Milton Logan (1819-1910)

LOGAN

Posted By: Dorian Myhre (email)
Date: 1/23/2017 at 21:46:05

From Nevada Representative February 15, 1910 (front page)

Death of a Lincoln Juryman

Milton Logan, who is famed as having been foreman of the jury before which Lincoln tried the Armstrong murder case, died Friday last at his home in Boone at the age of 90 years. The trial was probably the most famous of nay in which Lincoln ever engaged, the point being that the principal witness, who had sworn to seeing by moonlight Armstrong strike a fatal blow, was refuted by Lincoln's showing from the almanac that at the time of the occurrence the moon had set and that for the witness to have seen the row in the woods at night, as he had stated, was impossible. That one should now only be passing away who was a part of such ancient history seems hardly possible; but Logan lived to be a very old man, the trial was near the close of Lincoln's active career at the bar and when he was already giving more attention to politics than to law, and it was Lincoln's policy in the selection of the jury to get as young men as possible, the theory being that young men would be less likely than old ones to be outraged at the consequences of a camp meeting row. Mr. Logan was a worthy and substantial citizen; but he will be best remembered for his relation to one of the most notable events in the life of the great American to have had any relation to whom has long since become a matter of distinction.