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Show g HIS FIRST RUM BATH. How Abraham Lincoln Was- Rejuvenated Rejuve-nated When. Almost Exhausted. (George P. Floyd In Pittsburg Dispatch.) Many stories have been told and published pub-lished about Abraham Lincoln. While some of them are truthful, more of them are exaggerated and misleading. Again, there are some good anecdotes that possess pos-sess the merit of truth connected with the life of the great statesman and martyr mar-tyr that have never found their way into print. During the autumn of 1858 Mr. Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas were candidates for the United States senate. They made their celebrated campaign in joint debate in Illinois. The debates opened at Ottawa Otta-wa Aug. 21 and continued at Freeport, Jonesboro, Charleston, Galesburg and Quincy. and closed at Alton Oct. 16. The debates from start to finish were a determined de-termined struggle on both sides. It was nip and tuck between the two giants through the whole campaign. Mr. Lincoln Lin-coln seemed to have the prestige by his superior logic, and perhaps because of the justice of the cause he advocated. While Mr. Lincoln was abstemious in every way. the "Little Giant." Douglas, was generally pretty well filled up, but he seemed to carry the load easily. The sixth debate was at Quincy. Oct. 13. The strain on mind and body began to tell on Mr. Lincoln, and after the debate, which was a supreme effort, he collapsed col-lapsed from sheer fatigue. At that time the writer was proprietor of the Quincy house at Quincy. The hotel ho-tel being near the place of the debate Mr. Lincoln was taken to the hotel and a room prepared for him. As he was reclinine on a lounge he remarked re-marked to his friends: "Well, I'm mighty near petered out: I guess I'll have to give it up and quit." My wife stood near watching him. and being one of the old school that believed In homely remedies, she suggested that a rum sweat be applied ap-plied to Mr. Lincoln. "Rum sweat." said Mr. Lincoln. "Why, I never drank a drop of rum in my life." "You don't have to drink it; it is an external remedy," replied my wife. "Well, If vou think it will do me any sood, 'crack your whip' and go ahead. Any port in a storm, and I'm mighty nish shipwrecked." said he. The remedy was applied according to directions of my wife. It consisted of a pan of New England Eng-land rum placed under a cane-seatcd chair: the patient is stripped and covered with a woolen blanket, the rum is lighted and the fumes or vapor produce profuse perspiration. The patient is then put to bed between woolen blankets, given a hot decoction of ginger and the sweating continues. con-tinues. The next morning after the rum sweat Mr Lincoln made his appearance bright and earlv. When asked how he was feeling feel-ing he replied: "Why, I'm feellmr like a fighting cock. I can jump a six-rail fence right now. I've heard of drinking liouor and rubbing the limbs with the bottle, but never vet heard of driving the llauor through the hide to get a man full. Where is Mrs. Flovd? I want to see her. If sh would onlv accompany us through this campaign and prescribe for me I think we can clean out Judge Douglas, slick and clean." Abraham Lincoln never forgot a favor. In 181 I was in business In Montgomery, Ala, The confederate government formed there in February, 1S61. Jeff Davis was inaugurated there Feb. la and the government gov-ernment continued there till July, when it was removed to Richmond, V a Having Hav-ing mail and other contracts with tne confederate government, I was exempt from military duty, while every male from 16 to 60 was compelled to perform military dutv My connection with the officials enabled me to peep behind the scenes and watch some of the workings of the ingenious" in-genious" leaders of the "lost cause. Being Be-ing a native of the northern states I didn't hanker for a gun on my shoulder and I was not in love with the "secesh movement. Having quite a bit of property prop-erty in Montgomery I returned there to take care of it. There are facts connected wuu iuc w of the confederates from 1861 to .18. that are interesting, but have never been published pub-lished Many stories have been told and published as facts that have either been Unfounded with sensational .rumors; or discored bv violent prejudices. The Sufferings the depredations, the sacri-?ices sacri-?ices seff-denials. the "bull-dog" tenacity and perseverance of the people of the ho JthP during the civil war have never been half told, and are only Known to ! Ke who were there and witnessed them Many laughable as well as sad incidents occurred during the little family quarrel between the north and south. The carriage, the four horses 1 and the negro driver that conveyed Jeff Davis from the hotel to the capitol n Montgomery, Mont-gomery, where he delivered his Inaugural address. Feb. 15. 161. were all owned by the writer and furnished for the occasion The carriage was an imitation of the carriages then in use in London, it was called the English carriage in Montgomery, Montgom-ery, and was kept at our stable exclusively exclu-sively for the wives and families of the confederate officals. When they wanted to go for a drive the Knglish carriage must be furnished, as it was made in England and not by the Yankees. W hen the confederate government moved to Richmond from Montgomery I presented the carriage to Mrs. Davis, and wh'Le they lived in Richmond, from 1861 to I&60, It was known as the English carriage. When the confederate government broke up in Richmond, in April, 1W5, the English Eng-lish carriage went with the Davis family to Dalton. N. C. ' ... , , I purchased the carriage In Mobile just as the war broke out in 1S6L and it was built in New'.' Haven. Conn., and was therefore a Yankee built carriage. Some wag started the story that it was just imported from London, and I don't remember re-member to have disputed the story. 1 left the south the fall of ISM. arriving in the north Jan. 7. 1865. Having left quite a bit of property in Montgomery. I was anxious to get protection papers from the federal government for it when the city fell into the hands of the Union army. Armed with credentials from Governor Gov-ernor Andrews of Massachusetts and governor Gillmore of New Hampshire, together with letters from General Ben Kr5nilss whom, together with his staff, I nad befriended when they were prisoners w.ar,in the south in 1S62, I proceeded to ashington for the purpose of getting protection papers for my property in the south. It was some time betore I could get an interview with President Lincoln. At last 1 succeeded. It was an interview that is engraved on my memory never to be effaced. It so happened that I was the last one to go In before the closing hour. Mr. Lincoln sat with his long legs resting on the top of his desk; his feet were encased in carpet slippers. As I entered he seemed gazing on something a. thousand miles away. For a moment or two he never moved a muscle. His Se 1 sna11 never forget. It was the maddest face I ever saw. So haggard, careworn and disconsolate! I hesitated about disturbing him. At Lasv witn nis feet ptill resting on his desk he said: "Well, my friend, what can I do for vou?" "Mr. President," I replied, "you look so wearv and careworn that I hate to trouble you." .'Oh. I'm all right," he said. "What is I laid my papers before him. He commenced com-menced to read them. He had read a few lines of General Prentiss' letter when he jumped up, fixed his eyes upon me, took my hand, and said! "I have seen you before, be-fore, sir. Wrhere's your wife? I believe be-lieve your wife saved my life." And auickly the cloud seemed to lift and his countenance brighten; his eves snapped. His thoughts seemed to fly back to the days of 185S. "Yes. and I've often tried that rum cure that vour wife prescribed for me. and it has always helped me out. Ben Prentiss has told me of your kindness kind-ness to them while they were irisoners in the south. You must come up ami take tea with us tonight, for I want to talk with ycu about matters and thines in the south, for Ben Prentiss tells me you are posted." I accented the invitation to tea, and before be-fore we got through it was very late, and ouite a cabinet meeting was held. During the war the confederate government gov-ernment had a tax law which took one-tenth one-tenth of all the cotton raised in the confederate con-federate states. Cotton was the only article ar-ticle In the south that was worth a dollar. dol-lar. The confederate cotton was stored in everv nook and corner available in the confederacy. In the eight warehouses in Montgomery was stored 1.10,000 bales of cotton: 2S.0U0 bales of that cotton was stored and claimed by the confederate government. Betore I left Montgomery I had obtained ob-tained a list of all the claimants for that cotton. If the cotton could be saved the 28,000 bales claimed by the confederate government would fall into the hands of the federal government and be confiscated confis-cated bv it. Cotton was then selling for 50 cents a pound. Alabama cotton is 500 pounds to the bale. The 28,000 bales, 14.-000,000 14.-000,000 pounds, at 50 cents a pound, would have sold for $7,000,000. which would have gone into the treasury of this government. govern-ment. 1 laid a plan before Mr. Lincoln for saving all the cotton in Montgomery. It was generally the case when the confederates con-federates evacuated a place to burn all the cotton before they left. There was cotton enough at that time in the southern south-ern states to pay a large portion of the . war debt. The papers were made out appointing me treasury agent at Montgomery to superintend the shipment of the cotton. I started for Montgomery, reaching Mobile Mo-bile March 10. At that time Montgomery was occupied by the confederates, with General Berefort in command. I left Mobile overland on horseback and overtook over-took General A. J. Smith's command at Selma on his way to capture Montsom-ery. Montsom-ery. I pushed on and entered Montgomery Montgom-ery ahead of the Union army. The confederate con-federate general had decided to evacuate without a fight. Together with some claimants of the cotton we called on General Berefort to try to induce him to leave the cotton in the warehouses intact. in-tact. He hesitated for some time. W e offered of-fered him $1,000,000 in confederate money or $100,000 in greenbacks to leave the cotton, cot-ton, but he was as stubborn as a mule. We couldn't budge him an inch. At 12 o'clock that night the eight cotton warehouses ware-houses were set on fire, and 130,000 bales of cotton went ud in smoke, with not a cent of insurance. The 102,000 bales of cotton, which belonged to different claimants, claim-ants, would have sold for $51,000,000. Most of the 102.000 bales of cotton belonged to parties that had nothing else left out of the wreck of the civil war. About 8'J0 bales of that cotton belonged to me. Abraham Lincoln's wife was a Miss Marv Todd, a native of Kentucky. Her brother. Thomas Todd, lived in Selma, Ma He was in the confederate service. April 25. 1865. while in Montgomery, 1 received a personal letter from Mr. Lincoln, Lin-coln, requesting me to attend to some business between Mrs. Lincoln and ner brother, which I did. That Ttter was dated April 13, 1S65, two days before he died bv the hand of an assassin. |