Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force, Feb.[February] 1, 1840

AN ACT for the relief of John G. McHatton.
1

$58 to J. G. McHatton

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, redresented in the General Assembly, That fifty-eight dollars be, and the said is hereby, appropriated to John G. McHatton, sheriff of Schuyler county: it being the amount paid by the said McHatton for the apprehension of William Frame, who had escaped from the jail of the said county of Schuyler, when he was confined on a charge of murder, and of which charge he was afterwards convicted and executed.2

Approved, February 1, 1840.

1On January 18, 1840, Representative Archibald Williams introduced HB 151 in the House of Representatives. On January 27, the House passed the bill. On January 30, the Senate passed the bill. On February 1, the Council of Revision approved the bill and the act became law. Journal of the House of Representatives of the Eleventh General Assembly of the State of Illinois, at Their Called Session, Begun and Held at Springfield, December 9, 1839 (Springfield, IL: William Walters, 1839), 201-02, 227, 260, 300, 309, 328; Journal of the Senate of the Eleventh General Assembly of the State of Illinois, at Their Called Session, Begun and Held in Springfield, December 9, 1839 (Springfield, IL: William Walters, 1839), 190, 213.

2Frame murdered a man named Neithamer in Schuyler County on February 17, 1838. According to the Sangamo Journal, “Frame, told Neithamer not to smoke in his face, when the latter replied, ‘he thought the country was free, and he would smoke where he pleased.’ Frame then lifted his hand to knock the segar from Neithamer’s mouth, when the latter also raised his for protection. Frame unobserved, drew a long butcher knife from his side, and drove it to the hilt in the breast of Neithamer, which killed him instantly. Frame was drunk.”
Sangamo Journal, 3 March 1838, 2:4.