Shawneetown, Illinois, was once the pride and pet of Egypt. It was
larger than Chicago, and doubtless it would have become the capital of
the State had it been called Shawnee City. But the name was against it,
and dry rot set in. And so today Shawneetown has the same number of
inhabitants that it had in Eighteen Hundred Fifty-five, and in
Shawneetown are various citizens who boast that the place has held its
own.

Robert Ingersoll had won a case for a certain steamboat captain, and in
gratitude the counsel had been invited by his client to go on an
excursion to Peoria, the head of navigation on the Illinois River. The
lawyer took the trip, and duly reached Peoria after many hairbreadth
'scapes on the imminently deadly sandbar. But a week must be spent at
Peoria while the boat was reloading for her return trip.

There was a railroad war on in Peoria. The town had one railroad, which
some citizens said was enough for any place; others wanted the new
railroad.

Whether the new company should be granted certain terminal
facilities--that was the question. The route had been surveyed, but the
company was forbidden to lay its tracks until the people said "Aye."

So there the matter rested when Robert Ingersoll was waiting for the
stern-wheeler to reload. The captain of the craft had meanwhile
circulated reports about the eloquence and legal ability of his star
passenger. These reports coming to the ears of the manager of the new
railroad, he sought out the visiting lawyer and advised with him.

Railroad Law is a new thing, not quite so new as the Law of the Bicycle,
or the Statutes concerning Automobiling, but older than the Legal
Precedents of the Aeromotor. Railroad Law is an evolution, and the
Railroad Lawyer is a by-product: what Mr. Mantinelli would call a
demnition product.

It was a railroad that gave Robert Ingersoll his first fee in Peoria.
The man was only twenty-three, but semi-pioneer life makes men early,
and Robert Ingersoll stood first in war and first in peace among the
legal lights of Shawneetown. His size made amends for his cherubic face,
and the insignificant nose was more than balanced by the forceful jaw.
The young man was a veritable Greek in form, and his bubbling wit and
ready speech on any theme made him a drawing card at the political
barbecue.

"Bob" at this time didn't know much about railroads--there was no
railroad in Shawneetown--but he was an expert on barbecues. A barbecue
is a gath