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of Lyman Lacey, who was then a young man of some 26 years, to defend Norris. In the meantime, Dilworth and Campbell, attorneys of the Mason County bar, had applied for a change of venue from Mason County, Armstrong having made affidavit that the people of that County were so prejudiced against him, that he could not have a fair trial. Judge Harriott ordered the venue changed to Cass County, which is in the same Circuit and adjoined Mason County on the south. Walker and Dilworth and Campbell defended Norris, and Hugh Fullerton, the State's Attorney of the Circuit prosecuted him. The jury found Norris guilty, and he was sentenced to the Penitentiary for the term of eight years.

While Duff Armstrong was lying in the Fulton county jail, his father Jack Armstrong died; on his death bed he advised his wife, Hannah Armstrong, to save Duff if she could, if she had to give up her little farm of forty acres. She employed Walker and Lacey to look after Duff's defense at Havana.

Upon the adjournment of the Mason County Circuit Court, the Mason County sheriff, started to the state penitentiary, then at Alton, Illinois; by steam boat down the Illinois river from Havana to Alton; as Beardstown was on the route, the sheriff handcuffed Norris and Armstrong together and began the journey. While on the way, Norris urged Armstrong to walk about the boat with him, but Armstrong complained of weariness, and kept his seat. He afterwards explained to his friends that he feared Norris might attempt to escape, and drag him overboard. Arriving at Beardstown, the two men were separated, and Duff Armstrong was locked up in the Cass county jail, in that city.

In the meantime Mrs. Hannah Armstrong was advised to secure the services of her old friend Abraham Lincoln. Rev. J. T. Hobson, of Lake City, Iowa, in 1909 published an interesting little book entitled, "Footprints of Abraham Lincoln." This work was published by The Otterbein Press of Dayton, Ohio. This author states

that Mr. Lincoln addressed a letter to Mrs. Armstrong as follows:

Springfield, Ohio, [?] September 18,

"Dear Mrs. Armstrong:-I have just heard of your deep affliction, and the arrest of your son for murder. I can hardly believe that he can be guilty of the crime alleged against him. It does not seem possible. I am anxious that he should have a fair trial, at any rate; and gratitude for your long continued kindness to me in adverse circumstances prompts me to offer my humble services gratuitously in his behalf. It will afford me an opportunity to requite, in a small degree, the favors I received at your hand, and that of your lamented husband, when your roof afforded me grateful shelter without money and without price.

Yours truly,

Abraham Lincoln."

In August, 1831, Abraham Lincoln, then a youth of 22 years, made his appearance in New Salem, Menard county, Illinois, a small settlement on the Sangamon river, a few miles above Petersburg, Illinois. He was employed as a clerk by a man named Offut, who was the proprietor of a store. Offut very soon became a warm friend of his young clerk. He boasted that Lincoln could outrun, whip, or throw down any man in Sangamon county. (Menard was then a part of Sangamon.) A quotation from "Herndon's Life of Lincoln reads thus: "In the neighborhood of the village (of New Salem), or rather a few miles to the southwest, lay a strip of timber called Clary's Grove. The boys who lived there were a terror to the entire region-seemingly a necessary product of frontier civilization. They were friendly and good natured; they could trench a pond, dig a bog, build a house; they could pray and fight, make a village or create a state. They would do almost anything for sport or fun, love or necessity. Though rude and rough, though life's forces ran over the edge of the bowl, foaming and sparkling in pure deviltry's sake, yet place be

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fore them a poor man who needed their aid, a lame or sick man, a defenseless woman, a widow, they melted into sympathy and charity at once. They gave all they had, and willingly toiled or played cards for more. Though there never was under the sun a more generous parcel of rowdies, a stranger's introduction was likely to be the most unpleasant part of his acquaintance with them. They conceded leadership to one Jack Armstrong, hardy, strong, and well-developed specimen of physical manhood, and under him they were in the habit of "cleaning out" New Salem whenever his order went forth to do so. Offut and "Bill" Clary-the latter skeptical of Lincoln's strength and agility-ended a heated discussion in the store one day over the new clerk's ability to meet the tactics of Clary's Grove, by a bet of ten dollars that Jack Armstrong was, in the language of the day, "a better man than Lincoln." The new clerk strongly opposed this sort of an introduction, but after much entreaty from Offut, at last consented to make his bow to the social lions of the town in this unusual way. He was now six feet four inches high, and weighed, as his friend and confidant, William Green, tells us with impressive precision, "two hundred and fourteen pounds." The great contest was to be a friendly one and fairly conducted. All New Salem adjourned to the scene of the wrestle. Money, whiskey, knives and all manner of property were staked on the result. It is unnecessary to go into the details of the encounter. Every one knows how it ended; how at last the tall and angular railsplitter, enraged at the suspicion of foul tactics, and profiting by his height and the length of his arms, fairly lifted the great bully by the throat and shook him like a rag; how by this act he established himself solidly in the esteem of all New Salem, and secured the respectful admiration of the very man whom he had so thoroughly vanquished. From this time forward Jack Armstrong, his wife Hannah, and all the other Armstrongs became his warm and trusted friends. None stood readier than

they to rally to his support, none more willing to lend a helping hand. Lincoln appreciated their friendship and support, and in after years proved his gratitude by saving one member of the family from the gallows."

Shortly after the above encounter, Lincoln became a member of the Armstrong family. The family then lived three and a half miles north of Petersburg, Menard county, two or three miles from the Sangamon river, near Concord church. Here the future president made rails, studied surveying, and helped the farmers of the neighborhood with their work. Mrs. Armstrong would often tell of having "foxed" Lincoln's trousers with deer skin, so they would better sustain the rough usage to which they were subjected in his surveying trips, through tall prairie grass, timber and brush, which he travelled through in establishing the lines of the lands of the early settlers.

Mrs. Armstrong drove all the way to Springfield to consult Mr. Lincoln, hoping he might be able to secure the release of her son before his trial.

Mr. Lincoln attended the November Term of the Cass Circuit court in order to get his client admitted to bail. The result of this effort is shown by the following transcript of the record of the court:

November 19, 1857. The People of the State of Illinois vs. William Armstrong; Venue from Mason County.

And now on this day come the People of the State of Illinois, by their attorney, Hugh Fullerton, Esquire, and the prisoner William Armstrong, who is brought here to the Bar in proper person. A motion is made by the prisoner, to admit him to Bail. Whereupon a motion was made on the part of the People for a continuance until the next Term of this Court, which, after due de liberation by the Court, was granted, and the motion to admit to Bail, was overruled.

Mr. Lincoln then told Duff that he must remain in jail until the next spring, and then he would come down and

get him out. Mrs. Armstrong was present at this time. An old school teacher, who was confined in the same jail for larceny, proposed to Duff's mother, that if she would buy him a pair of spectacles and some books, he would teach her son to read during the long hours that were to come, before the advent of spring; the mother gladly did this, and Duff emerged from the jail the following May, very thin and pale, but his education had been much improved.

The May term of the Circuit Court of Cass county convened on Monday the 3d instant; Mr. Lincoln arrived on Thursday the 6th, and found that the most important witness for the People, Charles Allen, had not arrived, and that an attachment had been issued for him. He inquired of the friends of Armstrong what they knew of Allen, and was told that Allen had agreed with them to remain at the hotel at Virginia, 13 miles away, provided his expenses were paid, and in case they wanted him present, he would come if they would come after him. Mr. Lincoln soon explained to them that if Allen did not appear, he having been summoned to come, the case would be continued, and Duff would remain in jail for six months to come. Two cousins of Duff hitched up the team to their wagon and drove off to Virginia and brought Allen into Beardstown that night, and on Friday the 7th instant, the trial began. The case was prosecuted by Hugh Fullerton, the State's Attorney, assisted by an attorney named Collier, from Petersburg, who had been employed by a brother of Metzker, the deceased. Mr. Lincoln was assisted by William Walker, the senior member of the firm of Walker & Lacey, of Havana, Illinois.

I will allow Mr. Brady, the only juror now living, who tried this case, to describe the trial in his own way:

"The prosecuting witness, Allen, testified in the trial that the reason he could see a slung-shot that Armstrong had in his hand, with which he struck Metzker, was that the moon was shining very bright, about where the sun

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