Blue Mass

[RJNorton]

If you follow Gene's link you will see that Neil Gale writes:

"One story of Lincoln's angry outbursts claims that during one of the famous 1858 Senate debates between Lincoln and Stephen Douglas, in response to an accusation by Douglas about Lincoln's record in Congress, Lincoln furiously grabbed the collar of a former congressional colleague who, Lincoln said, knew the charge was false, shook the man violently "until his teeth chattered."

IMO, this story of Lincoln's violence toward Ficklin is doubtful. As far as I know the sole source is Ward Hill Lamon. I do think anyone else described the incident like Lamon.

Here is what the Fehrenbachers have to say in their Recollected Words of Abraham Lincoln:

"Lamon's account of the public exchange between Lincoln and Ficklin is so inaccurate as to cast added doubt of his recollection of their ensuing private conversation, if they had one.

For example, Lamon did not name the town where the exchange with Ficklin took place, but he said it was down in "Egypt" and that on this occasion, Lincoln spoke first. Thus he mistakenly associated the incident with the third debate at Jonesboro, instead of the fourth debate at Charleston. His account of what happened conflicts in several ways with contemporary newspaper reports. See the Chicago Press and Tribune in Collected Works,III, 182-183, and the Chicago Times account in Holzer, 229-230."