OCRed data provided
for searching only. october 1881 587
472. James H. Matheny (WHH interview)
Octr 6th '81
I went into Mr. Matheny's of‚ce Octr 5th '81 and he and I had a conversa‚tion Ü Mr. Matheny said, substantially Ü ¿I do not know whether Lamon's life of Lincoln was before me when I wrote the Reed letter1 or not Ü do not rember one way or the other whether I told Mr Reed that Lincoln investigated Christian‚ity Ü Reed wrote the Letter and I signed it, telling him before he wrote the letter facts as I now remember it Ü I signed the note in Lamon's life of Lincol2 Ü never supposing that it would be published Ü sorry it is published Ü don't blame you Ü I think he said it was private Ü
I then told him that I was in the act of ‚nancially breaking Ü and was com‚pelled to sell Ü I expressed regret about the matter.3 I said that the book was an unfortunate book for writer and publisher & c.
I took these notes on the morning of the 6th day of Octr. '81
W H Herndon
Further Ü I showed My my notes of Decr. 9th 18734 Ü he said they were cor‚rect. down to Ü sharp game Ü he repeated to me however that the saying in his opinion was true so I say Ü I remarked. Ü I told him something about Yates Ü Lincoln Ü Ellis & myself Ü which I never will make public
Herndon5
Many of my papers have been lost Ü Some have been Eaten up by Mice Ü My of‚ce was once gutted by ‚re & by the People during the ‚re Ü Zane & I were then in partnership Ü up stairs above Miller's hard ware store Ü kept my papers there Ü I am surprised that many of my papers have been stolen Ü let every man see & read them Ü didnt watch them Ü Took Some papers with Me when I lec‚tured in reply to Reed6 Ü to the capital city where I had them [from] the one lost probably I can ‚nd Em. Think I had Stuarts & Mathenys & Mrs Lincolns notes at the Lecture Ü to Show Ü Read & Exhibit if I was contradicted Ü Cant lay my hand on them now Ü
LC: HW3170
1.
See Ñ468.
2.
See Lamon, 487¬88.
3. WHH refers to selling Ward Hill Lamon copies of his letters and interviews about AL, on which La-mon's biography is based.
4. Ñ468.
5. Marginal note: I wrote to Mr Arnold of Chicago Ü before I sold my materials to Lamon, telling him I wanted to sell Ü wrote to some people in Boston & &c the same Ü got no buyers Ü sold to Lamon under ‚nan‚cial troubles. H.
6. WHH exchanged public lectures with Rev. James A. Reed in Spring‚eld in 1873 on the subject of AL's religion.
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