Lincoln, the unknown

9W„hile I was writing this book, out in New Salem, Illinois,my good friend Henry Pond, a local attorney, said to me anumber of times"You ought to go and see Uncle Jimmy Miles, for one of hisuncles, Herndon, was Lincoln's law partner, and one of hisaunts ran a boarding-house where Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln livedfor a while."That sounded like an interesting lead; so Mr. Pond and Iclimbed into his car one Sunday afternoon in July, and droveout to the Miles farm near New Salem—a farm where Lincolnused to stop and swap stories for a drink of cider while walkingto Springfield to borrow law-books.When we arrived, Uncle Jimmy dragged a trio of rockingchairsout into the shade of a huge maple tree in the front yard;and there, while young turkeys and little ducks ran noisilythrough the grass about us, we talked for hours; and UncleJimmy related an illuminating and pathetic incident about Lincolnthat has never been put into print heretofore. The storyis this:Mr. Miles's Aunt Catherine married a physician named JacobM. Early. About a year after Lincoln arrived in Springfieldduring the night of March 11, 1838, to be exact—an unknownman on horseback rode up to Dr. Early's house, knocked, calledthe physician to the door, emptied both barrels of a shot-guninto his body, then leaped upon a horse and dashed away.69