RAIL SPLITTER



The Larry Lawrence saga is over, but--on the truthfulness front--I

recently found this, one of the first citations for "Rail Splitter." ("Honest

Abe.") It's from the New York Morning Express, 13 July 1860, pg. 1, col. 7:



THE RAIL SPLITTER'S EARLY RECORD CORRECTED.--The Omaha Nebraskian, June

30, says: "An old citizen who traveled much in Illinois thirty years ago, and

was especially acquainted with the district of country where Abe Lincoln

resided, says that Abe never split a rail in his life. In those days, he

says, the people never thought of such a thing as splitting rails. They went

into the swamps and cut hoop poles and saplings for fences, and used them

round, as nature made them."



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