
such. He and his excellent lady dispensed the hospi-
talities of their elegant home in a manner which
charmed and warmed the hearts of their guests, of
which hospitality I have often partaken when attend-
ing court at Carmi.
I have nothing very particular to record of David-
son except that he was widely and favorably known
throughout the State of Illinois. He made a fortune
in the retail business, and with a capital of some fifty
thousand dollars in cash, he removed from Carmi to
WILLIAM II. DAVIDSON.
Louisville, Ky., where he embarked his whole capital
in the wholesale mercantile business, and after having
prospered and added greatly to his fortune, he finally
died there.
I have often met Colonel Davidson at Springfield,
Illinois. We were warm personal friends, and I am
happy to have the opportunity of speaking of his hos-
pitality, urbanity and gentlemanly qualities in these
mv humble memoirs.
18
274 LINDEK'S REMINISCENCES.
OLIVER L. DAYIS.
TIE next name that I shall introduce will be
that of a living man — Judge Oliver L. Davis,
of Danville, Illinois, who is now the worthy
judge in that judicial district. Judge Davis is a na-
tive of New York, but he studied law in Danville,
under Judge Samuel McRoberts. I have known him
for a long time. We served in the legislature together
in 1846, in the House of Representatives. As I have
before stated, he was associated with Lincoln and my-
self in the great slander suit of Fithian against Cassi-
day; in fact, he was the first counsel employed, and
brought the suit.
He has been twice elected circuit judge. He is a
profound lawyer, a prompt and most excellent judge.
I have not very much to say about Judge Davis, but
what little I have is good. He has built up for him-
self a name and fame in theWabash country of a very
creditable and enviable character.
Judge Davis is but little if any past the prime of
life, and possessing a vigorous constitution and being
a man of good habits, bids fair to yet live many years,
and to attain to honors higher than any he has yet
reached. He has the reputation of being an honest
and trustworthy man and lawyer — a reputation which
OLIVER L. DAVIS. 275
he well merits. He was a candidate for Supreme
Judge at one time, and defeated, which I think was
unjust, believing as I do that he was a man of much
higher legal attainments than his competitor.
Judge Davis has the well-deserved reputation of
being a kind, warm friend, a good neighbor and a
charitable man, and very kind to the younger mem-
bers of the bar who practice in his court.
I have no doubt that Judge Davis deserves a much
fuller notice than I have been able to give him, for the
reason that I have mainly lost sight of him for some
sixteen years or more; but some future chronicler will
do him full justice, and fill up the meagre skeleton of
mine. In conclusion I wish to say that I have the
highest respect, warmest regard and utmost friendship
for his Honor, Oliver L. Davis.
276 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
ADAM W. SHYDER
|EAI)ER, I shall next present to yon the name
of a very distinguished man. I mean Adam
W. Snyder, of Belleville, Illinois. He died, I
think, in the year 1842. He was the nominee of the
Democratic party for Governor at the time of his
death, which occurred so short a time before the
election that there was not time to call another con-
vention. So the Democratic papers, by a sort of com-
mon consent, and the Democratic Central Committee,
presented the name of Thomas Ford, who was elected
over Duncan, as I have before stated, by a majority
of 8,313.
My acquaintance with Adam Snyder commenced in
1837, at the Belleville Circuit Court, St. Clair county,
Illinois. He was a most elegant gentleman, and was
the only man that ever beat old Governor Reynolds
for Congress, to which position he had been elected
some two or three times before I made his acquaintance
at Belleville. The reader will remember that at that
time I was Attorney-General of the State, and it was
upon that occasion, as I have before stated, that Snyder
placed under my quasi-guardianship our friend Gus-
tavus ICoerner, and if I remember now correctly, Sny-
der traveled with us on the circuit as far down as old
Kaskaskia. Our social intercourse was of the most
ADAM W. SNYDEK. 277.
intimate and delightful character. I never knew a
man possessing higher colloquial and conversational
powers. He was never at a loss for a word or idea.
Besides being a ripe English scholar, he spoke the
French and German languages with equal fluency, as
he did that of his own native vernacular. From Belle-
ville down to Kaskaskia there were a vast number of
French and Germans. Snyder told me of a very
amusing occurrence which took place between him
and a St. Louis la er, who came over to St Clair
county to try a case of the right of property. He
told me that about one-half the jury were French, and
nearly the other half Germans. There were perhaps
two or three native Americans on the jury. He said
after he had addressed the jury in the English language
sufficiently, as he thought, to satisfy the Americans
that were on the jury, he then for about half an hour
addressed them, in French, and then for another halt
hour in German. His opponent, who could neither
speak nor understand a word of either French or
German, kept all the while objecting to that mode of
argument. He tried to have Snyder stopped, but he
went on to the end of his speech, " and at the end of
my speech," said Suyder, " he begged me to translate
into English what I had said to the jury in German
and French. I told him I would gladly do so, but
was pressed for time, and politely declined to accom-
modate him. There is no need of telling you, Linder,
that I beat him."
I never enjoyed a richer treat than the society and
conversation of Adam Snyder. He was the nephew
of old Governor Snyder, of Pennsylvania. The two
278 LINDEE'S REMINISCENCES.
or three terms that he served in Congress after having
beaten old Governor Reynolds, he gained considerable
distinction by his speeches in the House of Represen-
tatives. It was through his influence in 1840-41, he
being a member of the Illinois Senate, that the judicial
system was revised and five additional Supreme Judges
added to their number.
Had Snyder lived he certainly would have been Gov-
ernor beyond all doubt, for he was decidedly the most
popular Democrat in the State of Illinois.
I do not know what notice Governor Ford has taken
of Adam Sn}7der in his history of Illinois. I would
gladly devote a larger space to him in these memoirs
if I was able to do so, but our personal acquaintance
was of short duration, and my knowledge of him other-
wise not very extensive.
I will say here that his son, the Hon. Wm. Snyder,
is judge of the Circuit Court, including Belleville, St.
Clair county, Illinois. He has inherited largely his
father's genius and talents, and may he long live and
prosper and hand down the name of Snyder to future
generations.
I will now take my leave of my old friend Adam
Synder.
"W". EDWARDS. 270
W. EDWARDS.
! INI AN W. EDWARDS shall have the next
place in these recollections. He was the son
of old Governor Ninian Edwards, to whom I
have already alluded in writing of my old friend Win.
Kinney, of Belleville, Illinois. Ninian W. Edwards
the younger, was the brother-in-law of our late lamented
and departed President of the United States, Abraham
Lincoln, each of whom married a Miss Todd, sisters,
who belonged to one of the first families of Kentucky.
He was one of the members of the lower House of
tlie Illinois Legislature of 1836 and 1837, to which I
have so often referred. He was from Sanjnimon
O
county, and was one of those called the " long nine,"
Sangamon having nine representatives in that body,
not one of whom but was over six feet in height.
Xinian was a man of very respectable abilities, and
was well posted in parliamentary law. His manners
and deportment were not calculated to win friends
amongst his equals and superiors, and of the latter
class there were many in that body. While he was.
not a bad man, and I should say rather an honest,,
good man, yet he had inherited from his father so much
vanity and egotism, that it made him offensive to most
of his acquaintances. He was never partial to me, but.
280 LINDEK'S BEMINISCENCES.
I have always thought he was envious of me; and to
be candid and frank, I wish my readers to understand
I was never very fond of him.
He has filled several very respectable offices in the
State of Illinois, particularly in our educational depart-
ment, and I have never heard anything of him in
reference to the discharge of his official duties that
would tend to impugn his honor or honesty. I have
given him a place here because he was a member of
that old legislative body at Vandalia in 1836 and 1837,
of which Lincoln, Douglas, Archie Williams, Gen.
Shields, and a host of other men who have climbed to
the topmost round in the ladder of fame, were mem-
bers, of which body I was one of the humblest.
I have had another reason for giving him a place in
these memoirs. He was connected by consanguinity
with families that I ad mired and loved — the Popes and
the Helms. Perhaps no man in America surpassed
his father in genius and talents. He was at one time,
as I have said before, I believe, Chief Justice of the
Court of Appeals of Kentucky, and some of his opin-
ions, to be found in the earlier reports of Hardin and
Bibb, will compare favorably with the opinions of
Mansfield and Holt of England.
Ninian W. Edwards the younger was naturally and
constitutionally an aristocrat, and he hated democracy
when I first knew him, as the devil is said to hate holy
water. He was then a flaming protectionist, and for
a high tariff, but finally became a free-trade man, and
published a good many articles in the papers in favor
of free-trade.
At the time of this revolution in his political senti-
"W. EDWAEDS. 281
ments, the democratic and low tariff men were largely
in the ascendancy, and I have always thought that
Ninian had fixed his longing eyes upon some high and
lucrative position in the National Government that
would compensate him for all his failures while he
had been a Whig and high tariff man. In this I may
have done him injustice. Men have changed their
politics time and again from the highest down to the
lowest stations. Mr. Clay in 1811 was an anti-bank
man, and at that time made the finest speech of his
life against a National bank. He contended that the
Constitution of the United States conferred no power
upon Congress to charter such an institution ; but in
1816 Mr. Clay changed his opinions, and supported a
law chartering a bank of the United States. Mr.
"Webster, who opposed a protective tariff in 1824,
finally became the great champion of protection. I
admit that I, myself, an original Democrat, changed
my political views in 1838 or '9, and became a Whig,
and remained so until that party was merged in the
Abolition party of the North. I accord to my friend
Ninian W. Edwards all the rights and privileges I
claim for myself, and I now take my leave of him ; and
as he is still living, if these pages should meet his eye,
I wish him not to suppose that I have any malice in
my heart against him.
282 LINDEK'S REMINISCENCES.
OHAELES H. CONSTABLE.
HE next name that I propose to present to my
readers is not a man of southern, but I might
say of middle Illinois; I mean the late Judge
Charles H. Constable, of Clark count}', Illinois. I
have already alluded to him in the sketch of Judge
Anthony Thornton, of Shelbyville, Illinois. I think
it was in 1839 or '40, I became acquainted with him
and Anthony Thornton. It may have been later, but
I am drawing entirely upon my memory — having
never kept a diary or journal, my readers must par-
don an old man of the age of 67 years for any inac-
curacy of dates.
Mr. Constable was a native of Maryland. He came
to Illinois when quite a }Toung man, and as I have
before said, was one of the handsomest men I ever
saw. I do not think he was a man of the most pre-
eminent abilities, as very handsome or pretty men
hardly ever are, but he was a man of fine culture and
elegant manners, and was very popular in the localities
where he lived; his popularity, however, never extend-
ing to the limits of a Congressional District.
He was really a good lawyer, both at common law and
in equity, and prepared his cases with great care and
accuracy. He wrote a most beautiful and legible
hand, was a good pleader, and after I left my old
CHARLES H. CONSTABLE.
circuit, lie was elevated to the office of circuit judge.
I came to Chicago in 1860, and had occasion to go
down to the Edgar Circuit Court after Constable had
been elected as judge of that circuit. I there met my
old friend Anthony Thornton, and I asked him what
kind of a judge Mr. Constable made. " Sir," said he'
"he is the finest circuit court judge I think I ever
saw; makes up most of his records himself, not trust-
ing his clerks to do so."
He departed this life some years ago, and the manner
of that departure I shall not dwell upon. It was sad,
but not dishonorable; and I do not believe that he
left a single stain, blemish or blot upon his reputation ;
and I now bid farewell to his memory.
284 LINDEK'S REMINISCENCES.
JOKN" BAIRD.
JSHALL now go back to Terre Haute and pick
up the name of a lawyer who is almost as
much of an Illinoisan as an Indianian— it is
Colonel John Baird. I knew him when a student at
law. He is now about fort j- eight years of age, and
was born, I think, in Yigo county, Indiana. He is
unquestionably one of the finest lawyers in that State.
He has practiced iu Illinois nearly as much as he has
in his native State, particularly in the counties of Clark,
Edgar, Coles and Yermillion. He has also practiced
extensively in Indiana, and particularly in the Supreme
and Federal Courts of that State. I have often been
associated with him in important cases in the Terre
Haute Circuit Court, and I never had a more pleasant
and able associate.
He enlisted in the civil- war and was elected Col-
onel of* one of the Indiana regiments. He was taken
prisoner at a very early period of the war and was
confined in Libby prison, Richmond, Ya. All the
reports that we had of him while in the service, spoke
of him as one of the " bravest of the brave," and if
he had any fault it was being too rash and desperate.
He was one of our most knightly colonels, and won
unfading laurels in some of the bloodiest engagements
JOHN BAIKD. 285
of the civil war. He was finally exchanged, came
home and did not again return to the war; and from
that time to this has continued to practice his profes-
sion with great success, in partnership with General
Charles Krum, another one of our brave and gallant
Northern soldiers.
I have nothing more particular to say of Colonel
John Baird, but I could not omit him from these
memoirs without doing great injustice to my own feel-
ings, our acquaintance and friendship having been of
long standing and of the most intimate character.
He was as generous as a prince, and there was not a
particle of avarice or meanness in his composition, of
which I have more than once received the most sub-
stantial proofs. He would divide his last dollar with
a friend, and was benevolent and charitable almost to
a fault, being sometimes too indiscriminate in the
objects thereof. No needy man or woman was ever
sent away empty from his door; and whatever may
be the Colonel's faults, they are greatly overbalanced
by his virtues, and I sincerely wish that our profession
and the world had more such men. I know of but one
man with whom to compare him as a lawyer, and that
is our own Judge John Scholfield, of Illinois, of whom
I have heretofore spoken in these memoirs. He
deserves a larger space here than I am able to give
him at this time, but some future chronicler will sup-
ply what I have left out, and do to the Colonel that
complete justice to which he is entitled.
286 LINDEK'S REMINISCENCES.
JOSEPH G. BOWMAK
I WILL now introduce the name of an old law-
yer friend whose name was Joseph G. Bowman.
I became acquainted with him on my first or
second trip around my Wabash circuit at Mt. Carmel,
where he then resided and practiced his profession.
He was a partner at that time and for some time sub-,
sequent with Col. O. B. Ficklin. I knew him after
he removed to Lawrenceville, in this State, and my
acquaintance with him is of many years' standing.' I
met him at every court in Lawrenceville, which 1
attended regularly twice a year. He finally purchased
the old Dubcris farm, situated a little above Yincennes,
and on the Illinois side of the "Wabash River, on a beau-
tiful eminence overlooking that old town and lovely
stream. He afterwards removed to Yincennes, In-
diana, where he finally came to his death by his own
hand in a most melancholy and tragic manner. He
had been afflicted for many years with rheumatism,
and suffered more perhaps than any man that ever
had that terrible and painful disease. He had resorted
to every means that eminent physicians could pre-
scribe, and had taken all their nostrums, with little or
no alleviation from the torture and pain he suffered.
To obtain relief from this terrible infliction he resorted
to morphine, and acquired thereby that miserable habit
JOSEPH Gr. BOWMAN. 287
from which but few have ever been able to escape;
but I have seen it from under his own hand that he
was cured of that habit by a Mr. Collins of LaPorte,
Indiana; but it seems his rheumatic pains never left
him, 'but grew worse and worse, until he could endure
them no longer; and one Sabbath day, while he and
his wife and another lady were sitting at dinner,
at his own table, he deliberately retired into the
kitchen, without their suspecting what he intended,
but they presently heard him fall arid groan. They
instantly arose and went to him, and found him dead
on the floor, with a butcher-knife piercing his left side
just above the lower rib, which had gone straight home
to his heart; and it was so tightly wedged between
his two ribs that the two ladies could not withdraw it.
There was but one way possible by which he could
have done the deed, and that was by placing the point
of the sharp knife at the place he supposed opposite to
his heart, and standing close to the wall with the
handle of the knife against it, pressing with all his
weight upon it until it entered and reached the center
and source of life. These latter particulars I obtained
from a relative of his wife, Mr. James Roberts, an
eminent and distinguished lawyer of Chicago, Illinois.
Mr. Bowman was something of a politician and
writer. He was a native of Virginia, and had received
a liberal and classical education. His conversational
powers were of a quiet but most agreeable and instruc-
tive character. It is due to him and his most excel-
lent lady, that I should here say, that they were two
of the most hospitable people I ever knew, and they
never failed during the terms of the Lawrenceville
288 LIKDER'S REMINISCENCES.
court to Lave the court and bar at their elegant man-
sion, to partake of their sumptuous dinners and sup-
pers; and on such occasions he and she dispensed their
hospitality in a way that now warms my heart and
makes my mouth water to think of. I ought to here
say that Mrs. Bowman was a woman of high culture
and refinement, and had been liberally educated, and
her conversational powers were hardly inferior to those
of my friend Joe.
At these times to which I now allude, Joe was not
suffering from rheumatism, having been visited there-
with at a later period of life; consequently, there was
nothing to interfere with his social and convivial
qualities, and never . have I enjoyed more pleasure
than to sit and hear him, in his quiet way, pour out
from the rich stores of his memory historical anec-
dotes that were not common-place or stale, but always
a little out of the reach of ordinary readers and stu-
dents. I have often thought that his colloquial powers
were not much inferior to those which Macauley is
said to have possessed. He had a splendid library,
both legal and miscellaneous, and his books were not
kept for mere show in his book-case. He was familiar
with all literature, and had trodden all the higher
walks thereof.
He was two or three times a member of the Illinois
Legislature during a portion of his life. Some six or
eight years before his death he had lived in Yincennes,
Indiana, where he practiced his profession, and was, as
I have understood, at one time Judge of one of their
courts of record, but whether it was the Circuit Court
or Court of Common Pleas I do not now remember.
JOSEPH G. BOWMAN. 289
While Bowman lived at Mt. Carrael he edited a
local paper there, and he did it exceedingly well. I
have seen some rich things from his pen written in the
style and imitation of Bible Chronicles, over which I
have had many a hearty laugh. lie could crack a
rich joke and tell a fine story, in which he was not
surpassed even by Mr. Lincoln himself.
He was a staunch Whig, and belonged to that party
from its original organization to its final demise. He
used while editing his paper to aim some of his good
humored shafts at me. I remember in one of his
Chronicles he took a fling at my old friend Zadock
Casey and myself, in which he respectively called us
" Usher the mighty " and "Zadock the high priest."
He represented us in Bible language as calling all the
tribes of Israel together, and after having given our
speeches he added: " And all the people cried aloud,
Amen!" . It was impossible to take offense at Joe's
humorous Chronicles and laughable epigrams.
Aye, dear reader, it is with pleasure that I go back
in memory to my acquaintance with Joe Bowman, and
with sorrow and sadness contemplate his melancholy
end. He was my devoted personal friend all the
years of our acquaintance, and as I have said in my
sketch of Colonel Baird, of that friendship I have had
many substantial proofs, which if I did not remember
I would be dead to all the instincts and sensibilities
of an honorable man, and I never shall forget them
while life lasts and memory endures.
I will here take leave of my friend Bowman, trust-
ing that we shall meet again in a higher and nobler
sphere of existence.
19
290 LINDEK'S REMINISCENCES.
P. USHER
| WILL now present to my readers the name of
John P. Usher, late of Terre Haute, Indiana,
but now of Leavenworth, Kansas. I knew
him from the time he first settled in Terre Haute.
He has a history somewhat like that of our distingu-
ished statesman, the late Abraham Lincoln, a portion
of which I gathered from his own mouth. He is a
native of the State of !New York. He was born in
the cold, wet, hemlock region of that State. His father
was a very poor man, and when John P. was but a
very small boy he hired him out to a neighbor of his
for three dollars a month. He told me that the first
work he was set to doing was carrying sugar-water, to
be boiled down and made into maple sugar. His
•employer had a large sugar orchard, and Usher told
•me that his employer worked him nearly to death,
and in a short time he ran away from him and went
'home. His father he said abused him on his return,
and told him he would never be good for anything in
"the world. Usher told his father he would show him
one of these days that there was more " come-out " in
him than he supposed. He went to school awhile, and
receiving a common English education, finally, at the
age of nineteen or twenty, studied law, and perhaps
JOHN P. USHER. 291
practiced a while in his native State, but ultimately
removed to the western country, and settled in Terre
Haute, Ind., where he practiced his profession with
great success, acquiring thereby a very handsome prop-
erty, when he married a Miss Patterson, the daughter
of old Captain Patterson, a Scotchman. She is the
sister of Judge Chambers Patterson, the present pre-
siding judge of the Circuit Court, including the
county of Vigo.
John P. Usher is a man of no ordinary talent. I
knew him personally and well. He practiced in our
courts and I in.his. We were frequently pitted against
each other in important causes.
When Mr. Lincoln got to be President, he nomi-
nated Caleb B. Smith his Secretary of the Interior, but
after Smith's death he gave the office to John P. Usher,
having taken a very active and potential part in Mr.
Lincoln's nomination. Mr. Lincoln had known him
long and well; and it has been said that John P.
Usher made a very able Secretary of the Interior.
When I first knew Usher he was a very handsome
man, possessed of fine form and features, but after
passing the age of forty he had grown quite corpulent,
though he was still by no means a homely man. I
know of but few better lawyers than John P. Usher.
I have been told upon good authority, that he is
worth several million dollars, most of which he acquired
while Secretary of the Interior by entering large
bodies of choice land along the line of the Union Paci-
fic Railroad, besides which he owns a large amount
of stock in that company. I am not sure but what at
one time he was president of that road, though I can-
292 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
not speak of that with any degree of certainty, but I
know that he filled some important office in that
company.
I do not know that I should have introduced the
name of John P. Usher into these memoirs, had it not
been for his having filled so important a place in Mr.
Lincoln's administration, and also from the knowledge
on my part that he was very highly esteemed by Mr.
Lincoln, and enjoyed his confidence in a very high
degree.
I have not written this work for the purpose of
unjustly extolling the memory of the cjead or flatter-
ing the living. I will therefore say, lest what 1 have
written of John P. Usher might be misconstrued, that
he was no particular favorite of mine. I always es-
teemed him a grasping, avaricious man, whose whole
soul was absorbed in the acquisition of money and
property, and if he was very scrupulous in the man-
ner of their acquisition, I have never heard any one
charge it as an offense against him. I want my
readers however to understand that at this time I
cherish no unkind feelings toward Mr. Usher, though
O / o
there have been times in our lives when the personal
,and professional relations between us were none of
the most pleasant or friendly. He has money and
property enough to buy his way through this world,
and cares but precious little for my friendship or that
of any one else. I here take my leave of John P.
Usher.
KICHAKD W. THOMPSON. 293
EIOHAED W. THOMPSON.
I SHALL now introduce the name of a man
that pleases me much better than the one I
have last written of. It is the name of Colo-
nel Richard W. Thompson, of Terre Haute/Indiana,
an old lawyer of considerable .distinction, and who
was for many years a Representative in Congress
from the Wabash district in Indiana. Colonel Thomp-
son is a man of National as well as State fame. While
a member of Congress he made many speeches and
reports which brought him to the favorable notice of
the press and the politicians. He was always a Whig,
and in the administrations of the various Whig Presi-
dents, from General Harrison up to General Taylor,
he took a prominent and distinguished part. While
Colonel Thompson was a member of Congress, or
since'his retirement from that body, he successfully
engineered the claim of one of our Western Indian
tribes through Congress or the Court of Claims, for
which this tribe created him the chief of their nation,
and he is to-day, though not living with his tribe, one
of the grand sachems or chiefs of an Indian nation.
Col. Thompson is to-day one of the oldest and most
distinguished living lawyers of Indiana. He rode the
circuit with such men as .Dewey, Sam Judah, John
Law, and others. I have listened for hours with the
294: LENDER'S REMINISCENCES.
most exquisite delight to tfce narrations by Col.
Thompson of the incidents that occurred on his old
circuit. His associates at the bar were men of rare
endowments, and their stories and jokes, given me by
Col. Thompson, have convulsed me v with laughter to
the splitting of my sides. I am sorry that I cannot
recall some of them witli which to brighten, adorn
and enliven these pages — such as would bear telling
and not be offensive to my delicate and modest read-
ers, for it must be confessed that, like some of Lin-
coln's stories, the jokes and repartees of our old law-
yers will hardly bear reading in a lady's parlor.
It is due to Colonel Thompson that I should say
here that although a Southern man, having been born
in the State of Virginia, he was a patriot in our
civil war, and took an active part on the Union side.
Mr. Lincoln created him a recruiting agent or officer
at Terre Haute for that military district, which office
he filled to the satisfaction of Mr. Lincoln and the
country at large. Col. Thompson is now, as I under-
stand, the lawyer of one or two railroads in Indiana
and Illinois, and has a very handsome salary, and in
the discharge of his duly to his clients, he shows as
much activity, industry and zeal as such members of
the profession do towards their clients.
Colonel Thompson is now not far, if any, from sev-
enty years of age. I have often met and contended
with Colonel Thompson at the Terre Haute bar, and
have also met him in my own State courts, and I
really think a finer advocate I never heard in my life.
He possessed a fluency and flow of language which
falls to the share of but few men in this world. He
BICHAKD "W. THOMPSON. 295
possessed a very fine voice, and was capable at all
times of rising to the very highest pitch of oratory.
He is a man of irreproachable character, and as a law-
yer and a statesman does not fall below any man in
the Northwest. He and I have always been warm
personal friends. The last time I saw him was just
after the last Presidential election, on my return from
Alton through Terre Haute, to my home in Chicago,
when and where I had a long and agreeable conversa-
tion with the Colonel at the office of my two friends,
Colonel John Baird and General Charles Krum, those
two gentlemen being present and participating therein.
I remember distinctly it was upon that occasion that
Col. Baird said, addressing himself to Colonel Thomp-
son and myself, " Colonel Thompson, you and General
Linder are the only two men now living that I know
of capable of writing a respectable historj7 of the In-
diana and Illinois bar, and you ought jointly to do so.
before Time snatches you both away, when the facts
which you possess will die with you, and there will be
none left to perform that work." I little thought at
that time that I would be now engaged in the Hercu-
lean labors into which I have embarked.
I want to say, before I leave the name of Colonel
Thompson, that he wrote a good many political theses,
which were published, if I remember correctly, in the
National Intelligencer at "Washington City.
Colonel Thompson's name is almost a household
word in Indiana and Eastern Illinois. The only thing
that I regret upon this occasion is that I cannot do,
more than half justice to the name, fame and public
services of Colonel Thompson. Did I possess the
296 LIKDER'S REMINISCENCES.
materials to do so, a sketch of his life alone would
make a book larger than these memoirs, but I have
had to draw from my memory, not particularly charged
witli such; I must forego the pleasure it would give
me to adorn these pages with a further and fuller
notice of a man whose name is bound to fill a very
large space in history.
In taking leave of Colonel Thompson's name. I
wish to say to my readers that I do not wish them to
judge of him alone from this meagre notice.
Colonel Thompson is a small man, that is to say,
considering him in an avoirdupois sense, but in height
I would say a little above the medium altitude. He
is a man of a very amiable and agreeable expression
of countenance. He is not one of that class of men
who repels you; he is eminently social and agreeable.
He is a man of excellent habits, and a member of the
Methodist church, but he is no bigot, and far from
being intolerant in his religious notions. He has the
reputation of being a man of great charity and benevo-
lence, to which I think, from what I know of him. he
is well entitled. I have understood from those who
know him better than I do, that he is one of the kind-
est of husbands and fathers and one of the best of
neighbors. I am sorry to part with him. It is
exceedingly pleasent to me to dwell upon such a char-
acter. I have had his bright, genial and beaming
countenance before me all the time I have been wri-
ting about him, but I am compelled now to say, Col.
Dick, for the present I bid you farewell.
SAMUEL JUDAH. 297
SAMUEL JUDAH.
1WILL introduce another name from Indiana.
He has gone to the land of spirits. It is the
name of Samuel Judah, of Vincennes, Indi-
ana. He was one of the oldest lawyers with whom I
was personally acquainted in the State of Indiana. I
don't know where he was born, but I know that
his father was a Jew, and that he himself was a Jew.
He was living at Vincennes, and had been for a long
time previous to the time I came through there, re-
moving from my native State, Kentucky, to Illinois.
This was, as I have often stated before, in the summer
of 1835. At that time Vincennes was a dilapidated,
rusty looking town. It is now a flourishing city, the
focus of several important railroads, and at one time,
was the home of General Wm. Henry Harrison.
The first time that I saw Sam Judah was in 1836 or
'7, at Lawrenceville, on my first trip around my cir-
4cuit. It is situated nine miles west of Vincennes, on
what was then called the old Vincennes and St. Louis
trail. He was there in attendance on the Circuit
Court, Judge Justin Harlan presiding. He was a
man below the medium height, rather bent and bowed
in form. He had a perfect Jewish face, with a sort of
hawk-bill nose, the lower point of which looked like it
was going to jump down his throat and leave him
298 LINDEK'S REMINISCENCES.
without that facial appendage. No man to look at
him would for a .moment have taken him to be the
man of talent that he really was. As a land lawyer I
don't know that I ever knew his equal. At this term
of the Lawrenceville court nothing occurred in refer-
ence to Sam Judah worthy of being here recorded; but
I afterwards met him at that court at every term
thereof, and he seemed to have contracted a hatred and
particular dislike for me, which was most cordially
returned on my part, and that with compound interest
and usury. He had no relish for any man who spoke
well, he himself, although a good lawyer, being a dry
and indifferent speaker, with a voice which reminded
me of the squealing of a pig more than the voice of
man. It certainly did not come up to the music of a
dog " that bays deep-mouthed welcome as we draw
near home," which Byron says is one of the things
sweet to hear.
Judah had some peculiarities in character and tem-
perament. One was that he would cry like a whipped
child when attacked in court or the legislature by
an opponent who could castigate and paint him as he
deserved. On one occasion in Lawrenceville, he was
engaged in a slander suit. After he had made the last
speech and court adjourned for dinner, as we were,
going thereto, some of the lawyers, knowing my dis-
like for Judah, asked me what I thought of his speech.
"Oh," said I, " it was very good; but it put me in a
paroxysm of pain, for it reminded me more of the
squealing of a pig that somebody was screwing bv the
tail than the voice of a mortal man." lie turned to
me and said in a whimpering half-cry, " D — n you,
SAMUEL JTTDAH. 299
I'll pay yon for that remark one of these days." After
we had taken dinner and returned to court, the jury
were ready to deliver their verdict. Judah was on tip-
toe to hear it; and when it was delivered, it appeared
they had found a verdict of five hundred dollars in
damages in favor of Judah's client.
That was a big verdict in those days and in that local-
ity. Judah was almost ready to burst with exultation.
I was sitting close by him, and he turned to me with
a triumphant and sneering look and said: "Wasn't
that pretty good squealing, d — n you?" which was
heard by everybody present, when the judge, bar and
myself burst out into the most obstreperous laughter.
Judah was a very vain man. On one occasion, when
I was at Yincennes, some of my friends there asked
me if Judah had taken me to see his portrait. I told
them that he had not. " Well," said they, "he will
be sure to do so, for he takes everybody, both friend
and foe, to see it. It has but recently been painted,
and is still at the artist's."
In a short time I met with Judah, and after shaking
hands with him, he seeming more friendly than usual,
invited me to go with him and look at his portrait,
saying that he wished to know my opinion, whether
or not it was a good one. I went with him to the
artist's studio, and he asked the artist to show it to me.
It was standing against the wall with the painted side
towards it. The artist went and turned it round with
the face towards us, the top of the picture leaning
against the wall. He had scarcely done so when a
great big, shaggy, ill-favored cur dog came rushing
through the door, which Judah and I had left ajar, and
300 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
went straight for the picture, and before we could stop
him he was in front of the portrait and with one hind
leg hoisted did what the reader may imagine without
ray naming it in so many words. Judah went for him
with a vengeance, screaming and squealing and crying
at the top of his voice: " Get out! get out! get out!
You d — d son of a bitch." " Sir," said I, turning to
the artist, "you have just had the finest compliment
paid to your skill that was ever bestowed upon mortal
man, for the very dogs recognize the exact resemblance
of your picture to Mr. Judah; otherwise his dogship,
which has just left us, would not have baptized it in
the manner he did."
"Why, sir," said the painter, "you certainly don't
mean to say that the dogs are in the habit ot treatin-
the original as that impudent fellow just treated his
picture ?"
" Oh, no," said I, " by no means," speaking in an
ironical tone.
" Oh, yes you do, d n you." said Judah; " and
I am sorry I brought you to look at it; " and he actu-
ally cried like a child, and the tears ran down his
cheeks. I was sorry for what I had said, for it was
really not said in malice, but to have a little fun and
sport with Judah. I begged his pardon, took him by
the arm and led him off to my hotel, where we soon
washed down the remembrance of what I had said,
and what the dog had done to his portrait. But the
story soon got out, and every wag and wit rang the
changes upon it from Lawrenceville to Viucennes, and
from Yincennes to Terre Haute.
Judah was once speaker of the House of Represent-
SAMUEL JTJDAH.
301
atives in the legislature of Indiana, and I have under-
stood, made a very good one. He has been dead
several years. He died at a very advanced age.
I have bestowed enough space on Samuel Judah,
and although, as I have said, I was not partial or fond
of the man, yet I did respect his talents, and I now
revere his memory as one of the greatest lawyers in
the Northwest.
302 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
JOHN M. WILSON.
IOME of my friends have advised trie to say
nothing in these memoirs of the living men
or lawyers in Chicago, and assigned the follow-
ing reason why I should not do so: That inasmuch as
I could not put them all in my book, those who would
be left out would be greatly incensed and offended, and
would attack the work and make it unpopular. I have
reflected deeply upon this subject, and have come to
the conclusion that in this instance I shall depart from
the advice of my friends. If I have any weakness
more than another, it is that of sacrificing my own
opinions to those of my friends. I do not feel that it
is right to wait until a man dies before he receives the
justice and the full measure of applause to which lie is
entitled. Most of the men whom I intend to intro-
duce bid fair to outlive me many years, and when I am
dead and gone, where shall be found so luminous a pen
as mine to make up their record and emblazon the
pages of history with their virtues! Therefore I have
resolved to write them up so far as the materials in
my possession will enable me to do so; and the first
name I shall introduce and present to my readers and
posterity, if this humble work should travel so far, is
that of our respected, eminent, talented and learned
JOHN M. WILSON. 303
fellow-citizen, John M. Wilson, who was late one of
our judges of the Superior Court of Cook county.
He was on the bench when I came to Chicago in
1860. Judge Wilson is a native of one of the New Eng-
land States, and as he has informed me, when he grad-
uated and left college he was in low and feeble health,
and was advised by his physicians to go to a warmer
climate; and they, also advised him not to travel by
the then most usual mode of conveyance — the old lum-
bering four-horse stage — but to travel on foot; which
lie did, walking, as his strength would permit, from
New England to Georgia, where he taught school,
initiating the sons of wealthy gentlemen and planters
into the secrets and beauties of classical literature,
making them familiar with Homer, Horace, Virgil arid
Caesar, thus preparing them to enter college. He
taught there for several years, and he has told me him-
self, that although when he went there he was greatly
prejudiced against slavery and slave-holders, he was
never treated with greater kindness and hospitality
than that which he received from Southern gentlemen
and their families.
With his health perfectly restored, he returned to
New England, studied law, and after the completion
of his studies, came to the West and located himself
at Joliet. He was a ripe scholar and an excellent
lawyer, and from the very first took his place at the
head of the bar, and from that day until the end of
his legal career he stood in the front ranks of his pro-
fession.
During his residence in Joliet he formed a legal
partnership with Elisha Fellows, an eminent lawyer
304: LIKDER'S REMINISCENCES.
of that place, still living; and it was during this
period that Miller, the great apostle of the Second
Advent of the Savior announced to the world that on
a certain day in the year 1843, I think it was, the
Lord would make his appearance, and receive his
saints up in the sky, at which time the wicked and
their works were to be burnt up. This he proved to
the perfect satisfaction of all his followers, from the
prophecy of Daniel, to which absurd doctrine millions
became converts, and amongst them my friends Judge
John M. Wilson and Elisha Fellows.
I have never been more amused than I was from the
humorous account which Fellows gave me of his and
John M. Wilson's conversion. He said they dropped
all their professional business, and went from school
house to school house, preaching the second advent
of the Savior, " and let me tell you, sir," said he, " I
have had my soul perfectly thrilled and set on fire by
the preaching of John M. Wilson. Why, sir," said
he, "he would take up those old prophecies and
demonstrate the re-appearance of the Savior, and make
it as clear to me as a proposition in Euclid. I was
greatly disgusted," said Fellows, " with some of my
infidel friends and neighbors, who discredited our
theology, when so near the end of the world, and who
proceeded with their ordinary avocations, marrying
and giving in marriage, and hoarding up their sordid
gains, as though they were going to live forever. One
day I was riding along where some of my acquain-
tances were building a new log house. I reined up
my horse and addressed them in solemn tones as fol-
lows: 'Fellow-men, dying mortals and sinners, are
JOHN M. WILSON. 305
you crazy, to be building a house that in six days from
now will be nothing but a heap of livid coals?' and
don't you think, sir, they actually laughed at me?"
He told me further that he and John M. actually
supported and fed about twenty of their poor converts
who lived close around them, for several months.
Said he to me, " some mischievous young lawyers who
lived in Joliet, that disbelieved in our theology, one
day proposed to me to buy my law library (I had a
very fine one). This rather took me aback for a sec-
ond, but I'soon recovered and said to the young men,
'You have no need of law books; they will soon be
burnt up; besides, this is no time for trading, but for
singing psalms and hymns, praising God and meeting
your Lord in the skies. Let me admonish you to pre-
pare yourselves for his advent.' Would you believe it?
the wicked fellows laughed at me, and said to me,
' Mr. Fellows, we will take the risk, and if you do not
want to sell us the books, we will accept them as a
present.' From this horn of the dilemma I could only
escape by saying to them, in a solemn nasal and Puri-
tanical tone, ' My young friends, I perceive that you
are in the gall of bitterness and bonds of iniquity; may
the Holy Spirit awaken you from the sad delusion,,
apathy and indifference into which you have fallen.
Say no more to me about books, for I shall have
nothing more to do with worldly affairs, for during
the short time I have I shall use in making prepara-
tion to meet my blessed Lord in the skies.' The young-
rascals laughed and left me."
" Well," said I, " 'Lish, how did the matter end when
the day came around appointed for the second advent? ""
20
306 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
."Well," said he, "John and I dressed in our ascen-
sion robes, went upon the house-top, with our hymn-
books in our hands, where we sang songs of praise
from morn till night."*
" Well," said I, " Fellows, when he didn't come,
what did you think?"
" I thought," said he " there had been a collision
of the trains on the heavenly railroad, but we felt sure
that after the damage was repaired, he would make
his appearance on the next train coming down."
John M. Wilson, although he fell into 'this delu-
sion, is a truly devout and religious man. One day as
we were conversing on the streets of Chicago together,
a Jew passed us, and he said to me: " There goes a
Jew, and I wish to say to you that I feel a great ven-
eration and respect for those people, for they kept for
thousands of years, unmutilated, the Old Testament
Scriptures, and a Jewess was the mother of our Savior,
and to-day they are a living monument of divine love,
and a fulfillment of holy prophecy. I will not and
cannot persecute those people."
In Judge Wilson's religious notions, he is extremely
liberal and tolerant, although brought up and edu-
cated in the most rigid school of the Puritans.
My acquaintance with him commenced in 1860,
shortly after I came to Chicago. He was then on the
bench, as I believe I have before said. Before he was
elected the last time to the judgeship, my Democratic
* Judge Wilson, to whom we read the above sketch, says this paragraph
which states that he put on his " ascension robes and went upon the house-
top," is an exaggeration and not true; and that he th?n construed those
passages of the prophecies relating to the time of the second coming of our
Savior literally. He now construes them figuratively.— PUBLISHER.
JOHN M. WILSON. 307
friends made a combined and powerful effort to defeat
him, in which effort I did not unite or participate.
It was during the war, and by an arrangement of both
parties, a convention was called for the purpose of
forming a union ticket without reference to party poli-
tics. I was elected as one of the delegates to that con-
vention. My friendship and preference for Judge Wil-
son were well known. I was also a friend of Charles
B. Farwell, who was running for clerk of the county
court. The preference I had for Wilson I had made
known to Farwell and his friends, yet when the con-
vention met, and the Democrats set up the name of
Henry G. Miller, a good lawyer and very clever man,
I discovered that some of Mr. Farwell's friends, and not
a few, had sold out for his benefit to the friends of Mr.
Miller. I did all that was in my power to defeat
Miller's nomination, and I remember, in a speech I
made eulogistic of John M. Wilson, after recounting
his public service and his pure administration of jus-
tice while he had sat upon the bench, pointing over to
the corner of the house where Judge Wilson was sit-
ting, I said: "Will you turn this old and faithful
horse, after he has v/orked in the public wagon for
years, out to feed upon short commons? Shall lie be
displaced for a new and a younger man ? Shall we
cut down the glorious mountain oak that has resisted
a thousand storms? No! 4 Woodman spare that tree,
touch not a single bough.' ':
Notwithstanding all my efforts, however, John M.
Wilson was defeated in the convention, and Henry
G. Miller received the nomination; but the whole
ticket nominated by this convention was defeated.
308 LINDEN'S REMINISCENCES.
There was such great dissatisfaction at the nomina-
tions made that an independant ticket was immedi-
ately formed, at the head of which was placed the
name of John M. Wilson, and I remember very dis-
tinctly that he was elected over his opponent, Henry
G. Miller, by a majority of over three thousand votes.
He served out his time on the bench and retired with
great honor and distinction, and the love and respect
of all the able and worthy members of the bar followed
him into his retirement..
It is a great pleasure to me to say that I have enjoyed
the esteem and friendship of such an able lawyer and
Judge as John M. Wilson from the hour of our first
acquaintance to the present time. It is equally pleasant
to me to state, that in leaving the bench he falls back
upon a handsome private fortune. He has only two
children, a son and a daughter, the former of whom I
understand is a very promising young man.
If I have not already stated it so as to impress it
indelibly on the minds of my readers, I wish to say
now that I never met any lawyer in Northern Illinois
who in legal learning and the powers of analysis was
the equal of Judge Wilson. He was never verbose,
and his decisions were short, strong and to the point.
He is a man of the kindest and tenderest heart. I
remember distinctly at the time when Douglas died
(although they never agreed in politics), I never looked
upon so sorrowful a face as his. • He looked like a man
whose heart was breaking, and I noticed the tears fre-
quently gush from his eyes and roll down his cheeks.
He is a man of large benevolence, and the only thing
for which I am sorry is that I do not possess the mate-
JOHN M. WILSON. 309
rials, which are undoubtedly in existence if I had them,
to give him a larger space in these memoirs.
I hope and anticipate that this notice of him will
reach his eyes ere he leaves his earthly home for
that better one beyond the dark river; and I want to
say to him that it makes my heart glad to think I have
so good and bright a character as his with which to
adorn these pages. I do not intend to say here that
John M. Wilson is the only good and pure man in the
world, but if there is a better and purer one it has not
fallen to my lot to meet him. It was generally under-
stood by all the lawyers while he was on the bench that
he was not only the ablest of our judges, but that he
was honest and unapproachable. Corruption and brib-
ery never dared to show themselves in his presence.
He left the bench with clean hands and a pure heart,
and when he leaves this earth he will leave a name
spotless and undefiled. Slander has never dared to
breathe the slightest reproach against him, or fix one
spot or blemish upon 'his reputation as a man, a judge
or a lawyer. I now take my leave of John M. Wilson,
and hand him over to posterity as one of .the purest
and brightest ornaments of the bench and bar.
310 LEADER'S REMINISCENCES.
ROBERT S. BLAOKWELL.
i|HE next name I shall introduce is that of
Robert S. Blackwell, late of Chicago, who died
some seven or eight vears ago. He was a
O v O
native of the State of Illinois, and I will state here
that all the natives of this State whom I have known,
or nearly all, were men and women of genius and tal-
ent, and Robert S. Blackwell was not second to any of
them. He was the son of David Blackwell, a learned
and eminent lawyer who lived at Belleville. He
left a wife and some three or four children, amongst
whom was a boy older than " Bob," but Bob being the
brightest of all of them, his mother put her affairs
into his hands, and gave him charge of the children.
He bound his older brother to a trade, and he himself
studied law with O. H. Browning of Quincy; and after
he was admitted to the bar, became a partner of Mr.
Minshall, a learned and respectable lawyer of Rush-
yille, 111., which partnership continued for a good
many years, and until Bob married; had several
children born to him, and removed to the city of
Chicago.
Shortly after his arrival at that place he formed a
legal partnership with Corydon Beckwith, now one of
the most distinguished lawyers living in the city of
ROBERT S. BLACKWELL. 311
Chicago, where Bob continued to live and practice his
profession with great distinction and success until the
day of his death.
Bob was at home in nearly every department of the
law, but more especially in land cases and tax titles,
upon the latter of which he wrote a most able work
entitled "Blackvvell on Tax Titles," which can be
found in the library of every respectable lawyer in the
United States. At the time of its appearance it was
received by the bench and bar, and all the legal reviews,
with universal approbation. If Bob had never said
nor written anything else, this work alone would have
secured him an immortality with the whole legal pro-
fession. He had commenced another work before his
death, entitled an " Abstract of the Decisions of the
Supreme Court of Illinois," which run to the third or
fourth volume, when poor Bob died and left it uncom-
pleted.
I am inclined to think that my first recollections
of Bob go back to 1837, at Vandalia, when he was a
small lad living with his uncle, Robert S. Blackwell,
after whom he was named. This was during that
notable session of the legislature of Illinois, and from,
which has sprung some of the brightest and most glo-
rious names that blaze and sparkle on the pages of
American History. These names are to be found in the
category of presidents, senators and generals who have
made- respectable our civil, diplomatic and military his-
tory. When shall another Lincoln and Douglas make
their appearance? When shall another Democratic ad-,
ministration make its appearance which shall add to.
our country another Kew Mexico and California?
312 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
Worthy reader, such eras and men are like angels'
visits, "few and far between." How can we ever do
full justice to that old and noble Democratic party
which drew the rusty sword from its scabbard, and
cut our way up to the Golden Gate of the Pacific
oceaji? And yet to-day we have a miserable set of
penny-a-liners maligning that glorious old party, and
treating it as effete, defunct and fossil. I might name
some of them, editors and others, but to do so would
give them a place in this respectable history of mine,
and give them an immortality that I do not propose to
confer upon them. They may treat the Democratic
party as effete and dead; but permit me to say to you,
dear reader, it is not dead, but has only been sleeping;
and ere long it will rise from its slumbers, and like a
giant refreshed by sleep, will shake the earth with its
thunders and rebukes to the party that has so long
abused the confidence and trust reposed in them by
the people.
Bob Blackwell died a Democrat, although he was
an original Whig.
He was a man of eminent social qualities. The
only fault Bob had was that he would not let anybody
but himself talk when he had the floor, and the truth
is, but few wanted to do so, for no man could entertain
a crowd better than Bob. He was the finest mimic
I ever knew, not only in speech, but in gesture also.
I have seen him imitate the walk of Josiah Lamborn,
who had a short leg, and he would do it so exactly
that 1 have had to look at him closely to see whether
he himself hadn't one short leg.
Judge Murphy has told me of some of Bob's powers
EGBERT S. BJ.ACKWELL. 313
as an advocate. And here let me say by way of intro-
duction to what I am going to state, that Judge
Murphy believed in the doctrine of psychology as
taught at this present day, and he said that Bob pos-
sessed it in a degree beyond any man he had ever seen.
" Why, sir," said he, " let him get close up to a jury and
wave those long arms of his, and point his finger at
first one and then another of the jury, and they were
utterly powerless to get away from the conclusion to
which Bob desired to conduct them."
Judge Murphy told me that in a case of murder
tried before him, Bob appeared for the defendant.
" And I tell you, sir," said he, " if there ever was a
case of murder more clearly proved up, our judicial
history does not record it; but Blackwell went in close
to the jury, and by his psychological powers and man-
ipulations, took possession of the jury — utterly erased
from their minds the proofs of guilt — and after they
retired, in about ten minutes' consultation, they
returned with a verdict of ' not guilt}''.' "
I do not know but my friend Bob deserves a larger
space here than I have given him, and yet I do not
know but my friendship and partiality for him have
caused me to give him a little larger space than he
deserves.
Bob had his faults and frailties, but they never sank
into vices. He carried sunshine wherever he went,
and many 's the time that I have enjoyed the warmth
of his genial conversation and sociality.
He has gone to his God who made him, and who
bestowed upon him gifts not often given to other men,
and whatever the theological world may think, I wish
314 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
to say here, in winding up my recollections of Bob
Blackwell, that in my opinion God never created such
a being as he was for eternal punishment; and 1 believe
to-day, while I am lingering here upon these low
grounds of sorrow and sin, he, with Lincoln, Douglas,
Sam. McRoberts, his father, and Archie Williams, is
walking with his God in heaven, where I trust I may
some day meet him, and for the present I bid him
farewell.
SAMUEL S. HAYES. 315
SAMUEL S. HAYES.
|HE next person I intend to introduce into
these pages is Samuel S. Hayes, of Chicago.
My acquaintance with him commenced some-
time in 1840 — I think it was at Carmi, White county,
the most southern county on my circuit.
S. S. Hayes is a very remarkable man. He acquired
a thorough knowledge of the German and French
languages in the course of a single winter, without a
tutor or instructor, save the books which he purchased
for that purpose. Bat Webb told me he was a per-
fect prodigy in the acquisition of languages.
I do not know at what precise time Mr. Hayes came
to the bar, but I think it was somewhere about 1846,
but I cannot speak positively. When I first knew him
he lived in Shawneetown. I think he was not fully
grown at that time. He came up from Shawneetown
to Carrni at the term of the court which I was attend-
ing there. It was the first time 1 ever saw him. I
took him then to be about seventeen years of age. He
was introduced to me by my friend Henry Eddy, who
told me privately that he was a young man of great
promise, which in after life I found to be true.
Hayes had been a druggist, as I understood from
himself, but he finally studied law and settled in White
316 LINDER'S KEMINISCENCES.
county, Ills., and represented that county in the lower
House of the legislature in 1846. I was a member
of that body at that time. Our relations in the char-
acter of members was very pleasant. We had some
little difficulties in after years which I do not choose
to mention here.
Hayes has been a fortunate and prosperous man.
He was originally a Whig, and almost worshiped at
the shrine of Henry Clay, which nearly all young law-
yers did at that day; but finding that the road to pre-
ferment did not lay in that direction, he turned a
political sommersault and became a Democrat. He is
now, and for a long time has been, Comptroller of the
city of Chicago, and is a man, I understand, of fine
financial abilities.
Mr. Hayes is the son-in-law of Col. E. D. Taylor,
still living, and a man who has done more perhaps to
bring about the success of the Illinois and Michigan
Canal than any man now living.
I will not extend my remarks any further on S. S.
Hayes, only to say that he is a good lawyer and a self-
made man. Though his education was liberal, it was
acquired through his own ambition and industry. He
was first appointed to the office of comptroller under
Frank Sherman, then Mayor of the city of Chicago.
In that capacity he discharged the duties thereof to
the satisfaction of everybody, I believe.
Mr. Hayes is a man who might fill any diplomatic
or other position under our national government with
credit to himself and advantage to the country.
I ought to say before I close these remarks, that Mr.
Hayes is a good public speaker and also a good writer.
THOMAS J. GATEWOOD. • 317
THOMAS J. GATEWOOD.
|HE next name I propose to introduce here is
that of Thomas J. Gatewood, better known by
the name of "Jeif" Gatewood. I became
acquainted with him at Carmi, 111., on my first trip
around my circuit. He was introduced to me by Col.
A. P. Field. This was in 1836. Gatewood lived at
Shawneetown, and was an eminent lawyer, and known
as such by the bar all over the State. He stood in the
front ranks of the legal profession. I have incidentally
alluded to him in the sketch I have given of Jephtha
Hardin. He was a large man, portly and good look-
ing; had as fine a head as was ever placed upon any
man's shoulders. I frequently met him at Vandalia
and Springfield. He practiced law in the Supreme
and Federal Courts of this State, and no lawyer stood
higher with the court than Jeff. He was for a good
many years a Senator in our State legislature. He
was a splendid speaker, and would have risen to great
national distinction had not death cut his career short
in the very prime of life, he not being over forty years
of age at the time of his demise. He had a very fine
voice, which was full of melody. He was remarkable
for the originality of his views, borrowing nothing
from books or men, seldom perpetrating a quotation,
318 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
unless when he told a story, which he frequently did,
and no man could tell a better one than Jeff. He was
the very life and soul of every social and convivial
party of which he made a member.
In his earlier career as a politician Jeff was a Whig,
but as that party had little or nothing to bestow by
way of preferment, Jeff finally concluded that there
was richer pasturage on the other side of the fence, so
he jumped over, expecting to feed on delicious Demo-
cratic clover. The Democrats were very glad to num-
ber Jeff as one of their party, but they did not seem
to be in any haste to give him any high or lucrative
place in their ranks.
I have heard a good story told of Jeff, which runs as
follows : Being in a Democratic caucus at Springfield,
where they were parceling out the offices amongst the
various politicians of their party, they forgot to name
Jeff as one of them, and when they got through Jeff
said to them: "But what in the h — 1 are you going
to do for Jeffy ? " This remark struck them with such
force that they changed their programme, and did pro-
vide for Jeff.
The last time I remember to have seen Jeff was
when I was on the way to Kaskaskia in 1841. I fell
in with him and Field at some little town about half-
way between Charleston and Kaskaskia. I stopped
at the hotel where they were, and we took dinner
together.
Poor Jeff ! he had his faults, but they were not
crimes. I am not the man to unveil them, but would
rather throw the broad mantle of charity over them;
my maxim being " Nihil mortuis nisi bonum."
THOMPSON CAMPBELL. 319
THOMPSON CAMPBELL.
[AM going to introduce here to my readers a
name which I have long hesitated to, lest I
should not be able to do him full justice. I
mean the late Thompson Campbell, who was Secretary
of State in Illinois under Ford's administration. He
was a rare man, as the London hotel-keeper said of
Curran and Barrington, who had quizzed the Lon-
don wits in the characters of raw Irishmen for over a
month or more, which had greatly increased the cus-
tom of the landlord and added largely to his gains.
After they had got tired of this sport they one day
called for their bills, informing friend Boniface that
they had concluded to return to Ireland. " Gentle-
men," said he, " I have no bill against you. My house
has prospered more during your short sojourn here
than it ever did before, and without intending to flat-
ter you, you are the rarest men I ever saw, and you
are welcome to stay as long as you want to."
They declined to accept the invitation, and one may
well imagine the astonishment of the innkeeper when
they informed him that they were counselors Curran
and Barrington of the city of Dublin, and had been
playing off upon the London wits for the last month
or more in the characters of raw Irishmen.
The reader will pardon this digression, and allow me
320 LINDEK'S REMINISCENCES.
to import from history something to enliven these
pages more than I can do from my own materials.
Thompson Campbell was a genius in the full sense
and meaning of that word. He was full of fun and
humor, and his satire and irony cut like a two-edged
sword, and his fault was that he was not particular
whether this sword pierced a friend or foe.
My acquaintance with Campbell commenced in
1837, at St. Louis, when we traveled together on a
steamboat to Erie, up the Illinois river. He was then
but a mere boy — not over seventeen or eighteen years
of age — and he was a bright and beautiful boy, with
the finest black eyes I ever saw. His was a face pleas-
ant to look on — genius, fun, wit and humor played"
like lightning all over it. How sad to think that it
now lies cold in death! From the day of our first
acquaintance until the last I ever saw of him we were
devoted friends. I met him in 1860, at Charleston,
South Carolina. I was a delegate to the Democratic
Convention that assembled there at that time to nom-
inate a President. Campbell was there, but not in the
character of a delegate, but as a friend of Stephen A.
Douglas, in which friendship we perfectly harmonized.
I started from Chicago in company with nearly the
.whole Northwestern delegation, except those we met
with in passing through Indiana and Ohio, amongst
whom \vas that genial, witty, and little-big man, Sun-
set Cox, who attempted to poke some fun at me as we
crossed the Ohio river, and he actually seduced me
into making a speech to the crowd that had assembled
there. It was not a long speech, nor a very good one.
The reader may guess the reason if he chooses.
THOMPSON CAMPBELL. . 321
We went by Washington City, and stopped there
a clay or two, and visited our friend Douglas, at his
residence, in a body, and interchanged opinions in
reference to uniting the Northern and Southern De-
mocracy. Man}7 of us had our doubts about doing so,
but Mr. Douglas, with all his great common sense,
upon that subject was perfectly infatuated. We all
told him that such men as Yancey and other fire-eaters
who controlled public opinion in the South, were very
bitter towards him in consequence of his not letting
Kansas come into the Union under the Lecompton
Constitution, which history has recorded as the great-
est fraud ever practiced upon a free people. "Well,
gentlemen," said he, " let the politicians do their
worst, the Southern people will not go with them ; "
and went on to show us from information he had
received from the South that such was the fact. And
would you believe it? he convinced us all that he .was
right. But that was one of the saddest mistakes that
Stephen A. Douglas ever made, for he had not more
than entered the Southern States than we began to
feel that the South was lost to Douglas; and when we
got to Charleston, South Carolina, we found the hos-
tile feeling towards him at fever heat. While William
L. Yancey, and others of his kidney, addressed the vast
crowd that gathered nightly around the Mills House
to hear their inflammatory speeches, not a single
friend of Mr. Douglas was permitted to speak. Sev-
eral of us attempted to do so, but they drowned what
we said with the beating of drums and tin pans, and
the blowing of horns, and many other unearthly
noises!
21
322 LINDEB'S REMINISCENCES.
Senator Pugh, from Ohio, and myself, made speeches
in the Hibernian Hall, but our only auditors were the
Northwestern delegation. About the first man I met
on my arrival in the city of Charleston was my old
friend Thompson Campbell. He was very glad to see
me, and I was equally glad to see him. We soon
learned that the Southern sympathies were not with
us Northern delegates, who were friendly to Mr.
Douglas. The truth is, I believe they disliked him
worse than they did Lincoln. 1 had no intercourse on
my part with the Southern fire-eaters. I heard sub-
dued murmurs of civil war uttered by them from var-
ious quarters. They evidently tried to frighten us,
but we didn't propose to be frightened. We stopped
there for over two or three weeks. We tried every
expedient to convince our Southern friends that if they
did not unite with us some Northern Abolitionist
would be elected President, and that no man could
foresee the consequences. At that time there was
not a man north or south of Mason and Dixon's line
that even dreamed of the nomination of Abraham Lin-
coln as the candidate of the Republican party. After
balloting for over two weeks, without nominating any-
body for President, we adjourned to meet at Baltimore
• on a subsequent day.
On my return home to Illinois, I had the pleasure
• of traveling in company with the subject of this sketch.
We came by rail, through South Carolina, Georgia,
Alabama and Tennessee, to Memphis. We had several
; Southern fire-eaters on the train, and so intemperate
^was Campbell in his remarks that I was very fearful
.that he would stir up their hot blood to the shedding
THOMPSON CAMPBELL. 323
of his; but they seemed rather to admire than be
offended at anything Campbell said, for it was so sea-
soned with wit and humor, and the absence of all fear
upon his part, that it chimed in with the notions and
opinions of tlfese southern knights. He would fre-
quently d — n them, and tell them they were a set of
d — d fools, and that Douglas was the best friend they had
in the world; that they themselves had advocated the
very doctrines for which he contended, and he quoted
the speeches of some of their most eminent men and
the resolutions of their conventions to prove it; but
they took no offense whatever at what he said. The
weather was extremely hot, and Campbell and I fixed
us a sort of couch upon which we reposed side by side.
By the time we reached Memphis my friend Campbell
was exceedingly sick.
But I will go back in this story to relate a very
amusing circumstance that occured on the road from
Charleston to Augusta. At some wayside tavern we
stopped to take dinner. Thompson, feeling pretty
good, set down to a game of poker with some gentle-
men who had invited him to take a part with them ;
and he, taking no note of time, and being somewhat
successful in the game, permitted the train to move off
without having him on board, leaving his trunk, coat,
vest and hat on board. Hunkins, of Galena, Sam
Buckmaster and myself, soon discovered that Camp-
bell was left behind. At the first station where we
stopped we telegraphed the fact back to where we had
left him. We lay by a day and night at Augusta,
that he might overtake us there. Eventually he
arrived, with an old dilapidated stove-pipe hat, his face
324 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
covered with dust, and the sweat making dirty patches
down his cheek, and when he arrived and we received
him, he burst into tears^— " Did any man ever have
such friends as I have?" The hotel -keeper had ready
a fine lunch of green turtle soup, of which we all par-
took most bountifully, and went on our way rejoicing,
to Memphis; and as I have said before, when we got
there Campbell was quite sick, and we had to stay there
two or three days to recuperate him. I really enter-
tained serious fears as to his recovery, but through
good physicians, kind nursing, and encouraging con-
versation, we brought him through.
I will ask the reader to allow me here to relate a
little piece of fun and wit upon the part of a negro
boy, which I saw and heard while in this city. This
boy was about fifteen years of age; he was driving a
one-horse dray, but instead of a horse he had a mule,
and the mule stopped still and would not move a peg.
The negro whipped him and whipped him, and hol-
lered "get up! " and repeated it over and over again,
until he was finally exhausted, and leaning back lie
addressed his mule in the following language: "Feel
very proud, don't you? I suppose you forgot that your
daddy was a jackass, hain't ye?"
Now reader, if you have a lively perception of what
constitutes wit, you will recognize a good deal of it in
the remark of this little negro.
We finally got Campbell on board of a fine river
packet and landed him in a short time at St. Louis.
If my readers will go back with me to Charleston, I
will relate a few incidents that occurred there, not un-
worthy, perhaps, of being recorded.
THOMPSON CAMPBELL. 325
Charleston is one of the oldest cities in the United
States. There is not much resemblance in the manners
and habits of the Northern and extreme Southern peo-
ple. It is true the latter are warm-hearted and generous,
even to a fault, but lacking in the calculation and pru-
dence of their Northern brethren. This was easily to
be observed by the speeches made in that convention by
such Hotspurs as Yancey and others, et id omne genus,
and our cooler-headed speakers from the North. I
had not been in that convention over three days till I
discovered a deep-rooted hostility and burning dislike
to Northern men and statesmen. We did everything:
»/
in our power to compromise with them, so as to pre-
vent the cutting up and dividing of the Democratic
party. They made an offer to us that we might select
the candidate for the party if we would let them make
up the platform — or let them select the candidate,
and we might make the platform. Inevitable defeat
awaited us in the acceptance of this proposition. If
the}7 had built the platform we should have had to stand
on the Dred Scott decision, the Lecompton Constitu-
tion with the right of Southern slaveholders to carry
their slaves into free territory, and hold them there as
such against the wishes of the people of such territories.
With such a platform as this, we could not have
carried a single electoral vote north of Mason and
Dixon's line. Had we given them the candidate, they
selecting such a man as William L. Yancev, the conse-
CJ «/ /
quences would have been equally disastrous, for we
would have lost the whole North and a considerable
portion of the South. The division in the Democratic
party at this convention was greatly augmented by the
326 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
countenance given to the exhorbitant claims of the
South by such men as Benjamin F. Butler and Caleb
Gushing. They succeeded in electing Caleb Gushing
as the permanent chairman of the convention. But-
ler, as I have always understood, was sent there by his
constituents, instructed to go for Stephen A. Douglas,
and most nobly did he fulfill that trust — by voting
fifty-seven times for JeiF Davis., and never casting a
single vote for Douglas; and when the extreme south-
ern men retired from the convention, and held a caucus
amongst themselves, in which they resolved to hold a
convention at Richmond, Ya., as antagonistic to Bal-
timore, to which place a majoritv of the party had ad-
journed, Caleb Gushing and Benjamin F. Butler were
in this caucus — active participants in all its doings,
patting such men as William L. Yancey on the back,
and encouraging them in their disloyalty to the party
and the Union. My readers may think this strange
upon the part of these two men, and be unable to find
a- sufficient motive for their conduct, but I never had a
particle of difficulty — their action resulted from jeal-
ousy and hostility to Douglas. They are both ambi-
tious men, and felt piqued that so young a man as
Douglas should have such rapid growth, and cast older
men like themselves into the shade. Now, reader, just
think of it. That this man Butler, who contributed
so largely to the breaking up of his party, and bring-
ing on the country a civil war, should be appointed
manager and prosecutor of Andrew Johnson, the most
glorious patriot and Union man of the nation; a
man who had been an extreme pro-slavery man, and
voted fifty-seven times for Jeff Davis, as I have before
THOMPSON CAMPBELL. 327
said, becomes par excellence a Union man and Aboli-
tionist after the election of Mr. Lincoln. But sooner
or later all such men meet their reward, and he has
met his. Massachusetts has given her verdict against
him, and whatever may be said of his talents, nobody
entertains any respect for his integrity, and he is now
sunk to his original insignificance, without having
«J O ' CJ
any place in the heart or affection of a single honest
man in this nation. Campbell's comments on these
two men, Gushing and Butler, on the road from
Charleston to Memphis, were so sarcastic and amusing
that the Southern men on board the cars joined as
heartily in the laugh as the rest of us.
To give the reader a perfect idea of Thompson Camp-
bell, I must go back to an earlier period and pick up
what I have left behind. As I have said before, he
had been Secretary of State, and he at one time was
Representative in Congress from the district subse-
quently represented by Elihu Washburn, his home
being at Galena. I forget who was his opponent at
the time he ran for Congress. Suffice it to say, he was
a rabid Abolitionist. All of Campbell's acquaintances
who lived in the Southern part of the State knew that
he hated the Abolitionists as cordially as the most
Southern man in the Union. Now this district was
the darkest in the State, and contained within it more
Abolitionists than any other district in the State.
Some of the enemies of Campbell, rank Abolitionists,,
addressed him through the public press a series of
questions — such as, "Are you for excluding slavery
from the territories, and for abolishing slavery in the
District of Columbia?" "Are yon opposed to admit-
328 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
ting any more slave States into the Union?" and,
strange to say, Campbell, to the astonishment of many
of his old political friends, and to the utter dismay and
confusion of his enemies in the district, who had
expected to entrap him, answered all their questions
just as the rankest Abolitionist in the Nation would
have answered them ; consequently he was elected. I
asked him myself while^ we were on our trip from
Charleston, South Carolina, to Memphis, if at the time
he answered those queries he intended to redeem any
of the pledges he made to these men who poked at
him these questions. " Not the first one of them,"
was his answer; " they laid a trap for me, but the
black rascals fell into it themselves, and I hoisted them
with their own petard."
After Campbell had served out his term in Congress,
he became exceedingly poor and indigent, but Doug-
las got him the appointment as one of three com-
missioners of land claims in California. While acting
in that capacity, a case came before them in which
millions of dollars were involved. One of the parties
to this controversy, perceiving that Campbell possessed
great influence with his colleagues, took him aside and
O O '
proposed to give him a hundred thousand dollars in
gold if he would resign his office and become their
CT O
lawyer, and that they would count him down sixty
thousand dollars as his retaining fee; " and I'll tell you,
Linder," he said to me, " I was not such a d— — d fool
as to refuse to take it, and the prettiest sight my eyes
ever dwelt on was the pile of gold they counted down
to me in twenty-dollar pieces, Just think of it,"
said he, " of a lawyer getting sixty thousand dollars
in gold as a retainer! "
THOMPSON CAMPBELL. S'29
I then asked him : " Thompson, did you get your
other forty thousand dollars? and if so, what did you
do with your money? "
"Yes I did," said lie, " and it was also in gold, and
I sent it by express to safe hands in Philadelphia, and
d d soon followed it in person. One-half of it I
loaned to responsible men in Philadelphia at ten per
cent interest, secured by deed of trust on unincum-
bered real estate worth half a million of dollars. Of the
balance of the one hundred thousand, I gave my wife
five thousand, and kept five thousand for my own use.
The residue of the forty thousand dollars I brought to
St. Louis, and loaned on the same interest on the same
kind of securities as those I had taken in Philadel-
phia. This interest is payable semi-annually, and
now," said he to me, " do you think there is any dan-
ger of my ever coming to want?"
"I don't know, Thompson," said I, "you used to
be rather lavish and prodigal with your funds."
"Yes, I was; and you remember the time, Linder,
when the members of the legislature at Springfield
had to raise by subscription a fund to pay my tavern
bill, and send me and my family home to Galena; but
that will never occur again, for I'll be d d if I
haven't become one of the stingiest men in the world.
I am a perfect Shylock. To be sure, I am not meanly
little, nor do I propose to be so in a small way; but
when it comes to making a big grab, I'm always
there."
In coming across the country from Charleston to
Memphis, we stopped and lay over a night at At-
lanta, Georgia. The hotel where we stopped was one of
330 LINDEK'S REMINISCENCES.
the best kept I ever saw; and an incident occurred here
which I'll venture to relate, although my readers may
think it of too trifling a character to find a place in
these pages. I noticed a very black negro man offici-
ating as waiter, and I happened to be within hearing
when the hotel-keeper, his master and owner, asked
him for the loan of fifty or a hundred dollars. '"Oh!
certainly, massa," said he, and pulled it out and gave
it to him. After the landlord retired, Campbell and I
called the negro to us and asked him how it happened
that he was loaning money to his master, and where he
got the money, " O, gemmen," said he, " I bought a
ticket in the lottery and drew a prize of ten thousand
dollars."
" Well," said one of us, " Its a wonder he don't take
it without asking it as a loan, for by the laws of Geor-
gia both you and your money belong to him."
"Yah! Yah! Yah!" said he; "You don't under-
stand my massa; he be too good a man for dat."
" "Well," said I, " Sambo, does he pay you back
these loans?"
" Yes, sah, and offers me ten per cent interest, but I
nebber takes it and nebber will."
" Well," said I. again, " why don't you purchase your
freedom ? "
After another negro laugh he replied: "O, God
bless your precious heart, how can I be any freer than
I am now? I goes when I pleases and comes when I
pleases, and my massa never makes any complaint; I
missed him when he was a little child and massa lubs
me and I lubs him, and I will nebber leave him wile
I lib, so long as he is willin' to keep me."
THOMPSON CAMPBELL. 331
Campbell turned to me and remarked significantly,
" I wish some of those d — d rabid Northern Aboli-
tionists were here to hear what that nigger says."
I have been rather irregular in picking up the inci-
dents that I have here narrated in reference to Thomp-
son Campbell. I have not spoken of an affair of honor
which occurred between .him and another brother
member of the convention that formed our State Con-
stitution of 1848, to settle which they went to St.
Louis for the purpose of fighting on Bloody Island;
but it was terminated without bloodshed, how, I can-
not say exactly, but I am inclined to think Campbell's
opponent backed down.
Campbell's place of residence up to 1861 or '62 was
in Chicago. He finally returned to San Francisco,
California, and died there shortly afterwards; and
after all the vicissitudes of his life left his family in
easy and pleasant circumstances.
If I were going to make a man, as Lincoln once said
to me in reference to a particular acquaintance of ours,
I don't know as I should make exactly such a man as
Thompson Campbell, but for wit, humor and sarcasm
it would be a difficult matter to improve upon what
God Almighty did for him; and although I have often
felt the edge of his sarcasm, his company and society
were always very agreeable to me. He has gone' to
his last home, and he went in the very prime of his
life. His faults were not grievous, and his talents and
genius flashed over them like lightning when it plays
across the clouds of heaven. I do not know of a single
man that I can now call to mind within the scope of
my memory, with whom to compare Thompson Camp-
332 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
bell. I never saw a man exactly like him, or that even
resembled him. He was a good lawyer, a very tine
and interesting speaker, and possessed of a pungency
of wit that burnt like lunar-caustic, and when he under-
took to demolish one of his victims, there was peculiar
play of feature that lighted up his countenance that
told of the thunderbolt that was about to be launched.
To say that Thompson Campbell was a very great man
or statesman, or even lawyer, would perhap's be saying
too much, but I can say in the English sense of the
word, he was the cleverest man I ever knew. A ^New
Englander would say he was the smartest man. The
reader will please give to the word smart a nasal and
Puritanical accent.
I must now leave the name of Thompson Campbell
to my kind and charitable readers, with whose mem-
ory I entreat them to deal as kindly and leniently as I
trust they will with mine when I am gone. He lies
sleeping in the land of flowers. May the grass be
ever green and fresh upon his grave, is the last tribute
that an old friend pays to his memory.
GUEDON S. HUBBARD. 333
GUEDOK S. HUBBAED. »
1URDON S. HUBBAED, one of tlie oldest
citizens of Northern Illinois, came to the
West about 1818, and settled as an Indian
trader at Hennepin, but his business frequently
brought him to Chicago. He is now seventy-four
years of age, and one of the best preserved men I
know of in the whole circle of my acquaintance. He
was a member of the lower House of the General
Assembly of Illinois in 1832, and introduced the first
railroad bill ever presented to that body. It was a bill
intended to take the place of the canal. He carried it
through his House by a majority of sixteen votes, but
it failed in the Senate by one vote, being the casting
rate of the Lieutenant Governor, Zadock Casey. He
was afterwards one of the commissioners of the Illi-
nois and Michigan Canal, and contributed perhaps as
much as any other man to give character and success
to that work. My acquaintance with Gurdon S. Hub-
bard commenced in 1836 and '37, at old Vandalia. He
was in attendance upon the legislature then in session
at that place, where he had some axes to grind, but
what they were I do not ndw remember. I know that
334 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
he and others who were well acquainted with the Indian
character and habits, greatly amused us members by j er-
forming the Indian war dance, and I know that they did
it with great exactitude, because I have since seen a part
of the tribe of Pottawatomies perform the same dance,
and not any better than Gnrdon's party performed it.
The truth is, one was an exact counterpart of the other.
All of Gurdon's party understood the Indian dialect,
and could speak it as well as an Indian chief. Hub-
bard was born in one of the New England States, and
received all the education that he ever got in his na-
tive State. He removed West at a very early day, and
became (as I have said before) an Indian trader at
Hennepin.
He is a man possessing some very noble traits of
character; is generous to a fault, and self-sacrificing in
his nature, as an evidence of which I will relate a cir-
cumstance that occurred a good many years ago, which
I heard from a number of his acquaintances, and finally
had it confirmed from his own lips. He was going
up the Ohio river on a steamboat when a small boy,
some six years old, fell overboard into the river, and
'the mother of the boy was perfectly frantic, as was
also the father. Thei r names were Linton. Hubbard
didn't wait a moment, but threw off his overcoat and
jumped in after the boy. The boat couldn't be stopped
for some time, and got at least a mile above where the
boy fell overboard. Hubbard succeeded in grasping
the boy by the ankle as he was going down for the
last time. He held him aloft and turned him over so
as to let the water run out of his mouth, at the same
time supporting himself, as he told me, by treading
GUKDON S. HUBBARD. 335
water until the boat turned around and came down
and picked them up, the boy being to all appearance
dead. Hubbard himself was greatly exhausted, but
Doctor Fithian, his brother-in-law, was on board, and
had restoratives and warm blankets prepared for the
two sufferers, and they were soon revived; and when
Hubbard awoke to consciousness, it was to find the
mother of the boy embracing him and weeping like a
child, the father standing by and weeping also. They
chano-ed the name of the bov, and called him after
O •* '
Mr. Hubbard. "Whenever the mother met him on the
boat she would burst out crying. This occurrence
went the rounds of all the newspapers of the nation.
My acquaintance with Gurdon S. Ilubbard has con-
tinued at intervals from its commencement until the
present time. Onr relations have been of a very
friendly character. He has had, as I have understood,
many vicissitudes of fortune, going down at one time
and up at another.
My readers will perhaps remember the sad tragedy
of the sinking of the Lady Elgin, which boat was owned
by Gurdon S. Hubbard. If my memory serves me,
some three hundred lives were lost on that occasion,
among whom were some of the most esteemed citizens
of Milwaukee and the Northwest, but the greater num-
ber of those that perished were citizens of Milwaukee.
Upon that occasion, after the news of the disaster
came to hand, Gurdon S.- Hubbard displayed his usual
energy and humanity. He put in requisition all the
means he could command to save the lives of those
who were alive and afloat on the lake, and to gather
up the bodies of those who drifted ashore for miles
336 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
and miles above Chicago. Immediately after the news
of the loss of the Lady Elgin had reached Chicago,
Mr. Hubbard chartered a special train of cars, upon
which he placed life-boats, ropes and other materials
for saving life, used in wrecking, and proceeded without
a moment's delay with a party of friends to the village
ofWinnetka, about sixteen miles north of Chicago,
where the scene of horror beggared description. The
lake was at that point covered with the bodies of the
survivors who had managed thus far to escape a watery
grave by clinging to the remnants of the wreck, but
the waves, which were running mountain high, would
dash them in to the serf, where they would lose their
rafts and sink within a hundred yards of the shore,
never to rise on earth again. Hubbard made several
Attempts to launch the life-boats, but the waves were
running so high that they were instantly thrown back
onto the beach. Despairing of all other means, IIB
took a coil of rope and tying one end around his body,
he plunged into the serf, and when he had secured a
hold on one of these survivors, those on the beach
would draw in the line, and in this way Mr. Hubbard
saved over forty human lives from a watery grave;
and he did not leave off this method of saving lives
until he was completely exhausted.
There are doubtless many incidents in the life of
Gurdon S. Hubbard tha.t would add greatly to the in-
terest my readers might takejn these memoirs were I
in possession of them, for he was a frontier's man that
came to Chicago before it had arisen to the dignity of
village. As I have said before, he is now over seventy-
four years of age, a well-preserved man, and bids fair
GURDON S. HTTBBARD.
337
to live some fifteen or twenty years yet to come. His
hair has but few threads of silver running through it,
and he has all the vivacity that he possessed some forty
years ago, when our acquaintance first commenced.
He can be found any day at his office, as busy as a
bee.
22
338 LISDEK'S REMINISCENCES.
JOHE" WEKTWOKTH.
HE next name that I shall introduce is that of
John Wentworth, better known as "Long
John." To those who know him and have
seen him personally, I need not say that he is a giant in
stature. He is six feet six or eight inches high, and
if Stephen A. Douglas obtained the sobriquet of the
" Little Giant," " Long John," in physical proportions
at least, should be called the "Big Giant of Illinois."
An old citizen of Chicago told me that the first time
• o
he saw Wentworth he was in the midst of a crowd
that had convened around an old brick hotel located
on Lake street, Chicago, "and," said he, "he towered
so far above the heads of the crowd that; I really thought
that it was some man on horseback, and I said to a
friend at my side: 'what is that fool doing on horse-
back in the midst of such a crowd as this?' : His
friend replied: " He is not on horseback; I know him
—that is Long John "Wentworth."
Long John came to this State at a very early day,
and commenced his public career as editor, and pro-
prietor of a paper entitled The Chicago Democrat.
He was at that time a Democrat, and so continued
-for many years, until the Republican party arose,
JOHN WENTWORTH. 339
when he was among the earliest to attach himself
thereto. While a Democrat, he was elected to Con-
gress from Hie district including Chicago, which
district then extended as far south as Danville, Illi-
nois, and he represented that district for many
years during his Democracy, and he has since repre-
sented it as a Republican. John Wentworth while in
Congress made no contemptible figure there. He was
emphatically a working member — was noted for his
hostility to extravagance, and was a perfect terror to
the treasury rats and all the public thieves and pecu-
lators on the treasury, who were wont to congregate
about Washington City, like buzzards around some
dead and putrid carcass. He has been twice mayor of
the city of Chicago, and while holding that office he
was an equal terror to the thieves and those who desired
to feed and fatten upon the city treasury. Whatever
may be said of John Wentworth in other respects, it
may be said in his praise, what can be said of but fevi
other men, that during his long official career he never
touched the public moneys, except to dispose of them
according to law, and that with great frugality and
economy. When the Republican party became cor-
rupt, John forthwith withdrew from it, and gave effi-
cient aid in starting what was called the Citizens' Party
of Chicago, which overthrew that dynasty in that city.
I shall never forget a speech I heard him make in
Farwell Hall at the beginning of the campaign
between the citizens and Republican party. He came
to the stand without introduction, which, though
usual on such occasions, he would not allow, and in
his case was certainly unnecessanr, for there was cer-
340 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
tainly not a man, woman or child in the city of Chicago
to whom Long John was not known. His name has
become a household- word. When he took his place on
the stand he stood silent for at least a minute, turn-
ing his face from one side of the audience to the other,
which filled that vast hall to repletion, then opened
his remarks with the following words: "Thou shalt
not steal," in a voice as solemn as that, we may sup-
pose in which Moses spoke when he first announced
this portion of the decalogue to the children of Israel.
He then went on in the most scathing style to recount
the misdeeds, shortcomings and broken promises of
the Republican party. " Now," said he, tk fellow citi-
zens, the Republican party in its origin was honest
and pure, and I believe from my heart that it saved
the Union ; and while it was pure and honest, I stood
by it, and supported it, and would be with it to-night
had it continued so; but the long possession of power
has corrupted it, and it has fallen from its first estate."
" "Why," said he, " some of my friends have asked me,
* Will you, John Wentworth, one of the Fathers of the
Republican party, ruthlessly tear it down?'" and
drawing himself up to his full height, he said, with an
emphasis I never shall forget, " Better a thousand
times, fellow citizens, that it should be torn down than
rot down." This remark was received with a perfect
storm of applause.
No man has said much better things than John
Wentworth, orally and with his pen. I recollect read-
ing in the Chicago Democrat (which I have before
stated was edited by Wentworth), after Bob Wilson,
of the recorder's court, had been abusing him for weeks,
JOHN WENTWOKTH. 341
not leaving out a single abusive adjective in the Eng-
lish language, an editorial of Long John's, which said,
in an apparently good-natured way, in substance as
follows:
" I don't wish my friends to be seriously offended
at the remarks of my old friend Bob Wilson. Bob
once belonged to me, and never did I have a more
faithful servant, but they bought him away from me,
and have at present got possession of him. But never
mind, I shall get him back again; and as the boy said
about his monkey to a gentleman whom his monkey
had attempted to bite (when asked by the man what
sort of a d — d animal he was), 'he is a very good
monkey,' said he, * and not half as bad as you think
he is, for when I hold him he will bite and scratch
you, but if you hold him he will bite and scratch me';
and so with my old friend Bob. .When I had him in
my keeping, he did valuable service for me in biting
and scratching rnv enemies. Never mind, I'll have
O ** *
him ao;ain before lon^."
O O -
I shall never forget the torrent of abuse that my old
friend Bob heaped upon Long John on account of this
article in his newspaper, but nevertheless it had a tel-
ling effect upon the public mind, the worst of which
fell to the share of my friend Bob.
I shall relate another circumstance in reference to
Wentworth, which occurred at McCormick's Hall
some two years ago, which was the last speech I ever
heard him make. He and I were the only speakers
on that occasion. He compared the Republican party,
which he said had used the war to catch votes, to
an old man who had been washed over a mill-dam and
S42 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
drowned. One of his near neighbors discovering the
fact, reported it to his wife, and told her in a very solemn
strain that her husband was drowned, and finding
his abdomen very much swollen, they had taken the
liberty of cutting him open, and had found him full
of living eels. " Gracious alive," said she, " bring the
eels to me and I will skin them and cook them, and
set the old man and catch some more/'
" Fellow citizens, this eel-trap of the Republican
party has been set rather too often, and I think they
have caught their. last eel."
John and I, on that occasion, really made old-fash-
ioned Jeffersonian, democratic speeches, which brought
down upon us the denunciations of a certain paper in
the city of Chicago, charging us with being antiquated
fossils, and at least a thousand years behind the times;
but public opinion has thoroughly disarmed the editor
of that paper.
As John Wentworth is a public character and wide-
ly known, I deem it unnecessary here to say any more
about him. I have only related such facts and anec-
dotes as the grave and dignified historian might pass
by, thinking them beneath his notice and unworthy of
being recorded, but I have thought them necessary to
a full understanding of Wentworth's talents and char-
acter.
JOHN A. LOGAN. 343
JOHK A. LOGAN.
1IIERE wish to introduce Gen. John A. Lo-
gan, whose name and fame are so well known
to the American people that it would seem
like an act of supererogation to give him a place in
these memoirs; but I was acquainted with his father,
who was a great personal and political friend of mine
— old Dr. Logan— with whom I served in the legis-
lature in 1836 and '37. He and I were both members
of the same House, and no man took a more active
part in my election as Attorney-General than Dr. Lo-
gan. I therefore feel that I owe it to his memory to
say something here of his distinguished son, one of our
present Senators in Congress.
My acquaintance with the General commenced m
1847 or '48, at Springfield. He was then but a mere
stripling, but a very bright and promising one. He
commenced his political career as a member of the
House of Representatives in the Illinois Legislature,
from one of the southern counties of the State. He
had scarcely warmed his seat when he opened upon
some of the exciting topics of the day, which might
remind my readers of what an English traveler and
writer said about our young Americans. He said the
34:4: LINDEE'S REMINISCENCES.
first word a boy-baby lisped was "Mr. Speaker"
meaning that we were all born politicians.
Subsequent to the time of his membership in the
legislature, he represented one of the southern districts
of the State in the Congress of the United States, for
several successive sessions. During all this time John
was a flaming Democrat, and no man hated an Aboli-
tionist more than he. His sympathies were all with
the Southern people, which even lasted up to and be-
yond the commencement of our late civil war. Rumor
has said that he induced one of his brothers-in-law to
join the Southern army, promising that he would raise
a regiment and soon follow him. However that may
be, John cast his lot with the Nortt^and became ulti-
mately one of our Major-Generals, where he did good
service and distinguished himself as one of our bravest
fighting generals.
I do not propose to give here his career as a war-
rior and a soldier; that has already been done much
better than I can do it, by others who have written a
history of that war, in which John's gallantry as a
soldier and skill as a general have been fully recorded.
I will simply content myself by saying that he was
one of our generals at the taking of Vicksburg, and
was also in the bloody battle of Shiloh, and other
memorable engagements, where he covered himself
with glory and honor.
The people of our State have not forgotten his ser-
vices in the Union cause, but have rewarded him by
making him one of our Senators in Congress.
In 1858, in the Senatorial campaign between Doug-
las and Lincoln, in which I, as my readers know, took
JOHN A. LOGAN.
an active part for Douglas, we met John A. Logan at
Chester, on the Mississippi, where he and I both made
speeches in favor of Mr. Douglas. From there we went
to Cairo, where Logan and I both spoke after Mr. Doug-
las. My recollection is that Logan went with us from
there to Jonesboro, where we met with Mr. Lincoln, that
being one of the places fixed upon for their joint debate;
but I don't remember that Logan made any speech at
this place. I think he did not, for the time was princi-
pally occupied by Lincoln and Douglas; and after them
by Col. Dougherty and myself, we being on different
sides. John A. Logan continued a Democrat and an
extreme Southern man in his sympathies up to the
secession of the Southern States, and when Mr. Douglas
made his patriotic speech at Springfield, for which the
Republicans so lauded him, in which he said " There
were now but two parties — Patriots and Traitors," John
A. Logan was there, and took such mortal offense at the
speech of Douglas, that when he met him on the streets
he actually refused to shake hands with him. Some six
months or a year after this time, we may date the
commencement of the change of Logan's sentiments
in reference to the controversy between the North and
South. What share his appointment as general in our
army had to do with this change, I will not undertake
to say. If his previous course was a grievous offense,
his subsequent career has amply condoned it. Every
man must be allowed the privilege of changing his
views, politics or religion, when lie finds himself in an
error, and it is not right to assign improper motives
for a man's course when there are higher and purer
one's which charity can discover; and with that charity
LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
which I have always demanded for myself, I am
willing to allow most cheerfully that Gen. Logan, in
changing his views, was governed by high and patri-
otic motives. With this remark, I leave him in the
hands of the historian and to posterity, by whom more
ample justice will be done him.
JOHN T. STUAET. 347
JOHN" T. STUART.
|OHN T. STUART, of Springfield, 111., I pro-
pose now to introduce to my readers. I deem
it impossible to present them witli the name
of a worthier or better man. He was a Represen-
tative in Congress from the district, including Spring-
field, that extended as far north as the line dividing
Wisconsin from Illinois. I remember that in 1838
Douglas was a candidate against him, but his good
star was not then in the ascendant, and consequently
Stuart was elected and Douglas defeated. Doug-
las would have been elected had it not been for a
rascally contrivance of old Jim Turney, who, pretend-
ing to be a friend of Douglas, got the Irish on the canal
to^ote for "John A. "Douglas," "James A. Douglas,"
and every other Douglas you might imagine except the
right one of Stephen A. Douglas. Of course all these
votes were counted out, and Douglas was cheated of his
election. Turney played this trick upon Douglas from
the meanest and most envious of motives. He thought
that he should have been run by the Democratic party
instead of Douglas. I do not recollect now whether
Stuart was re-elected at the next election or not; but
one thing I will say, that while in Congress he made a
very respectable member. He was a decided Whig in
34:8 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
his politics. Prior to his election to Congress he had
been repeatedly a member of our State legislature, and
while there had been dubbed with the sobriquet of
" Jerry Sly." This was owing to John's great powers
of sly management and intrigue.
He had the reputation of being the ablest and most
efficient jury lawyer in the State, especially in trespass
and slander cases, preventing the recovery of large
damages for the plaintiff when he was for the defend-
ant.
John T. Stuart stands about six feet high in his
stockings, and when I first saw him, which was in
1837, I thought him the handsomest man in Illinois.
He had the mildest and most amiable expression of
countenance I nearly ever saw. He is eminently cheer-
ful, social and good-humored, and a man would be a
fiend to pick a quarrel with him.
For many years he and Ben. F. Edwards were law
partners, and were engaged, as I have before stated,
for the defense in the celebrated murder case where I
made the fatal mistake of taking one of their associ-
ates— counsellor Rosette — for the criminal.
John T. Stuart did not go off with Lincoln and
Trumbull into the Republican party, although an
original Whig.
Although Stuart has never done anything, nor had
a chance to do it, whereby to make a great name in
his country's history, yet he is far from sinking to the
level of mere mediocrity. I have known many noisy
men, who thought themselves great men, that might
well covet the reputation of John T. Stuart.
As I understand, he is still living and resides in his
JOHN T. STUART.
349
old town of Springfield, 111., and is a bright and shin-
ing ornament to the social circle in which he moves,
and knowing nothing more particular in reference to
Stuart which would be entertaining to my readers, I
now introduce the name of Benjamin F. Edwards.
350 LIXDEK'S KEMIXISCKXCES.
F. EDAVABDS.
was the son of Gov. I^inian Edwards, and
the brother of Ninian "W. Edwards, of whom
I have already given a sketch. He is a very
fine lawyer; was liberally educated, but I may say
without giving any offense to him, that he is one of
the vainest men I ever knew, having inherited it from
his father. But vanity was not the only thing he
inherited from him, for he also inherited a large share
of his father's talent and legal mind. Ben Edwards
I think has been on the circuit bench of Sangamon
county, but as I have not kept a close run of him for
the last six or eight years, I cannot speak with any
great degree of certainty.
Ben has not cut any very conspicuous figure in poli-
tics, but he has succeeded in making himself a very
profound and respectable lawyer.
Knowing nothing more of him necessary to be
recorded, I now take leave of him for the purpose
of introducing another name belonging to Illinois, for
my intention in writing this work has been to preserve
names of worthy contemporaries, and transmitting
them to posterity, who might otherwise sink into
oblivion. My object has been and is to snatch from
BENJAMIN F. EDWARDS. 351
obscurity the men of worth, genius and talent, whom
I have known, and embalm them, if possible, in these
humble Reminiscences.
Worthy reader, my labors are drawing to a close,
and so is my life. This work is not one of ambition,
but it is a labor of love and friendship. It contains
the names of many valued friends, and the incidents
and anecdotes connected with their lives, covering a
period of forty or fifty years. The only thing I have
to regret is, that I cannot do full justice to the many
names here introduced; from the fact that I have had
to draw upon frail human memory for my materials —
and that the decaying memory of an old man, stand-
ing on the verge of three-score and ten years. But
don't suppose, dear reader, that because memory has
grown a little dim, that my heart is less warm than it
was in the heyday of life; and as I call up each name
and face from the lumber house of memory, I seem to
be living over again the days of my youth and early
manhood. The task is therefore very far from being
disagreeable to me, and the only anxiety I feel is that
I may leave out the name of some worthy old friend
who is entitled to a place in these pages. Don't sup-
pose, dear reader, that these memoirs are solely dedi-
cated and devoted to my personal friends, for I have
not forgotten men of worth whom 1 cannot class in
that category. If I know my own heart, I have writ-
ten nothing thus far with the motive of fixing a stain
upon the fame of any mortal man, for my heart beats
kindly and warmly for the whole human family; and,
as Washington Irving has said much more elegantlv
than I can say it: "My heart now throbs as warmly
352
LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
and kindly for tliee, worthy reader," and my only fear
is that this work will fall short of supplying that in-
tellectual food and entertainment for my readers which
has been the paramount motive and desire I have had
in getting up these memoirs.
OYRUS EDWARDS. 353
CYEUS EDWARDS.
jWILL now present yon with the name of one
of the worthiest men of Illinois — one of the
oldest citizens of this State, and in age an oc-
togenarian— it is the name of Cyrus Edwards, the
brother of Governor Ninian Edwards, and the uncle
of Benj. F. Edwards and Ninian "W. Edwards.
My acquaintance with him dates back as far as
1837, and commenced about the time, or a little before,
the "Alton riots." The last time I saw him was a few
days before the last Presidential election, at his own
house in Upper Alton.
Cyrus Edwards is a native of Maryland. He was
liberally educated, and studied the law as a pro-
fession, but I am not aware that he ever practiced
it. In stature he stands about six feet four inches
in his stockings, and his personnel is one of the
finest I ever looked upon; and at the time I last
saw him he stood as straight and erect as an arrow,
and his venerable face and form reminded me for-
cibly of the portraits I have seen of George Wash-
ington. As a man of literature and belles-lettres
scholar I know of no man in the State who is his equal.
He was at one time a Senator in our State Legislature,
and I am not sure now, that I come to reflect upon it,.
23
354: LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
but what he was a member of that body at the session
of 1836 and '37, when I was a member of the lower
House.
At the time I last saw him, to which I have alluded,
the old man was so glad to see me that he actually
shed tears of joy. On the evening of that day I made
a speech on the political topics of the day in Upper
Alton, and Cyrus Edwards was present, and one of
my most delighted auditors.
I heard him deliver a course of lectures in Lower
Alton in 1837, which was the finest specimen of litera-
ture and taste I ever heard. He is a most elegant gen-
tleman— a man of refined and accomplished manners.
It has always been a matter of astonishment to me
that Cyrus Edwards did not reach a higher position
than that of State Senator. Many men went to Con-
gress who were greatly his inferiors; but he sits down
in the calm twilight of old age with the strong hope
that though his vision must close upon the things of
earth, it will o*pen upon a glorious immortality. He
is one of the purest men that ever made a foot-print
upon the soil of Illinois. I have loved him with the
devotedness of a son to a father, and I do believe he
returned my affection.
Cyrus Edwards was reared in the Jeffersonian school
of politics. In his social relations he might be styled
a refined and cultivated aristocrat, but he never made
any man feel uncomfortable by any assumed superi-
ority. The world may say what it pleases about the
equality of men and the equality of rights, but I
undertake to say here that men of bright and shining
parts only become more resplendent in their glory by
CYEUS EDWARDS. 355
being contrasted with inferior lights, and it has been
ordered by the great Governor of the Universe that
one star should shine brighter than another in glory;
and in the constellation of genius Cyrus Edwards is a
star of the first magnitude, but of mild and resplen-
dent glory.
If he had been a man of more ambition he might
have reached an eminence far above anything he ever
attained to; but he aspired more to a social than to a
political position in life. I think he is now not far
from being eighty-five or ninety years of age. He is
probably, next to his distinguished brother, the Gover-
nor, one of the most talented and gifted members of
the great Edwards family, and that I have not written
more of him than I have results from the fact that he
never aspired, like some of his relatives, to a high posi-
tion. He was made more for social than political life,
therefore I have to drop him here, with regret.
356 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
ISAAC P. WALKER
ISAAC P. WALKER is the next name I shall
introduce to m y readers. When I first becain e
acquainted with him he was a student under
my dear old friend, Samuel McRoberts, and he was one
of the brightest and most promising boys I nearly ever
saw. One of Ike's peculiarities was the length of his
whiskers, and I remember to have advertised his coin-
ing to one of the Wabash towns in language something
as follows: "Fellow citizens, a very talented young
man will be here in a day or two to answer the speech
I am now making to you. You will be notified of his
coming by the length of his whiskers, which will arrive
a day or two in advance of him."
AVhen " Ike" learned what I had said it threw him
into such a tempest of passion that he lost all control
of himself, and fell down upon me in a torrent of per-
sonal abuse that did his party more injury than good.
They were very intemperate and ill-considered. At
that time Ike had not won any particular distinction.
He was an ultra Democrat, and at that time a great
hater of Abolitionists, but he subsequently removed
to Milwaukee, Wis., and became an abolitionist of the
ultra type, and succeeded in being elected to the Sen-
ate of the United States. This may seem somewhat
ISAAC P. WALKEK. 357
strange to my readers, but it is nevertheless true. He
was in the Senate in 1850, at the time of the passage
of the great compromise resolutions on the subject of
slavery, and being entitled to the floor, gave place to
Daniel Webster, whom everybody had come to hear.
This was a remarkable exercise of modesty on Ike's
part, to yield the floor to so small a man as Daniel
Webster, of Massachusetts!
Ike was something of a pugilist, and a perfect Her-
cules in strength, and distinguished himself by admin-
istering a terrible flogging to an Irish lawyer, who is
now one of the Supreme Judges of Wisconsin, whose
name I will not mention, for he is a very excellent man
and a good lawyer.
My dear friend Isaac P. Walker has gone to his last
account. Ike was well connected and deservedly dis-
tinguished for his talent as a lawyer. I met him re-
peatedly at the Danville court, and was often engaged
on opposite sides against him, and I always considered
him as a foeman worthy of my steel.
-358 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
EOBEET WILSON.
JWILL now take the liberty of introducing to
the attention of my readers the name of one
of the members of that celebrated session of
the Legislature of 18 36 -and '37. I mean the name of
Robert Wilson. I do not expect to devote to him but
a very small space in these memoirs, but he is worthy
of a much larger space than I can give him. I met
him at the unveiling of Lincoln's statue, and had a
long talk with him over the incidents of that session,
and he made me acquainted with the fact that he had
kept the run of the members of that Legislature, and
that out of 105 members only fifteen at that period
were living. It is melancholy to reflect what havoc
time makes with frail humanity. All suchmen deserve
to have their names and memories preserved. He
told me that after the breaking out of the war, he went
to Washington, and on meeting with Mr. Lincoln at
the White House, he said to him, " Bob, you expect
some appointment from me, don't you?" "Well,"
said he, "I do;" and after stating the office he courted,
Lincoln said to him: "Bob, I have got something
much better for you; I will make you one of the pay-
masters of the army." And he did, and Bob made
an honest one; and no one has ever dared to question
his integrity, fidelity or patriotism.
Bob is one of th» Long Nine who represented San-
gamon in the House of Representatives in 1836-'37.
ROBERT SMITH. 359
EOBEET SMITH.
|HE next name I propose to introduce is that
of Robert Smith, who was a member of that
celebrated legislature of 1836 and '37, to
which I have so often referred. He was afterwards a
member of Congress from the district including Alton,
and no abler Representative did that district ever have
than my friend Bob Smith. He was not a lawyer, but
a man of talent and genius. He understood his part
well — no man understood it better.
My acquaintance with Bob continued for many years
after we had served together in the legislature. I
remember that he gave me the most active and effi-
cient support for the office of Attorney-General. I
have nothing remarkable to record of friend Smith.
He was not one of those blazing and erratic geniuses
who take the world by storm, but he kept upon the
even tenor of his way; was always at his post, and
never stepped aside to aim a blow at an antagonist.
He was emphatically a working member, as well while
he was in the legislature as when he was a member of
Congress. Bob made but few speeches, but made
some very elaborate and able reports from the conv
mittees in which he served.
LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
He was one of the most amiable and sweet-tempered
men I ever knew. I don't tliink I ever saw him in a
passion in my life.
He was perfectly •familiar with all parliamentary
law, and at home when a question of order was sprung
upon the House. Though Bob was never Speaker, he
was often called to the chair, owing to his readiness
and promptness in deciding questions of order.
Bob died a good many years ago, but he has left
behind a clean record and the name of an honest man
as an inheritance for his children.
WILLIAM A. MINSUALL.
"WILLIAM A. MINSHALL.
|ILLIAM A. MINSHALL, of Schuyler county,
was anotlier member of that celebrated legis-
lature which met at Yandalia in 1836 and '37.
He was a lawyer, and a very able one, and at one time
was judge of the circuit court of the military district.
I knew him well, and have met him often at Spring-
field and Rushville. During the last years of our
acquaintance he and Robert Blackwell, whom I have
already sketched, were law partners in Rushville.
Miushall I believe was a native of Ohio, and studied
law with Judge McLain at the same time my old friend
Justin Ilarlan was a student in the same office; and I
have often heard Judge Ilarlan speak of Minshall in
the most flattering terms.
Minshall, in his early days, and especially about the
time he was married, was given to dissipation. He
courted a most beautiful woman, and on proposing
marriage to her, she promptly rejected him, on the
strength of which Minshall got most gloriously drunk,
and in his crazy mood put on seven clean shirts, and
in that condition he went over to see her again, letting
her know that it was impossible for him to live with-
out her. The young lady, who was far from being
362 LINDEB'S REMINISCENCES.
indifferent to the suit of Minshall, finally concluded
that she would try and make a man of him, so she
said to him: "Mr. Mmsliall, I will never marry a
drunkard, and if I had a husband and he was to be-
come one, I would leave him on the instant, if I loved
him as I love my life; but I have come to the con-
clusion that I will marry you upon one condition : If
you will reform your habits, and give me satisfac-
tory proofs of the same, and make a solemn vow that
you will never drink again. So now you go home and
divest yourself of all those shirts but one, and come
back in a month from now, and we will consummate
this agreement."
Minshall gladly took her at her word, and after a
month's probation he returned, took the vow, and they
were married, and he religiously lived up to his pledge
to the day of his death; and I know of no happier
couple than they were in the whole circle of my ac-
quaintance. He had the reputation of being one of
the kindest of husbands and tenderest of fathers in
the town where he lived. I have often been at his
house, partaken of his hospitality, and my eyes never
looked upon a more beautiful picture of domestic hap-
piness than he and his family presented.
During his life 1 often met him at the Supreme
Court at Springfield. His genial and amiable coun-
tenance I often recall to memory, and the many social
chats we had together, and lean freely say that I don't
know of any lawyer who was a much brighter or more
shining ornament of the bar than "William A. Min-
shall, of Schuyler county.
JOHN D. CATON. 363
JOHN D. CATON
IUDGE JOHN D. CATON is a name that
could not well be omitted from these pages;
and yet he needs no place here to make his
name and fame more widely known than it now is. For
twenty or twenty-five years he was one of the judges
of our Supreme Court, and his written opinions,
which are to be found in our judicial reports, are mas-
terpieces of legal acumen and an imperishable monu-
ment of his legal learning and strong common sense.
His opin-ions in equity cases would do honor to a
Hardwicke or an Eldon. During his long career as
lawyer and judge in this State, no one ever dared to
impugn his integrity or call in question his impar-
tiality. He was first appointed to the supreme judge-
ship by Gov. Thomas Ford, if I remember rightly, to
fill some vacancy which had occurred; was subse-
quently elected to the same office by the legislature,
and after the office was made elective by the people,
he was again and again elected thereto.
There is rather an amusing story told of Judge
Caton when the supreme judges were only receiving a
salary of twelve or fifteen hundred dollars a year. He
went into a grocery store, it seems, and purchased a
very nice sugar-cujed ham, and set it down by
364 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
the side of the counter and commenced a little confab
with the grocer. While they were talking, a great
shaggy ill-favored cur-dog came in and picked up the
judge's ham and deliberately made off' with it; but the
judge was in time, and overtaking his dogship rescued
his ham, giving his caninity several hearty kicks, and
addressing him in language something like the fol-
lowing:
" You miserable " with an adjective as strong as
the dignity of a supreme judge would allow, which I
will not repeat; "you are the meanest dog I ever saw,
to come in here and steal the ham which has cost me
my last dollar; don't you know that I am only receiv-
ing the pitiful salary of twelve hundred and fifty dol-
lars a year? You are mean enough to steal the last
piece of meat from the lowest shelf in a nigger's
kitchen."
Judge Caton has always been a Democrat. . I think
he is a native of New York. He came to this State
and . located in Chicago about the year 1832 or '33,
about the same time that Giles Spring settled in that
place. I heard him give a most amusing narration at
the lawyers' festival, held at the Pacific Hotel a year
or more ago, of his and Spring's trials as young law-
yers. He said that clients were few, fees small and
money scarce. I think he said, I am not sure, that he
and Spring, or one of them, kept his office on the head
of a barrel down on the corner of Lake and Wells
streets; but clients not making their appearance, and
they being bound to have money to pay their hotel
bills, they engaged to carry the chain for a surveyor
on the North Side, where the weeds were tremendously
JOHN D. CATON. 365
high and thick. He told the hotel-keeper where he
could be found if any one came wanting a lawyer;
" And," said he, " I managed to put Giles at the front
end of the chain, knowing that if a client should come
he would follow our trail through the weeds and I
would be the first lawyer he would overtake. "We
hadn't been more than half an hour engaged in our
work, Giles calling out " stick," and I answering
" stuck," when a very genteel looking man came along
on our trail, inquiring for a lawyer. I told him I was
* the man he wanted to see. I don't remember now
what kind of a case it was, but suffice it to say, that
the fee for those times was a very handsome one, and
paid down all in silver."
Judge Caton's speech on that occasion was inter-
larded with many amusing and laughable anecdotes.
I presume it is known to most of my readers that
Judge Caton has amassed a considerable fortune which
did not accrue from his salary on the bench, but resulted
from his prudent and wise investment of money in the
purchase of telegraphic stock. He is perhaps worth
to-day over a million of dollars. He is now master
of his own time, and not bound in official chains to
any government or party. He has recently made a
tour through Norway, and has published a very hand-
some work, giving his observations on that people and
country.
Judge Caton has never arrived at any very high
position in the political world, but I will venture to
say that were he called to the highest office in his
State or nation he would fill it with honor to himself
and advantage to his country. It is a pity we have
not more such men.
366 LINDEE'S REMINISCENCES.
J. L. D. MORRISON.
jSIIALL next present my readers with the name
of Col. J. L. D. Morrison, better known as Col. '
" Don " Morrison. I became acquainted with
him about the year 1841 at Kaskaskia, where he was
born, educated and raised until he went on board a
man-of-war as a midshipman.
When I was introduced to him at Kaskaskia he was
then a young lawyer, and had been but a short time
at the bar. He was associated with me in the cele-
brated Yandeevers trial, of which I have spoken in the
sketch I have given of the life of Joe Gillespie. He
then lived at Belleville, St. Clair county. I am mis-
taken in saying that my first introduction to him was
at Kaskaskia, for I was introduced to him at Nashville,
Washington county, Ills., and from there we all went
on horseback to Kaskaskia. " Don " is a cousin of
Mrs. Judge Breese. The Morrisons are one of the
oldest and most respectable families in Illinois, and
lived in Kaskaskia during its territorial existence.
My readers are, I presume, aware that Kaskaskia is
one of the oldest towns on this continent, being older
than Philadelphia. It is situated at the lower edge of
the American Bottom, the name given to a very rich
J. L. D. MOKKISON. 367
and fertile tract of country intervening between the
Mississippi river and the bluffs east of it on the Illi-
nois side, its upper limits being a little below Lower
Alton — its average width being about six or seven
miles. The soil is all alluvial, having been formed by
deposits from the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. It
is perhaps one of the most fertile and productive por-
tions of our globe. 1 have never seen such corn grow
in any other portion of the world I have ever been in.
One hundred bushels to the acre is no uncommon occur-
rence, and it is equally prolific in other products. The
largest and most delicious melons I ever ate were the
growth of the American Bottom, and it is somewhat
remarkable that it has never been settled by a very
thrifty or industrious people, being mostly occupied
by old Canadian French, as the names of their towns
scattered up and down the bottom will sufficiently
indicate. The current of the Mississippi at some
remote period once ran close to these rocky bluffs, and
a man can see some sixty feet above the level of the
river or bottom, where its waters have worn away the
solid rock. But I will not follow the current of the
Mississippi any further, but will go back and take up
my old friend Don Morrison.
Don was a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Mexican war,
and fought writh General Taylor in all his battles, from
Palo Alto to Buena Vista. Don, on the day of the
latter bloody battle, was laid upon, the sick list at Sal-
tillo, a few miles from there, but when he heard the
cannon roaring, contrary to the orders of his surgeon
and the commands of his superior officer, he mounted
his horse and rode to the scene of action, where he
368 LINDEK'S REMINISCENCES.
joined with Col. Bissell's regiment, and fought with
them throughout the balance of the engagement. He
gave me a description "of that battle more graphic and
interesting than any that I have ever had, either from
books or human lips, especially that part of his narra-
tion relating to the manner in which our flying artil-
lery played upon the Mexican army. He said that at
a word or signal, the horses being detached from the
cannon, would lay down flat upon the ground, when
our artillery would open with grape and canister upon
the enemy, producing such a scene of carnage, slaugh-
ter and death as he had no language to describe;
when at another signal the horses would take their
places, and ere the smoke had passed away the same
artillery would be playing upon the Mexican ranks
from another part of the field of battle. Said he:
" Our men fought as perhaps no other set of men ever
did fight, bnt it was our flying artillery that won for
us the final victory."
" At one portion of the day Captain Bragg, who had
charge of the artillery, was so hard pressed that he
sent to General Ta}4or for reinforcements, when Gen-
eral Taylor and Major Bliss mounted their horses
and promptly rode to where Captain Bragg was, and
said: 'Captain Bragg, you sent to me for reinforce-
ments, and I have brought you all I have, Major Bliss
and myself.' ' What shall I do General? ' said Bragg.
Old Rough-and-Ready answered in a very quiet way:
1 Give them a little more grape, Captain Bragg;' and
Captain Bragg, taking him at his word, increased the
amount of grape, which soon made the Mexicans glad
to retire."
J. L. D. MORRISON. 369
This I had from Col. Morrison's own lips. He told
me that he was so sick that he could scarcely sit his
horse during the engagement, but that he would
sooner have died a thousand deaths than not have
taken part in that memorable battle. And I take
occasion here to say that in my humble opinion, no
such victory, ancient or modern, was ever won.
We had only four thousand troops all told, and only
four hundred of them regular 'soldiers, the balance
being nothing but raw militia, while the Mexicans
numbered over twenty thousand regulars, commanded
by their renowned and favorite General, Santa Anna.
He expected to literally chew and eat up old Zac. and
his handful of men. Such a thing as defeat never
crossed his mind. He had crossed the plains intend-
ing to steal upon old Zac. and catch him asleep; but
old " Rough-and-Ready " was wide awake and prepared
to receive him as far as it was possible for him to do
so under the circumstances. I may have related it
before in some portion of these memoirs, but I will
relate it again as I got it from Col. Don. Morrison.
In the darkest and gloomiest hour of the battle, some
officer rode up to General Taylor and said: " General,
our men are whipped — badly whipped." Taylor re-
plied: " I know it, and have known it for the last hour
or so, but our d — d fool boys don't know it, and they
will fight on till they ultimately whip these Mexican
devils, for they have not got the stamina of our West-
ern and Southern boys;" and the General's prediction
was not long in its fulfillment. They finally retired,
leaving the victory with us; but it was a victory most
sorely and dearly purchased, for it .resulted in the loss
24
370 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
of such glorious men as Colonels John J. Harclin,
Key and young Henry Clay of Kentucky, the son of
the distinguished orator and statesman of that State.
Col. Don. Morrison, when I last saw him, was a
man of fine personal appearance. He is a man of ele-
gant manners and of a gallant and chivalrous nature.
He married a daughter of Thomas Carlin, who was
once Governor of this State. She was a highly educa-
ted, beautiful and refined lady. I don't know anything
more of Don. necessary to be recorded; I therefore
take my leave of him, having no doubt that posterity
will take good care of his name and fame.
JOHN HOG AN. 371
JOHK HOGAN".
HE Rev. John Hogan shall have the next place
in these recollections. He was a member-of
the lower House of the Illinois Legislature
which convened in 1836 and '37 at Yandalia.
He is a native of Ireland. He was originally a
Methodist preacher and circuit rider, and, like all Irish-
men, was gifted in the way of gab. He took a leading
part in most of the subjects that came before our House.
I remember that he was amongst the most prominent
of the members of that body who embarked in our
wild and mad schemes of internal improvement. I
have already related in another place what he said in
reference to the value of our bonds when they should
be thrown upon the market, and of course will not
repeat it here. He was the son-in-law of a little, old
retired Methodist preacher by the name of "West, and
brother-in-law to the West who during the Alton riots
ascended upon a long ladder to the roof of Godfrey &
Gilman's warehouse and extinguished the fire which
had been thrown there by the outsiders in the form of
a blazing ball saturated with turpentine; and, strange
to tell, Lovejoy and others of those inside came out
and fired upon him as he was ascending the ladder
372 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
intending to do them a favor. West finally undertook
to negotiate between those outside and those inside of
the warehouse, and he did so. After the death of
Lovejoy, John Hogan, as well as myself, was severely
assailed and maligned for the part he took in attempt-
ing to settle and compromise matters between Love-
joy and his enemies. I know that he did all that mor-
tal man could do to bring about peace between these
hostile elements.
After John and I had served in the legislature
together, I lost sight of him awhile, but he finally
removed to St. Louis, Mo., and was elected as one of
the Representatives from that district to the House of
Representatives in Congress.
I fell in with John Hogan at Springfield, 111., in
1874, at the unveiling of Lincoln's statue, and he and
I and Bob. Wilson, all three members of that old and
celebrated legislature of 1836 and '37, rode down
together in the same .carriage to the monument, and
• - o o /
had places of honor assigned to us; and the reader
may rest assured that we called up many reminiscences
and recollections, some agreeable and some sad. It
was upon this occasion that I learned from Wilson
that he had kept the run of that legislature, and that
out of a hundred and five members there were only
fifteen living, of which Hogan, Wilson and myself
made three.
John Hogan is a man of very fine social qualities,
and as a popular speaker, possessed the faculty of
interesting an audience and in gaining their attention
and holding, it equal to almost any man I ever knew.
He is quite a small man, of a very pleasant counte-
JOHN HOGAN. 373
nance, and when young was quite a handsome man, but
when I last saw him, I discovered that time and age
had made sad havoc with his personal comeliness,
as they had done with myself. He was a man of fine
colloquial and conversational powers. Knowing noth-
ing of my Old friend John Hogan which might be of
interest to my readers, I here respectfully take leave
of him.
LINDEK'S REMINISCENCES.
BUCKMAStEK.
JWILL now introduce the name of Nathaniel
Buckmaster, one of my most beloved and
highly esteemed friends. My acquaintance
with him commenced in 1837, when I was in attend-
ance on the Madison County Circuit Court, as Attor-
ney-General, he being at that time sheriff' of that
county. No man that I ever saw prepossessed me
more at first appearance than Nathaniel Buckmaster.
He seemed to take me to his very heart and bosom
on our first introduction, and we continued to be fast
and steadfast friends to the very last day that I ever
saw him. He was the most genial, social and con-
vivial man I ever knew. He was not a lawyer by
profession, but he possessed considerable talent. He
was a native of Virginia, and possessed all the hos-
pitable qualities of the people of that Old Dominion;
and I recur to him now and the recollection of our
friendly intercourse with the greatest pleasure. He
has given me most substantial proof of his friendship.
He was a member of the State Legislature, and I
think it was the Senate, prior to 1836 and 1837. He
was acquainted with most of the distinguished men
who figured in the State of Illinois, prior to my advent
NATHANIEL BUCKMASTEK. 375
into the State, and has narrated to me many inter-
esting anecdotes and incidents connected with the
lives and careers of those men that I cannot now recall,
which would be of great interest to my readers if I
could; but they know how frail is human memory,
and must excuse me for not doing so.
Mr. Buckmaster for many years was sheriff of Mad-
ison county, and also warden of the penitentiary at
Alton, and in all his official relations he sustained the
character of an honest man and faithful public officer.
He was a man about six feet high, of a symmetrical
form, and one of the finest dancers I ever saw, and he
moved through the giddy mazes of the dance with a
grace and elegance unsurpassed by any man I ever
saw.
My readers must pardon me for introducing Col.
Buckmaster into this work. He was my old and
especial friend, and as I have been trying to write for
their amusement, if not for their instruction, they will
accord to me the privilege of introducing to them one
of my dearest friends, whom I most sincerely love, of
whom I will ilbw take leave. He has lone; since gone
O <"»
to the Summer Land, where I trust all such men will
go. If we meet again beyond this earthly sphere, in
a better place than this, I hope to have a happy meet-
ing with my old friend Nathaniel Buckmaster.
376 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
JAMES TUBKEY.
jHE next name I propose to present to my
readers is that of General James Turney, who
was one of our State Senators in the legisla-
ture of 1836 and '37, to whom I have already referred
in connection with an affair of honor which occurred
between a member of the house and myself. Gen.
Turney was a much older man than myself, and got
the name of General as I did, having been Attorney-
General of the State some considerable time previous
to my election thereto. He was a native of Tennes-
see, and connected with the talented Turneys of that
State, some of whom figured conspicuously in the Con-
gress of the United States.
Gen. Turney was a man of commanding eloquence,
and of a very majestic appearance, especially when he
addressed the Senate. No one could fail to recognize
O
in a moment, when they heard him speak, that he was
a man of considerable genius and talent. He never
failed to command the most profound attention of the
Senate, and at all times was listened to with the great-
est interest. I remember when going on my circuit
as Attorney-General of being told by Col. Buckmas-
ter and others that such was the reputation which had
JAMES TUKNEY. 377
preceded Gen. Turney that a great many men indicted
came in and confessed guilty, rather than stand a trial
under his administration as Attorney-General. I have
spent many long and agreeable hours with Gen. Tur-
ney. "We elected him, in 1837, as one of the commis-
sioners of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, which
office he filled for several years. I was at his town —
Carrollton — at the time of the Alton riots, Jesse B.
Thomas being judge of that court. Gen. Turney's
habits being then none of the best, he got me to take
charge of his cases, which I did. I deem it unneces-
sary here to say anything more of General Turney.
378 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
E. G. EYAK
|HE next name I propose to introduce is that
of E. G. Ryan, now one of the judges of the
Supreme Court of Wisconsin. My acquain-
tance with him commenced at Yandalia, at that mem-
orable session of the legislature of 1836 and '37. He
was there in attendance upon the Supreme Court as a
lawyer, his residence being then at Chicago; and I
think I may say, without giving offense to any living
man, there was no man then at the bar who could claim
to be his superior.
Ryan is an Irishman by birth. He is a man of bad
temper and tyrannical disposition. He fell out with
Isaac P. Walker once at Springfield, and abused
Walker in adjectives that but few men could stand,
and AValker gave him a terrible flogging, which I pre-
sume he has not forgotten even to this day. Walker
was a perfect Hercules in physical strength and power,
and therefore it was no difficult task to administer this
chastisement to Ryan.
Ryan was a most eminent and learned lawyer, and
has to-day, perhaps, no superior on the Northwestern
bench. I was introduced to him by Judge Theophilus
W. Smith, of Chicago, but was never prepossessed with
E. G. EYAJT. 379
him from the first hour of our acquaintance. He was
a very sarcastic and disagreeable man. He strove to
make everybodj' feel their inferiority to him and his
superiority to them.
I lost sight of him for a good many years, but I
learned in these later years, that Ryan sank into great
indigence, and had actually to copy records and law-
yers' briefs as a means of supporting himself and his
family, but a little turn in fortune's wheel has lifted
him to the Supreme Bench of the State of Wisconsin,
where I trust he will long remain, for he is certainly
a great judicial light, and whatever may be his faults,
I take him to be a pure and honest man and an up-
right judge; and if these pages should meet his eye, I
wish him to consider, in the language of Shakspeare,
" that I have nothing extenuated, nor set down aught
in malice." As E. G. Ryan has for a long time been
a citizen of Wisconsin, I leave him to the care of the
historians of that State, and those who may write up
the biographies of its distinguished men, having
devoted to him the space here given in consideration
of his having once been a citizen of the State of
Illinois.
380 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
WILLIAM O. QEEENUR
1HE next name that I shall introduce is that
of one of the oldest citizens of Illinois, and
one of the first men of any distinction with
whom I became acquainted after my advent into this
State — it is that of Col. William 0. Greenup. My
acquaintance with him commenced in 1835, at iny
father's house, in the town of Greenup, and county of
Coles, on the National Road, being then constructed
from Terre Haute to Vandalia, to which I have already
alluded in some other portion of these memoirs.
Col. Greenup was a native of Kentucky, and a
nephew of old Gov. Greenup, of that State. He came
to Illinois while it was a territory, and settled in Kas-
kaskia, and was Secretary of the convention that
formed our first Constitution. He was a great friend
of ray father and mother, and also of mine. I remem-
ber very distinctly I sent down to the Supreme Court
my license to practice law by the hand of Col. Greenup,
dated the first of May, 1827, and received from them
a license, authorizing me to practice in the State of
Illinois.
At the time when I first became acquainted with
Col. Greenup, he was the chief officer and Superintend-
WILLIAM 0. GKEENUP. 381
ent of the National Road, and boarded and made his
home at my father's house. The town of Greenup
was laid out by him and Captain Barber, and named
after my friend Greenup.
The Colonel was a perfect walking enclyclopeedia
of the early men of Illinois. Most of what I have
learned of the men and events of Illinois prior to
my acquaintance with them, I learned from Colonel
Greenup. He was a man of the most remarkable
memory I ever knew. He was not only acquainted
with most of the eminent men of Illinois, but with a
great many in Kentucky. For instance: The Wick-
liifes, the Hardins, Marshalls, Grundy and Rowan, and
many others that I cannot now call to mind.
Colonel Greenup died many years ago. My acquaint-
ance with him continued up to 1838, and our relations
were always of a friendly character. I have given
him a place here because he was prominent in the
early history of our State, and took an active part in
the formation of our first Constitution ; and was
honored by the secretaryship of that ancient body. I
therefore make no apology for introducing his name
into these memoirs.
382 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
DAVID MCDONALD.
TIE next name that I shall introduce to my
readers is one that I have too long neglected,
and should have had the first place, or nearly
so, in the memoirs. It is the name of Judge David
McDonald, late judge of the Federal District Court
of Indiana. My acquaintance commenced with him
many years ago. I know it was prior to 1856. A
friend of mine had been sued in the Circuit Court of
Vigo county, Indiana, Terre Haute being the county
seat. The name of the plaintiff was Dumas Vanderen,
and that of the defendant, my client, Ebenezer Noyes,
both citizens of Coles county, Illinois. Noyes em-
ployed me to defend him, and authorized me to associ-
ate with me one of the most distinguished lawyers of
Indiana, leaving the choice entirely to me. I had
determined on employing Joe Marshall, of Madison,
Indiana, and wrote him a letter to that effect, and got
one of the most melancholy replies I ever received,
telling me that it would have afforded him the great-
est pleasure to have been associated with me in that
case, but it was impossible, for he felt himself to be in
a dying condition, and was about going South to try
and recruit his health. At the term of the court to
DAVID MCDONALD. 383
which the case was set for trial, I got acquainted with
Judge Hughes, the presiding judge of that court, and
told him of my dilemma. He told me he thought he
could introduce me to a lawyer that would exactly
suit my purpose, and thereupon introduced me to
David McDonald, who had for. a long time been judge
of the circuit on the circuit including Bloomington,
Indiana, and who had also been professor, and lecturer
of the law school in that place. From that time our
intimacy and acquaintance commenced, which were
of the most intimate character. I loved the man, and
I think he loved me.
Somewhere about 1856 or '7 I received a letter from
him desiring me to meet him at old Vincennes, stating
that the Yincennes University wished to employ me
in the prosecution of a claim of theirs against Sam-
uel Judah, who as their lawyer had collected about
forty or fifty thousand dollars, which he refused to pay
over to them. I met him there at the time appointed,
at a term of the Vincennes court set for the trial of the
case. We only charged them the moderate sum of one
thousand dollars apiece, they giving us a very hand-
some retainer. Judah, not being popular, took a
change, of venue to Sullivan county, where Judge
McDonald and I attended for several years, prosecut-
ing the claim of the University against Judah. We got,
as well as I remember, two or three verdicts, which were
reversed by the Supreme Court of Indiana; but the last
one, which was for about nine thousand dollars, they
permitted to stand.
I shall never forget the pleasant and agreeable hours
which I spent with Judge McDonald at our hotel
384 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
while attending to this case. He was a warm friend
and admirer of mine, and I most cordially reciprocated
his friendship and admiration.
Judge McDonald was originally, when quite a young
man, a preacher in the Christian Church, but he left
them and became a member of the Methodist Church
— not because he preferred their doctrines, but because
he believed his own church had treated him badly, in
which opinion I concurred.
He was a man of the most amiable and social dis-
position, a fair scholar, and one of the best special
pleaders I ever saw. This connection of ours in the
Vincennes-Judah case ran through several years.
After that case was over, and I removed with my
family to the city of Chicago in 1860, I was employed
in a land suit in the District Federal Court of Indi-
ana, of which court David McDonald had been ap-
pointed Judge by Mr. Lincoln. It is unnecessary to
speak of the manner in which that suit terminated.
The last time I remember to have seen Judge Mc-
Donald was in Chicago, sitting by the side of Judges
Davis and Drummond, on the bench of the Federal
Circuit Court of this State. He had come to this city
to be treated for a spinal affection by a magnetic and
spiritual doctor. Whether true or not, he professed
to have obtained relief from his manipulations, but it
was not long afterwards when I heard of his death,
which filled my heart with sorrow and grief. No man,
lawyer or judge, in Indiana, was more renowned for
his legal learning, integrity and impartiality, than his
Honor, David McDonald, and iny heart makes many a
pilgrimage to his grave, and may the grass long grow
DAVID MCDONALD.
385
green thereon. If I thought that I was not to join
him in a better state than this, I should regret having
ever been placed on this low ground of sorrow and sin.
He was an older man than myself, but I feel that the
time is not long when I must follow him to " that
bourne from whence no traveler returns." Peace be
to his ashes! for he has left to posterity a name and
fame embalmed in the hearts of his countrymen.
25
386 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
GILES SPRIKG-.
ILES SPRING is a lawyer who located in Chi-
cago in 1832 or 1833. He and Judge Caton
were contemporaries in the practice of law in
that city. The first time I ever saw Spring was at
Yandalia, in 1836, during that session of the legisla-
ture to which I have so often alluded. He was there
in attendance on the Supreme Court. He was a man
naturally of very strong intellect, possessing rare pow-
ers of analysis, but of limited education. As a speci-
men of his deficiency in the latter respect, I will give
a statement he made to the court in a case he brought
down from Chicago. " May it please your Honors,"
said he, " the hull evidence in this case, as sot down
in the record, makes a clear case in favor of my client."
But, notwithstanding his limited education, he
seemed to be a sort of natural lawyer, possessing an
intuitive insight into its principles and maxims. I
have had it from the lips of very eminent counsel who
are still living, that Giles Spring had no superior at
the bar in his powers of analysis. He seemed to pos-
sess the faculty of looking through a case at almost a
single glance.
I did not meet him again until about the year 1848,
GILES SPRING. 387
at Springfield, 111., the legislature being then in session,
and I being a member thereof from the county of
Coles. Giles was there attending upon the Supreme
Court, and with several axes to grind by the legisla-
ture. During this session, Giles and I became pecu-
liarly intimate, and I have the most lively and tender
recollection of our intercourse at that time. I may
have seen him again in 1854, when I paid a visit to
Chicago, but of this I am not positively certain. I
do not know the precise time of his death, only that he
departed this life a good while ago.
He was a man of child-like simplicity of manners;
as tender-hearted as a woman, and would have stepped
aside to keep from treading on a worm. If he had
his faults, their name was not legion, and what-
ever they may have been, I have no great capacity
now for remembering them, and shall therefore leave
them for some more malevolent historian than myself
to record.
He was Circuit Judge of Cook county at one period
of his life, and all the lawyers who have survived him,
who practiced in his court, speak of him as one of the
ablest judges that ever presided as judge of the Circuit
Court of Cook County. He left three children, two of
whom have gone to rest with their father. His son
Edward, whom I have met, is married and living in
Chicago. I have understood that his father left a very
handsome property to his family.
I will wind up this sketch by saying what can be
sajd of but few men, that I never met with any person
who spoke an evil word of Giles Spring.
388 LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
SAMUEL H. TBEAT.
AMUEL H. TREAT has been a presiding judge
in the State of Illinois for over thirty odd
years, part of the time on the Supreme Bench
of the State of Illinois, and part of the time a Judge
of the District Court of the United States for the
Southern District of Illinois. In all the judicial posi-
tions he has held he has maintained a character for
unblemished integrity and spotless honesty and honor.
I cannot fix the precise date when my personal
acquaintance with him commenced, but I think it
dates back to about 1843, or '44. I never knew him
as a practicing lawyer, but only as a judge of the
higher courts of our State and Nation. He was a
o
sterling Democrat, and as true as steel to that great
and noble old party, but he never suffered his politics
to mingle in the slightest degree with his judicial
opinions or deliberations. He was remarkable for his
urbanity and suavity of manners, as well when off as
when on the bench. If any person will read the reports
of the Supreme Court of Illinois, they will find the
opinions of Judge Treat to be the neatest and tersest
of them all, and the nicest legal criticism will be un-
able to detect an error in the points he has made or
the reasons he has brought to support them.
SAMUEL H. TREAT. 389
Judge Treat, as I understand, is a native of the
State of New York. His elegant lady is a native of
Virginia, and is closely connected with some of the
oldest and best families of that renowned common-
wealth.
Judge Treat is still living and resides at Springfield,
111., where I think he has resided for the last twenty-
five or thirty years, and he is still judge of the Federal
Court, to which he is an honor and an ornament, and
long may he live to adorn that station.
My acquaintance with him has been long, and our
friendship of the warmest character. He was an inti-
mate acquaintance and personal friend of Abraham
Lincoln in his life-time, although they differed in
politics. Judge Treat is now, with the exception of
Judge Breese, one of the oldest judges in the State of
Illinois. I think he is sixty-five or seventy years of
age. He is a quiet, unambitious man, and precisely
the kind of timber out of which judges should be made.
390 LUMBER'S REMINISCENCES.
LTLE SMITH.
|YLE SMITH was a lawyer who settled in
Chicago at an early day, and was decidedly, in
my opinion, one of the prettiest and most elo-
quent speakers I ever heard. I met him in a Whig
convention at Springfield, Ills., about the year 1844,
and I think it would not be out of place to bestow
upon him the compliment, paid by the " Old Hanger,"
Gov. Reynolds, to Henry Clay. When asked by some
of his younger friends what he thought of Mr. Clay's
eloquence, replied, as I have stated in another place,
that " the only thing he could compare it to, if they
could imagine such a thing, was fifty fiddles, all in full
blast.
All that Lyle Smith wanted, was a more portly
personage to make him one of the most commanding
orators I ever heard. He was a very small man, fall-
ing considerably below the medium size, but possess-
ing a voice like a trumpet, and as sweet and mellow
in its tones as music played upon the waters on a calm
summer evening. He did not figure largely as a lawyer,
for the reason that he had no necessity to do so, being
the owner in his own right of choice tracts of lands in
LYLE SMITH.
391
the State of Illinois, which he counted by thousands
of acres, besides any amount of money which he called
upon his father to supply, who was a wealthy capi-
talist in the city of Philadelphia.
I have been told that Lyle kept open house in
Chicago to all his friends who came to see him from
every point of the compass, whom he entertained with
princely magnificence and elegance. He has long
since gone to join the thousands of his contemporaries
who have passed away, and we trust that he has not
found the change disagreeable.
392 LINDEK'S REMINISCENCES.
PATEIOK BALLINGALL.
1ATRICK BALLINGALL is the next name I
shall introduce here, which I do with some
reluctance, for the reason that I am not in
possession of sufficient facts and materials to do him
complete justice. A considerable number of his cotem-
poraries are still living in the city of Chicago, and
they all speak of his talents and social qualities as
being of the very highest order. I met him once or
twice at Springfield, but had no opportunity of testing
him further than as a social boon companion, who
liked his friends and had the capacity of making them
feel agreeable. He was a Scotchman by birth and
education. He was Prosecuting-Attorney for Cook
county at one time, arid I have been told by lawyers
who knew him in that capacity, that no abler or fiercer
prosecutor had ever filled that office in Cook county.
They speak of him in unmeasured terms of applause,
giving to him the first place at the bar while on the
theatre of this life, especially in the criminal depart-
ment of the law.
I am truly sorry that I am unable to give any length-
ier notice of my friend PatBallingall. This, however,
must suffice. He has been dead many years, and I
trust he is happy, wherever he may be.
GEOKGE MANIEKRE. 393
GEOKGE MAN1EBKE.
EOEGE MA-NIEERE, the next name that I
introduce to my readers, is a lawyer of very
old standing in the city of Chicago. He was
on the bench of the Circuit Court of Cook County when
I removed to the city of Chicago in 1860, where he
continued to the time of his death, which took place, I
think, some eight or ten years ago. He was a most
excellent judge, a profound and deeply read lawyer,
and had a character for unimpeachable integrity which
he richly deserved. Slander itself never uttered a syl-
lable to tarnish his good name and honesty as a judge.
Bribery never dared to approach him. I never had a
case before him without feeling the most unbounded
confidence in his purity and intelligence. I believe
the bar who knew him would unite to-day in saying,
"We never had a more upright or intelligent judge."
He added to his learning as a lawyer an urbanity
on the bench, with a courtesy which he extended to
all his lawyers alike, whether old or young.
He was a man of very prepossessing appearance,
rather inclined to corpulence, but still, nevertheless, of
a very imposing presence, the chief element of which
was, he always met you with a smile which beamed
from his face like sunshine. He put on no false dig-
39 A LINDER'S REMINISCENCES.
nity on account of his judicial position, but was emi-
nently social, and conversed upon terms of perfect
equality with all the members of the bar, and there
was not one amongst us who did not love him as a
brother.
I know nothing more worthy to be related of George
Manierre, except that I have heard it said that he was
the author of the first city charter of Chicago. He
left a handsome estate to his family, and, what is bet-
ter, an unsullied name and fame as a priceless legacy
to his children, and there I leave him, knowing that
posterity will take good care of his fame.
EETKOSPECTIVE. 305
KETROSPECTIVE.
>W, my worthy readers, pardon me, if you
please, while I step aside to speak of the
humble author of these memoirs, who has got
them up for your amusement and entertainment, if
not for your instruction. I think in the introductory
part of this work I have brought myself up to my
advent into Illinois in 1835. As I have already said,
on the next year after my entrance into the State, I
was elected to the House of Ilepresentatives in the
State legislature of Illinois, from the county of Coles.
On the 11 th day of February, 1837, the legislature on
joint ballot elected me Attorney-General of the State,
over Benjamin Bond, who was a member from Clinton
county. You may well imagine how a boy of plebeian
stock would feel by being so soon elevated to so high
a position. As the law then stood, it required the
Attorney-General to reside at the seat of government,
which law I aui sorry to say I did not obey, but took
my family to Alton, where we lived for a year or so —
that family then consisting of my wife and self and a
little girl about five or six years old. In 1838, we
returned to Coles county, Illinois, and from that time
up to 1860 I led a career of proud legal success on the
396 LINDEK'S REMINISCENCES.
Wabash circuit which makes my heart now swell with
pride when I think of it. I made hundreds and thou-
sands of dollars on that circuit, and I spent it liber-
ally; was not mean or penurious in its distribution;
and I can lay my hand upon my heart and say that I
never persecuted or oppressed an unfortunate man in
my character of lawyer. I have met and fought the
proud and rich oppressor on hundreds of legal battle-
fields, and if any man will go to-day on my old circuit
he will find the above statement to be true. I do not
pretend to perfection, for I know that I am a poor,
erring, sinful man; but whatever my faults may have
been, and I know they have been rather grievous, I
think my heart has always been in the right place, and
I think that I shall leave to my children a character
for integrity and charity of which they will not be
ashamed; but it is not my business to Jbe judge in my
own case, and I therefore leave it to posterity to deter-
mine whether I have been a worthy man and lawyer
or not; and with that decision I shall rest content. If
poverty is a crime, then 1 have been a great criminal,
and all I have got to say is to exclaim with the pub-
lican, "The Lord have mercy upon me a sinner."
I have been sixteen years in the city of Chicago,
and during that time have attended to many cases in
the various courts of law and equity, and I think the
judges before whom I have appeared may be safely
appealed to as to their opinion of my course as a fair
and honorable lawyer; and I was never a candidate
for any office during those whole sixteen years, unless
it might be thought I was so when I presented my
name a few years ago to the judges of the Circuit and
KETEOSPECTIVE. 397
«.
Superior Courts for nomination to the humble office
of Justice of the Peace, which they failed to give me,
and for which I have no complaint to make against
them. That office would have given me a support in
my old age ; but as I did not get it, I utter no com-
plaint, feeling perfectly assured that that Being who
" tempers the wind to the shorn lamb " will take care
of me and mine.
I have said enough about myself as connected with
other names and incidents without saying any more
in this place. If there is anything more to be written
in reference to myself, I shall leave that matter to my
friends and not undertake to applaud myself.
My worthy readers, in collecting the numerous
names, and the incidents connected therewith, has
been to me a very laborious and painful task; but I do
not begrudge it to you if it shall furnish you with any
entertainment or amusement. This work, humble as
it is, is intended for the American people, and the
American public, whom I sincerely love, and I trust
in God they will long remain in the possession of
their rights and liberties, and never forfeit them by
any blind and heedless devotion to any mere popular
name. I consider this nation as having been planted
here by the fiat and will of Almighty God, and as
having been preserved by his benevolence and power
to the present day. "We shall soon reach the hun-
dredth year of our independence, and the doctrine of
popular sovereignty still prevails; and every lover of
his country feels that it is written upon every part of
the stars and stripes < f the glorious ensign of our lib-
erties and independence, that we shall forever be a free
308 LINDEK'S REMINISCENCES.
and republican government, and that all power dwells
with and emanates from the people. I believe that
the day is not far distant when the fires of republican
liberty which has been lighted on these shores, will
shed their light upon all the nations of the earth, and
our glorious institutions be adopted by all the civil-
ized nations of the world. Behold the progress of this
nation, now only a hundred years of age, which started
with three millions of people, and now numbering over
forty millions, with more miles of railroads and tele-
graph lines than is possessed by all the nations of
Europe; possessing an extent of territory and a fertil-
ity of soil sufficient to support and sustain twenty 'or
thirty times the numbers that now dwell noon our soil.
APPENDIX.
APPENDIX.
BY HON. JOSEPH GILLESPIE.
j|EN MILLS was a finished scholar, a perfect
master of language, of a highly poetic imagi-
i-2Sl nation, and gifted with marvelous tenacity of
memory. On his way out West from Massachusetts,
his traveling companion, whose name was Wait, was a
magnificent singer. They were wild youngsters, and
spent their money in such a lavish way that they got
"strapped" in Richmond, Virginia, and it became a
very important question with them how they should
" raise the wind." The idea struck Ben that he might
do something in the way of preaching. His memory
was stored with any quantity of splendid sermons com-
posed by his father, who was one of the most eminent
and eloquent divines in IsTevv England. Ben had acted
as his father's arcanuens's, and his splendid memory
retained the substance of the sermons. On this occa-
sion he contrived to let it be known in the right quar-
ter that he and his companion were sent to perform
missionary labor in the West. Mills was soon invited
to preach, which he did with wonderful unction. His
brilliant oratorical displays, coupled with Wait's un-
equaled singing, carried the congregation completely
400 APPENDIX.
away. The people were in ecstasies ; space could hardly
be found for their audiences. Richmond was in trans-
ports. From the accounts which I remember to have
heard at the time, the excitement there was equal to
that raised by Moody and Sankey. Now Ben hinted
in one of his discourses that a little material aid would
not come amiss, and instantly their coffers were filled.
The proud old Virginians were not going to allow such
apostles to go empty-handed to the work of converting
the heathen. Mills and "Wait managed as soon as pos-
sible to leave, and it was a considerable time before
the Richmond folks found out that they had been sold.
Ben was unequaled in repartee. lie was attending
to a case once in Galena, and had for his client a black
man; the opposite party was a white man. They
agreed upon a compromise, and Mills went up to Judge
Young, followed by the parties, and stated that they
had compromised the case and desired that his Honor
would enter the terms upon his minutes. The judge
said he would pay no attention to any agreement unless
it was reduced to writing. Mills, quick as lightning,
pointing to the parties, said: "If your Honor please,
here it is, in Hack and white."
Mills once joined a temperance society, and while
he belonged to it a change took place in the style of
drinking vessels — tumblers had been superseded by
wine-glasses. Mills relapsed, and was accosted one
day in a grocery where he was nourishing a small
wine-glass in his hand, by David Prickett, who said:
" Mills, I thought you had quit drinking." " So I
have," said Ben, holding up his litttle glass, "in a
great measure"
APPENDIX. 401
A. "W. CAVAKLT, a member of the bar of Green
county, interposed a general demurrer to one of Mills'
pleadings, and sought thereunder to take advantage of
some matter which could only be reached by special
demurrer. When Cavarly discovered that he could
only reach the detect by special demurrer, he insisted
that his was a special demurrer because he had under-
scored parts of it". Judge Lockwood decided against
him. At dinner the same day, at which the judge and
members of the bar were present, Cavarly .sent his plate
to Mills to be furnished with what he thought was a
cut of venison. Mills sent him a piece which Cavarly
discovered was beef, and he remarked: " Brother Mills,
I wanted venison, and you sent me beef." " Oh,"
said Mills, "underscore it, brother Cavarly, and that
will make it venison."
Cavarly, who was not a very good scholar, used to
pronounce the word unique, you-ni-kue. Some one
asked Mills the meaning of the word as Cavarly pro-
nounced jt. Mills, putting on a grave air, said that it
was the fern-ale of unicorn.
A good story is told of Cavarly, which may be men-
tioned in this connection, as illustrating the difficulty
of getting any information from persons who are indis-
posed to tell what they know: Cavarly brought suit
once against a man for immoderately riding a horse he
had borrowed from the plaintiff, whereby the horse was
injured, and he sought to make out his case by a wit-
ness who was clearly on the other side. The witness
was an oily-tongued, smooth-faced chap, who wore an
expression that was " child-like a-nd bland." Cav-
arly called his witness to the stand, seeming to -be
26
402 APPENDIX.
aware of the attitude of the fellow. Said he: "Wit-
ness, do you know Mr. So-and-so?" (the defendant).
" Yes, sir."
"How long have you known him?"
" Well, about ten years."
" Did you ever see him ride horseback?"
"Yes, frequently."
" Well, now, witness, I want you to state to the jury,
under the solemn sanction of the oath you have just-
taken, how he rides."
Cavarly's object was to prove that he was a hard
rider.
" Well," said the witness, " Mr. Cavarly, he always
rides straddle"
Cavarly was very indignant, and said, " Witness, we
all know that every man in this country rides ' strad-
dle? We don't need to be told that by you. What
we want to know is how he rides. How does he ride
when he is in company?"
"Well, sir, he generally keeps up."
Cavarly's rage now knew no bounds. He called
upon the court to protect him from the insolence of
the witness, and said it must be apparent that, the wit-
ness was trying to evade giving his testimony against
the defendant. The court admonished the witness
that he would have to punish him if he did not answer
according to the spirit of* Mr. Cavarly's interrogato-
ries. The witness said that he was answering the ques-
tions and would answer the best he could.
" Now," said Cavarly, " witness, we don't want to
know whether the defendant rides 'straddle' or not,
or whether he keeps up when he is riding in company.
APPENDIX. 403
We want to know how lie rides. How does he ride
when he is by himself ? "
" Mr. Cavarly, upon my word I can't answer that
question, for I never was with him when he was by
himself?"
This of course created a great laugh at Cavarly's
expense, who berated the fellow soundly, who never-
theless pretended to be surprised to think that any one
should suppose that he was not answering in good
faith. Cavarly was obliged to dismiss the witness and
also his case, although every one knew that the witness
could have answered in the way that would have sus-
tained Cavarly's case.
Mills was appointed by the House of Representa-
tives to manage in the case of the proceedings for the
impeachment of Judge Theophilus W. Smith, and he
made an argument which would have reflected credit
upon Prentiss of Mississippi — to whom he bore a very
close resemblance in the structure of his mind. I
heard the Hon. Cyrus Edwards, who was a splendid
orator himself, and a frequent listener to Clay and the
other luminaries of Kentucky, say that he never heard
anything that surpassed the effort of Mills on that
occasion. Many brilliant passages from his speech
were memorized and quoted at the social gatherings
and upon the streets. It was one of the most eloquent,
finished and scholarly productions that ever fell upon
the human ear. Smith had no fears of impeachment
until after he heard Mills' speech; from that time he
trembled in his boots.
Mills prosecuted Winchester in the trial for the
murder of Smith, in Edwardsville. Grimdy, who
404: APPENDIX.
defended Winchester, and who was the greatest crim-
inal lawyer in the West, and perhaps in the world,
denounced the prosecution for employing a man
against his client, " before the force of whose genius
truth,,justice and law were in danger of succumbing."
~Not even the masterly powers of Felix Grundy could
have saved Winchester had Mills not been a Yankee.
Grundy rung the changes upon the crime of being
born in New England. He thanked God that there
was but one man on the jury who first drew his breath
north of Mason and Dixon's line, and that man had
lived long enough in the West to have thrown off the
perversities of his Yankee nature.
It was at this period that the Yankees were so odi-
ous that they were preached about and denounced
from the pulpit. A story illustrative of this is told
of old " Daddy Biggs," a hardshell Baptist, who
believed that wherever the word sprinkle appeared in
the Bible it was a Yankee trick. He was preaching
once about the richness of God's grace, which he said
" tack in the isles of the sea and the uttermost parts
of the yerth." It embraced the Esquimaux and the
Hottentots, " and some, my brethering, go so fur as
to suppose that it takes in these poor benighted Yan-
kees, l>ut I don't go that fur"
JUSTIN BUTTERFIELD was a man of great ability. As
a lawyer, perhaps, he had no equal in the State, and was
remarkably felicitous in his method of expressing him-
self. He was asked whether he was in favor of the
Mexican war or not. He said he had blasted his po-
litical prospects by opposing the war of 1812, and ever
APPENDIX. 405
since that time he had been in favor of war, pestilence
and famine.
He was perfectly familiar with the scriptures, and
used scriptural quotations and illustrations with great
effect. While he was District Attorney, Ben Bond
Avas U. S. Marshal, and one or two of his brothers
were deputies, and were quite annoying to Butterfiekl,
whose patience at one time was tried beyond endur-
ance. He remarked to some one: " I would to God
that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day,
were both almost and altogether such as I am, except
these Bonds"
David A. Smith, of Jacksonville, who had somehow
incurred the displeasure of Butterfiekl, was sitting one
day in the U. S. court room, sleeping, the sun shining
upon his bald, sleek head. Some one directed Butter-
field's attention to him, when he instantly exclaimed,
in his gruff voice : " The light shineth upon darkness,
but the darkness comprehendeth it not."
His happiest scriptural illustration was when he was
defending the constitutionality of the Shawneetown
Bank. The Constitution of Illinois of 1818, provided
that there should be no bank except the State Bank
and its branches, and also the banks that were then in
existence. The Shawneetown bank was chartered be-
fore that time, but in 1835 its charter was extended.
A writ of quo warranto was sued out against the
bark, and in the argument it was contended by the
counsel who sued out the writ, that the extension of
the charter was in law and in fact the creation of a new
bank. Butterfield was restive while this line of argu-
ment was being pursued, and he arose to reply with
406 APPENDIX.
an expression of contempt in his face. He said he
would like to be informed by the gentlemen if they
had met with it in their reading, which he very much
doubted, however, whether when the Lord lengthened
out the life of Hezekiah fifteen years, he had made a
new man, or was he the same old Hezekiali? "
Of FKIDLEY, of whom Gen. Linder speaks in his me-
moirs, it might be said that he was one of the cutest
men that ever lived. With hardly any education, he
was a decided success in the courts and in the halls of
legislation. His remark to the jury in the case where
it was contended that the bill stolen by the defendant
was not worth five dollars, as it was at a discount of
two per cent., that as it was par for goods or-labor,
the defendant should not be allowed to steal it at a dis-
count, is worth its weight in gold. At one time he
was attending to a case before Judge Caton, and he
was bringing up some question which had been deci-
ded against him, and the judge told him that if he
wanted that question re-examined he must take it to
a court of errors; upon which Fridley remarked, in an
undertone, that if you would not take this court for a
court of errors, he did not know where to go to find
one. This sally was overheard by the judge, and it-
amused him exceedingly, and he often related it with
great gusto.
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