LINCOLN VS. DOUGLAS MAKES HISTORY AGAIN

JONESBORO, Ill. -- They came! Just as they came 136 years ago, people from the town, from the country and from other states thronged into this small Southern Illinois community Saturday to hear and see a re-creation of the 1858 debate that helped propel country boy Abraham Lincoln into national politics.

The debate, one of seven held in Illinois that year, had nothing to do with the presidency. It pitted U.S. Senate challenger Lincoln against incumbent Sen. Stephen A. Douglas, more popularly known as "The Little Giant."

Douglas was re-elected, but he lost to Lincoln two years later in the 1860 presidential election.

Richard Sokup and George Buss, both of Freeport, Ill., and members of the Lincoln-Douglas Society, served as the debaters during the re-enactment.

Thousands of people turned out Saturday for the re-enactment. Hundreds were dressed in period clothes returning the community to the 19th century era. Even the flags had only 32 stars for the activities.

The 1994 Douglas, as the Douglas of old, was the showman for the debate. When he arrived in Jonesboro, he was greeted by a brass cannon that fired to let the townspeople know he had arrived. A band, reminiscent of the 1858 Kornthal Church Band, was on hand to lead Douglas from the courthouse to the park, site of the debate.

Mitze Kuyper was seated in a chair east of the Union County Court House steps, watching all the activities. Beside her was her husband, Scott. Both wore period clothing.

"I really wanted to ride my horse from the courthouse to the park for the debate," she said. But, she was hampered by a broken leg from an earlier riding accident.

Kuyper and her husband, of Olive Branch, were in Jonesboro to participate in the festivities. Scott Kuyper is also a re-enactor, a member of the 8th Cavalry Unit of Springfield, Ill.

Nearby, Bill Lilly of Jonesboro was watching the happenings, trying to pick out Douglas.

"There are two people there who resemble Mr. Douglas," he said. Lilly, wore a hat that belonged to his great-grandfather, Jack L. Lyerla, a landowner in Union County during the late 1800s.

Kevin Griffin of Galena, Ill., a Douglas re-enactor in that area, was playing another role this time around, as steamship labor contractor Mike Murphy.

"Douglas is my man, though," Griffin said, getting into his role. "He is for everything I stand for and I'm backing him all the way."

"I'm looking forward to this debate," Douglas said before entering his carriage for the lengthy ride to the park. "This is Democrat country."

A cannon sounded as the carriage pulled away, and a band played a few tunes.

The Douglas camp at the courthouse was different from the small Lincoln crowd that gathered at Jonesboro Square, a few blocks away.

Only a few people stopped to talk with Lincoln.

"The judge put out the word that I would be trembling in my knees," Lincoln told his small group of followers. "But, I may have something to say about that."

Lincoln, accompanied by Raymond Boyd of Anna, adorned in his period costume, walked with Lincoln the five or six blocks from the square to the park.

"Somebody told me this Abe looked like an ape," said a Bully Boy who surrounded Douglas. "I'm gonna be watching for him."

The Bully Boys, a group formed to cheer Douglas and boo Lincoln during the debate, followed the Douglas entourage. "This is great fun," said Kent Young of Anna, who portrayed one of the Bully Boys. "Agreed," said Gene Oakley of Jonesboro Elementary Schools, another Bully Boy re-enactor.

Also in Douglas' corner was Bob Brutscher of Anna-Jonesboro High School, who was portraying Col. John Hacker, a supporter of the senator.

Kent Keller, his wife, Paula, and children, Jeni and Chelsea, were along the parade route watching all the activities.

"We borrowed some period clothes and joined in the fun," Keller said.

Also noted along the route was newsman Jerry Reppert, publisher of the Anna Gazette and portraying the editor of the 1858 Jonesboro Gazette.

Reporters at the original debate were seated at a kitchen table at the park.

It had rained the night before the debate, the weather was hot, and a story making the rounds concerned a Chicago reporter who wasn't prepared for the crude surrounding. He was even less prepared when a hornet took a liking to him and he spent a long while in agony.

The series of debates are considered by many historians to be the greatest in the nation's history.

The two men debated for three hours that day at Jonesboro on such issues as slavery, states' rights and other topics.