Rensselaer Republican, Volume 26, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 January 1894 — LINCOLN AND SHIELDS. [ARTICLE]

LINCOLN AND SHIELDS.

The Dwel They Agreed to Eight oe an island in the Mississippi. St Louis Republic. The interesting accounts published of the ceremonies attending the unveiling of the statue to Gen. Shields at Washington, recently, bring to mind the famous duel between him and Abraham Lincoln, which took place on an island in the Mississippi river opposite Alton, many years ago. Lincoln and Shields were then young men, and nearly all of their contemporaries have, with themselves, passed over to the great majority; only a lew regaining who can fully tell the story of the duel, which at the time was the cause of much excitement as well as merriment among the spectators and those conversant with the facts in the case. In the early ’4o’s, or it may perhaps have been late in the’3o’s, Gen. Shields, with his warm young Irish blood, was very much Of a gallant, and it is said that he had a habit when “seeing a young lady home” from a social entertainment or dance, or when parting at almost any time, of pressing the lady’s hand warmly, possibly too hard, and this fact was the subject of much comment among the belles of those days. One of the young ladies was a contributor to a Springfield paper, which was edited by a man named Francis, and in the course of a conversation with others stated that if Gen. Shields presumed to press her hand too ardently she would write him up in a manner that would cause him to be less impressively fond in his partings. Not long afterwards she accepted his escort from a social gathering, and, true to his habit, he pressed her hand very warmly when he said good night. She was as good as her word, and wrote an article in which she descanted upon his foiole and commented generally on the bad habit of being too demonstrative in his attentions to young ladies, referring to him by name and making him appear ridiculous. Shields at once went to Francis and demanded ‘satisfaction, when the latter disclaimed the authe article and attempted to “hedge". But Shields was not to be put off and peremptorily demanded the name of th 6 author, finally giving Francis until the next day to answer and leaving the office in high dudgeon. While Francis was pondering as to what kind of an answer he should give on the morrow, Abraham Lincoln came in. Mr. Fiancistold him of the visit and demand of Shields and the' dLmma in which he now found himself, when Lincoln with his characteristic generosity, told Francis to tell Shields that he (Lin* cola) had writtefi it. Franeis pursued this course, and the result was a prompt challenge to mortal combat issued to Lincoln by Shields. As tho challenged party, Lincoln had the choice of weapons and chose broadswords. He also named the island opposite Alton as the place of combat. This was eminently satisfactory to Shields, who was a good swordsman, and on the date of the battle both came to Alton, accompanied by a large contingent of friends from the capital bent on seeing tho fun. The crowd were ferried over to the island and large numbers from this city also went in skiffs, ‘ and every manner of water craft was pressed into service, while thousands were assembled on the Alton levee to. see as much or little of the duel as might be possible. When the dueling ground was reached and the contestants were drawn up ready for the fray Lincoln made some particularly droll remark which led Shields' to believe that, perhaps, he was being made the victim of a practical joke, and caused him to ask for an explanation, which. in turn, led to the exposure of Lincoln's connection with the affair and then to a prompt reconciliation and abandonment of the duel.

Coining back g>n the ferry the crowd, which was in high good humor and full of fun, many notorious wags being among the party, bethought themselves to have some fun at the expense of the waiting thousands on the levee. So they got a log of wood, threw some clothing over it, covered it with a blanket, made room around it as if it were an injured man, aud one sat at the head fanning it vigorously, while others brought water and pretended to be assiduously earing for it. The joke told on the crowd, who anxiously pressed forward to learn the outcome of the duel and who was the injured party, uptil the sell was exposed. That night the entire party from the capital made merry over thd outcome of the duel until they left for their homes. Nothing ever occurred afterward 1o mar the life long friendship which was then formed, between Lincoln and Shields, the latter of whom was soon after made a General for gallantry in the Mexican war, where he ever showed those qualities which made him famous. The last appearance of Gen. Shields in Alton was in 1880, when he was campaigning for Gen. Hancock, who was then a candidate for the presidency.

A clever woman recently said that if worst came to worst and .she had to find some way of earning her living, she believed that she would become a “public sympathizer. Any one could send for me,” she e.xolained, “and pour out all their worries and troubles while I listened and sympathized for, say twenty-five or fifty cents a hour. Everything hould be strictly confidential, and I would never allow myself to have a greater worry, or a worse pain, or o deeper trouble than my client. What do you think of .that scheme?*'