Daily Story
Leniency of Orphans
[A lady had come from Alexandria demanding that a church that had been converted to a hospital be reconverted.] Afterwards in speaking of this incident Mr. Lincoln said that the lady as a representative of her class in Alexandria reminded him of the story of the young man who had an aged father and mother owning considerable property. The young man being an only son and believing that the old people had lived out their usefullness assassinated them both. He was accused, tried and convicted of the murder. When the judge came to pass sentence upon him and called upon him to give any reason he might have why the sentence of death should not be passed upon him, he with great promptness replied he hoped the court would be lenient upon him because he was a poor orphan.
Ward Hill Lamon, Recollections of Abraham Lincoln, p. 90.