277. The facts upon this point are here stated for the first time.
The biographers as a rule have agreed that Lincoln received all of the
votes cast in the New Salem precinct except three. Mr. Herndon places
the total vote at 208; Nicolay and Hay, at 277; and Mr. Lincoln
himself, in his autobiography, has said that he received all but seven
of a total of 277 votes, basing his statement, no doubt, upon memory.
An examination of the official poll-book in the County Clerk's office
at Springfield shows that all of these figures are erroneous. The fact
remains, however--and it is a fact which has been commented upon by
several of the biographers as showing his phenomenal popularity--that
the vote for Lincoln was far in excess of that given any other
candidate. The twelve candidates, with the number of votes of each
were: Abraham Lincoln, 277; John T. Stewart, 182; William Carpenter,
136; John Dawson, 105; E.D. Taylor, 88; Archer G. Herndon, 84; Peter
Cartwright, 62; Achilles Morris, 27; Thomas M. Neal, 21; Edward
Robeson, 15; Zachariah Peters, 4; Richard Dunston, 4.

Of the twenty-three who did not vote for Lincoln, ten refrained from
voting for Representative at all, thus leaving only thirteen votes
actually cast against Lincoln. Lincoln is not recorded as voting. The
judges were Bowling Green, Pollard Simmons, and William Clary, and the
clerks were John Ritter and Mentor Graham.--_J. McCan Davis._]




[Illustration: EUGENE FIELD TELLING A STORY TO "SISSY" KNOTT AND
'LISBETH AND MARTHA WINSLOW.]