By Don Steen | Staff Writer • [email protected]
DALE – It’s officially Lincoln’s birthday (as of the publication date), and the Lincoln Heritage Public Library heralded the occasion with a special performance Thursday evening by Lincoln re-enactor, Danny Russel. This is not Russel’s first time visiting Lincoln’s boyhood home, in character or out. He has also toured the state under the guise of famous Hoosiers James Whitcomb Riley and Daniel Boone. Lincoln holds a special place in his heart, however, and he never broke character while center stage.
“It certainly is great to be in southern Indiana again!” he told the crowd.
Russel arrived in character and stuck to it till the end. He ably channeled Abe’s propensity for humor, relating many of Lincoln’s jokes and humorous anecdotes throughout the night.
Russel showed off Lincoln’s signature stovepipe hat, which doubled as a briefcase to shield important papers from the elements. He recalled the story of a lady who sat on Lincoln’s hat by accident, crushing it, prompting Abe’s reply of, “Madam, I could have told you that my hat wouldn’t fit you before you tried it on!”
Another prop was the United States Flag from the time of the Civil War, featuring 36 stars. Russel explained the flag had added three more stoars by the end of his presidency, as Kansas, West Virginia and Nevada joined the Union.
The Lincolns arrived in Indiana in 1816, when Abe was only seven years old. Nevertheless, he was immediately put to work helping his father build the family cabin.
Russel, as Lincoln, told the kids how scary the frontier could be. People were still on edge after the great New Madrid Earthquake of 1811 and the woods had plenty of real and imagined dangers for a young boy, particularly one with a vivid imagination.
Abe’s grandfather had been killed, and his father Thomas nearly kidnapped, by an Indian war party. There were also the sounds of local wildlife in the forest at night. Russel drove the point home by playfully charging the audience mimicking the sounds of a bear.
“That’s what happens when you sit in the front row,” he joked.
Read more on this story in this week’s issue of the Spencer County Leader
Featured Image: Lincoln re-enactor Danny Russel tips his top hat to the crowd
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