Usher Ferguson Linder (Chicago Tribune)

GEN. U. F. LINDER.

The announcement of the death in this city yesterday of Gen. U. F. LINDER will be received with wide-spread interest and regret throughout the State of Illinois by a large circle of friends and acquaintances gained after a residence in this State of forty-six years. He was born in Elizabethtown, Ky., March 23, 1809, and came to Illinois in 1820, his people settling in Charleston, Coles County, where he studied law, was admitted to the Bar, and practiced successfully until 1859. He came to Chicago in 1860, and has remained a resident of this city ever since. Gen. LINDER was originally a Whig in politics, but joined the Democratic party when STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS was at the zenith of his fame, and was Attorney-General of the State under Govs. FORD and BISSELL. He was one of the most popular and effective stump-speakers in the State, his services being highly valued and frequently called into requisition in heated political campaigns. In the famous joint caucus of LINCOLN and DOUGLAS in 1858 for the United States Senatorship, Gen. LINDER received from DOUGLAS at Mattoon a telegram which read: “For God’s sake, LINDER, come!” The fact was, the Little Giant was getting worsted by “Old ABE,” and wanted LINDER’S help. DOUGLAS’ frantic telegram was exhibited with pardonable pride by its recipient, and from it came the sobriquet, “For-God’s-Sake LINDER,” which stuck to him through life.

Gen. LINDER was ardently devoted to the railway interest of Illinois, and took a prominent part in obtaining many of the earlier charters. The death of STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS, his warm personal and political friend, was a severe blow to him, and the reward he so confidently counted upon for his zealous services never came in consequence. Hard work, old age, and discouragement together hastened the close of a busy and useful life, and many an honest tear will drop at the recollection of what Gen. LINDER was in his strength and prime.