neral Whitesides, to the paper, to ask for the name of
the writer of the communications. The editor, in a quandary, went to
Lincoln, who, unwilling that Miss Todd and Miss Jayne should figure
in the affair, ordered that his own name be given as the author of
letters and poem. This was only about ten days after the first letter
had appeared, on September 2d, and Lincoln left Springfield in a day
or two for a long trip on the circuit. He was at Tremont when, on
the morning of the seventeenth, two of his friends, E.H. Merryman and
William Butler, drove up hastily. Shields and his friend Whitesides
were behind, they said, the irate Irishman vowing that he would
challenge Lincoln. They, knowing that Lincoln was "unpractised both
as to diplomacy and weapons," had started as soon as they had learned
that Shields had left Springfield, had passed him in the night, and
were there to see Lincoln through.

It was not long before Shields and Whitesides arrived, and soon
Lincoln received a note in which the indignant auditor said: "I
will take the liberty of requiring a full, positive, and absolute
retraction of all offensive allusions used by you in these
communications in relation to my private character and standing as a
man, as an apology for the insults conveyed in them. This may prevent
consequences which no one will regret more than myself."

Lincoln immediately replied that, since Shields had not stopped to
inquire whether he really was the author of the articles, had not
pointed out what was offensive in them, had assumed facts and hinted
at consequences, he could not submit to answer the note. Shields wrote
again, but Lincoln simply replied that he could receive nothing but a
withdrawal of the first note or a challenge. To this he steadily
held, even refusing to answer the question as to the authorship of the
letters, which Shields finally put. It was inconsistent with his honor
to negotiate for peace with Mr. Shields, he said, unless Mr. Shields
withdrew his former offensive letter. Seconds were immediately named:
Whitesides by Shields, Merryman by Lincoln; and though they talked of
peace, Whitesides declared he could not mention it to his principal.
"He would challenge me next, and as soon cut my throat as not."

This was on the nineteenth, and that night the party returned to
Springfield. But in someway the affair had leaked out, and fearing
arrest, Lincoln and Merryman left town the next morning. The
instructions wer