Trivial Trivia - taking trivia to new levels

[AussieMick]

Roger, you are that close .... I suspect you're reading my mind.
What other career did Lincoln (and intially Lenin ) follow?

[Rob Wick]

Lenin at one point in his life was an assistant to a barrister, and Lincoln, of course, was a lawyer, so could it be law?

Best
Rob

[AussieMick]

Yes, indeed Rob.
I think you and Roger have got as close as possible. ... I'll provide more details of that "event " in a few minutes. But feel free to answer more.
It relates to a specific case.

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Ok , I guess the career of Law might have been a little too obvious for some in respect of Lincoln.

Lenin as you say Rob was a (failed) lawyer. He worked on 14 cases and lost 13. Now here's the weird similarity ...

That case involved him suing a rich merchant who owned a steamship and claimed monopoly rights for crossing the Volga. Lenin and a friend crossed the Volga but were stopped and apprehended. So he sued and eventually won.

Lincoln ( I assume this anecdote is reliable) was also involved in court case concerning the right to cross a river 1826-27.

"Two ferry operators objected and accused Lincoln of interfering with their legally established business. Lincoln admitted to conveying passengers to the middle of the river, but he argued that he had carried no one who was a potential customer of the operators.

Judge Samuel Pate decided the case for Lincoln by narrowly interpreting Kentucky law, which prohibited unauthorized persons from carrying passengers “over” the river but made no mention of taking passengers to the middle of the river."

https://explorekyhistory.ky.gov/items/show/122

And consolation prize for Gene,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZ9myHhpS9s

[RJNorton]

Wonderful question, Michael. Versions of the story vary a little from book to book. Here is the version from Louis A. Warren's Lincoln's Youth - Indiana Years, 1816-1830." (pp. 146-147)

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"During his spare time Abe had built a small row boat at the Ohio River landing. One day, two men came up and singling out him and his boat, asked him to row them with their luggage to a packet that was coming down river. He agreed, and carried them out to the waiting steamer and saw them and their gear safely aboard. Before they steamed away they each tossed a silver half dollar into his little boat. He could scarcely believe his eyes—"a poor . . . boy [earning] a dollar in less than a day." The "world seemed wider and fairer" and he was "a more hopeful and confident being from that time."

Apparently after that he offered such service to other steamer passengers and his private little business finally got him into the clutches of the law. Two brothers who lived on the Kentucky side of the river, John T. and Len Dill, had the ferry rights across the Ohio from a point opposite Anderson River. They regarded Abraham's ferrying of steamer passengers as an encroachment upon their jurisdiction, and had him brought before Samuel Pate, a justice of the peace near Lewisport, Kentucky. The pertinent clause of Kentucky law was read : "... if any person whatsoever shall, for reward, set any person over any river or creek, whereupon public ferries are appointed, he or she so offending shall forfeit and pay five pounds current money, for every such offence, one moiety to the ferry-keeper nearest the place where such offence shall be committed, the other moiety to the informer; and if such ferry-keeper informs, he shall have the whole penalty, to be recovered with costs."

The evidence presented revealed that Abraham had limited his operations to depositing his passengers on board steamers in the middle of the river, and that he had never ferried any of them clear across the Ohio. The magistrate ruled that inasmuch as there was no occasion cited on which he had "set any person over [or across] any river or creek/' he was released from the charge."

[Eva Elisabeth]

No Google please -
I am a great fan of "Who wants to be a millionaire". Today I knew the answer to the 1- million - €- question, but I doubt many Germans did (the candidate didn't know). I think it's less difficult for forum members, so I modify the task a bit.
The currently largest tree in the world bore respectively bears two famous, CW - related names. Whose?

[RJNorton]

No idea...I'll guess one...Confederate General David Twiggs?

[Eva Elisabeth]

Good guess, Roger, but think Union!

[AussieMick]

General Sherman ? ( according to our son in law who is staying with us, and of course son in laws know everything )

[Eva Elisabeth]

Perfect, Mike. That is the original and current name. One point for you. Now whom was the tree named after for some time in the late 19th century? The name was altered by a community that settled nearby for awhile.

Hint: The person played a role in the CW but was not a military member.

[RJNorton]

Does it start with "L" (?)

[Eva Elisabeth]

The city in England where he lived and worked begins with "L". He was a German though.

[AussieMick]

Guessing the city was Liverpool. ... maybe the CW connection was cotton.

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May we use Google?

[Eva Elisabeth]

Think bigger as for the city! I'm afraid Google will instantly reveal the answer. Maybe another try without?

Hint#2: The person reported about the CW.
Hint #3: He was also a political "shaper", but not in the West.

[AussieMick]

Karl Marx then. He lived in London. And reported on CW, read by Lincoln.

[Eva Elisabeth]

Well done, Mike! Here's the story:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Sherman_(tree)
In Eastern Germany in the days of GDR, the town of Chemnitz was named after Karl Marx, too. Born there was figure skater Katharina Witt. In line with the Olympics, your prize is her great 1988 gold medal free skating program - Carmen:
https://youtu.be/yPc1HehzJuo