Lincoln Douglas Debates

[Gene C]

This story from "The Prairie President". I don't recall reading this before, so it may not be a true story.

One instance of Lincoln's drollery is on record in connection
with the Alton debate. Douglas had the opening speech there
and according to Horace White, the reporter
for the Chicago Press and Tribune, Lincoln was occupying
a seat in the rear of the platform. His next neighbor was
a young lady with whom he had been engaged in conversation
before the debate began. When Douglas had finished
his opening speech, Lincoln rose and handed his
travel-stained linen duster to the young lady and said in
a low tone: "Now hold my coat while I stone Stephen."

(For those of you who may have missed the joke, it is a reference to an event in the Bible as told in Acts 7: 54-58, the stoning of Stephen.