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I am on my way to Quincy to speak for our old friend Archie Williams. On my way down I heard at Jacksonville a story which may harm you if not averted---namely, that you have been a Know-Nothing. I suggest that you get a denial---something like
the inclosed draft2Jump to section which I have made---into the hands of a safe man in each precinct.
The day before election will do. Yours, as ever,
A. LINCOLN.
[1] Printed in ``Lincoln,'' speech of the Honorable Richard Yates of Illinois in the House of Representatives, February 12, 1921. Richard Yates the second, son of Lincoln's friend, may have misdated this letter, or Lincoln may have done so, which seems less probable, but which, in the absence of the original, cannot be determined. At any rate, Lincoln was not in Naples but in Quincy on November 1 (Orville H. Browning, Diary). As will be seen from Lincoln's letter to Yates on October 30, Lincoln did not know where Yates could be reached by letter, and presumably wrote this additional note on the same subject. The latest date at which it could have been written was October 31.
[2] See note 4, Lincoln to Yates, October 30, supra.