Blue Mass

[Angela]

I found lots of not very credible sources for this incident – but they all seem to quote Ward Hill Lamon’s book.
“He gradually became more and more excited; his voice thrilled and his whole frame shook. I was at the time sitting on the stand beside Hon. O.B. Ficklin, who had served in Congress with Mr. Lincoln in 1847. Mr. Lincoln reached back and took Ficklin by the coat-collar, back of his neck, and in no gentle manner lifted him from his seat as if he had been a kitten, and said: 'Fellow-citizens, here is Ficklin, who was at that time in Congress with me, and he knows it is a lie.' He shook Ficklin until his teeth chattered. Fearing that he would shake Ficklin's head off, I grasped Mr. Lincoln's hand and broke his grip. Mr. Ficklin sat down, and Lincoln continued his address.
After the speaking was over, Mr. Ficklin, who had been opposed to Lincoln in politics, but was on terms of warm personal friendship with hi, turned to him and said: 'Lincoln, you nearly shook all the Democracy out of me to-day.'”

At least, the Prairie Beacon News reported Ficklin to be present for that particular speech and Ida M. Tarbell in “The life Abraham Lincoln” states:

“Lincoln denied and explained, until at last, at Charleston, he turned suddenly to Douglas’s supporters, dragging one of the strongest of them – the Hon. O.B. Ficklin, with whom he had been in Congress in 1848 – to the platform. “I do not mean to do anything with Mr. Ficklin,” he said, “except to present his face and tell you that he personally knows it to be a lie”. And Mr. Ficklin had to acknowledge that Lincoln was right.”

So – shaking/dragging…
Sorry, it took me so long and it is so little!