Letter to the Editor: Do Not Rename Lincoln High School

[David Lockmiller]

(12-18-2020 09:14 AM)David Lockmiller Wrote:  

(12-18-2020 08:27 AM)Mylye2222 Wrote:  Where can I find this story?

I wish I knew. I am not a very orderly person. I believe I made a Word document at the time as I usually do (either screenshots or copy/paste). I could not think how to find easily the Word document and so I made the post that I did using my infallible (or fallible) memory.

I will try to find it later today.The author's exact words were brought into memory when I read the "same" words that you had written about President Lincoln's treatment of Negro staff in the White House.

I did find my Word file with two screen shots. My file name is "Mr. Lincoln’s first game of billiards in Urbana, Illinois led to his nomination as president”

The internet address is long:

http://usd116.org/ProfDev/AHTC/lessons/C...dsGame.jpg

The relevant text reads as follows:

Games of cards had little attraction for him. This first game of billiards at Urbana was an hilarious affair for the spectators. H.M. Russell, who came to Urbana in 1847, remembered well the game and described the entertainment that it afforded.

“An uncle of mine, James S. Gore, was keeping the old Champaign House, then the stage house, and was local agent for the stage lines,” Mr. Russell said. In May, 1848, Judge Samuel H. Treat, Abraham Lincoln and David Davis came to hold the term of the Champaign County Circuit Court and stopped at the hotel. I was working for my uncle, looking after the wants of the judge and of the attorneys, attending the fires in their rooms, carrying water and cigars as needed. I also assisted in waiting on the table. I at once took a liking to Mr. Lincoln, because of his gentleness and friendliness – so different from most of the other attorneys. Mr. Lincoln was always pleasant in asking for things he wished and in thanking for them when they were brought to him.

Another section of which I did a screenshot had a heading that reads: "Helped Nominate Lincoln."

It reads just below the heading: Mr. Russell was an active Lincoln man in the campaign of 1860. He repaid kind words which had been given to him in the days when he was helper in the Stage House. Going to Decatur as the head of the delegation of his county, he helped make the Lincoln delegation to the National Convention at Chicago, which nominated Mr. Lincoln.

“I went to Chicago with the delegates,” Mr. Russell said, “and was in the confidence of David Davis, O.H. Browning, Leonard Swett, and the other friends of Mr. Lincoln. I had the honor of securing the two votes for Mr. Lincoln in the Pennsylvania delegation on the first ballot. I also helped organize the coup which got about 300 Illinois rooters into the wigwam on 75 or 100 visitors’ tickets, and surely kept out 300 New Yorkers when they came. I got our rooters in while the New York folks were parading.”