if you will say that you would issue this pardon if you occupied
the chair I now occupy as Governor of this State, I will pardon
him."

He replied: "Governor, I would not ask you to do a thing I would
not do myself, to save my right arm."

Whereupon I at once issued the pardon.

"Judge," I told him, "the train will leave in a short time; go to
Joliet and take the boy home with you."

He did not do this; but he thanked me very cordially and said that
he would see the boy as soon as he got home. The very night the
boy left the penitentiary and returned home, he committed another
burglary and was immediately arrested. I happened to see an account
of the crime in the papers next morning, and I cut it out and sent
it to Judge Thornton, with the inquiry, "Judge, what does this
mean?" He at once came to Springfield, and told me that he had
been fooled in prevailing upon me to pardon the young man, and
pledged me that he would follow him to the ends of the earth if
necessary in order to punish him for his crime. The boy was sent
back to the penitentiary and I never heard of him afterwards.

Judge Thornton was one of the most honorable of men, a man of
learning and legal ability as well.

One day, before I was elected to the Thirty-ninth Congress, President
Lincoln was talking with me about the different members of that
body. "There is a young man by the name of Blaine now serving in
Congress," said he, "who seems to be one of the brightest men in
the House. His speeches are always short, always full of facts,
and always forcible. I am very fond of him. He is one of the
coming men of the country."

This was one of the reasons why I was early attracted to Mr. Blaine.

He was candidate for Speaker in the Forty-first Congress. I was
rather zealous in his behalf, and had more or less of a prominent
part in his selection. When Mr. Blaine concluded that he would be
a candidate for the Speakership, a little dinner was given at
Welkers', a rather famous restaurant in Washington, at which Judge
Kelley, Judge Orth, the late Senator Allison, who was then a member
of the House from the State of Iowa; Mr. Mercur of Pennsylvania,
the gentleman at the head of the Associated Press in Washington,
and myself were present. After the dinner it was given out to the
press that Mr. Blaine was a candidate for Speaker. As the campaign
progressed it seemed to depend on Mr. Allison and me more largely
than on any other members to t