Well Known Man Dies Twice

So you think you know all about the lawyer who became President? It's not likely that you've read this one.

When Abraham Lincoln was living in Washington County, he was captured by the Indians. It happened when he was working a farm there and the Indians, angered by the fact that he was encroaching on their territory, captured him, made him run between two rows of braves. As Abe ran, the braves beat him with sticks, a humiliation known as "running the gauntlet."

But of course you know that Abe survived. You know that Abraham Lincoln was assassinated years later.

But when he escaped from the Indian camp he fled to Rockingham County, perhaps because he was genuinely repentant for having settled on Indian land or perhaps because he was just plain scared. At any rate, a year or two went by. The nightmare of his experience in washington County continued to haunt him, to eat away at him. The more Abe thought about it, the more certain he became: The land he had abandoned was his home and it had been cowardly to run away.

So he made up his mind once and for all. He would return to Washington County, to the little farm he had left. He would claim it once again, and this time he would not forsake it.

Four years passed. Abe split rails and planted crops and harvested them. Four years, no trouble with the Indians. And then one day, he was clearing a patch of forest to open a new field. At the top of it's arc, the ax blade gleamed in the brilliant sunlight. The air was clean and fresh, laden with the pleasant aroma of green wood and wildflowers and freedom.

No more would he lie awake at night, fearing the wrath of the Indians. No more would he be consumed in self-doubt. He had finally stood up for what he believed. This land was now his. No one was going to take it away from him.

But each time his ax chunked into the side of the tree, it obscured another sound. One footstep...followed by another...and another...

A few hundred yards away, drawing closer, a lone Indian brave! Camouflaged in forest-colored buckskin, the Indian crept up carrying a long-barreled firearm of the white man. The brave had been sent on this mission by his tribe, to journey to the Lincoln farm and to kill Abe.

Abe continued to chop the tree. Stealthily the brave made his way through the forest, treading on the swatches of grass, avoiding the dry twigs which might alert his prey.

A sudden rustle in the treetops, a squirrel jumping from one limb to another. Abe glanced up...then back to his work. As Abe raised his ax again, the blade glistened once more. The Indian lowered the barrel of his gun, took aim...and fired!

Abe felt the sting of the bullet in his back and fell to the ground. He looked up just in time to see an Indian brave disappear into the forest.

Only a moment of consciousness was left, and within minutes---Abraham Lincoln was dead.

Abraham Lincoln was dead and from a nearby clearing his eight -year-old son, Thomas had seen it all.

When Thomas grew up he named his son after his father, and Thomas's son---also named Abraham Lincoln---became the 16th president of the United States.

President Abraham Lincoln and his grandfather both had sons named Thomas. Both had wives named Mary.

And both were killed by an assassin's bullet.

Abraham Lincoln Died twice!!!

Now you know ... the News Unheralded!

SOURCE: Files and archives of the late Paul Harvey