Lincoln Page #35

GEORGE YEAMAN:

(rising to his feet)

I said aye, Mr. McPherson.

AYE!!!

Great surprise, loud cheers and angry shouts.

FERNANDO WOOD:

TRAITOR! TRAITOR!

Yeaman looks ready to faint. To the consternation of the

Democrats, a mob of gleeful Republicans rushes across the

aisle that separates the two parties; they surround Yeaman,

shaking his hand, slapping him on the back. Colfax bangs the

gavel.

SCHUYLER COLFAX:

Order!

Pendleton is speechless. Litton turns to Ashley, both

astonished; Ashley turns to Stevens, who watches, sharp,

observant, giving nothing away.

Mary updates her tally: "8 TO WIN"

SCHUYLER COLFAX (CONT'D)

Order in the chamber!

Yeaman collapses back into his seat. The room quiets.

SCHUYLER COLFAX (CONT'D)

Mr. MacPherson, you may proceed.

THE CLERK OF THE HOUSE

Mr. Clay R. Hawkins of Ohio.

Hawkins seems to have been startled out of a reverie. Sick

with fear, he looks up at the sound of his name. He can't

speak. Wood and Pendleton watch this, deeply alarmed. Hawkins

snaps out of it.

CLAY HAWKINS:

Goddamn it, I'm voting yes.

110.

A huge reaction to this. LeClerk gapes at Hawkins.

CLAY HAWKINS (CONT'D)

(right at Pendleton and

Wood!)

I don't care, shoot me dead! You

shoot me dead I, I am voting yes!

THE CLERK OF THE HOUSE

Mr. Edwin F. LeClerk.

LeClerk, seated next to Hawkins and transfixed by his

courage, turns dazedly to McPherson.

EDWIN LECLERK:

No.

(then, standing abruptly:)

Oh to hell with it, shoot me dead

too. Yes!

The noise gets wilder. Pendleton fixes LeClerk and Hawkins

with a murderous look.

EDWIN LECLERK (CONT'D)

I mean, abstention. Abstention.

Disgust briefly flashing across his face, McPherson crosses

out and changes LeClerk's vote to an abstention. The cheering

and booing degenerates to intense argument about what this

means for the vote count.

In the balcony, Bilbo looks at Hawkins, well-pleased.

THE CLERK OF THE HOUSE

Mr. Alexander Coffroth.

Coffroth looks towards Stevens, who doesn't look at him.

ALEXANDER COFFROTH

(proud of himself and

happy about the reward

HE'LL GET:
)

I. Vote. Yes.

Applause. Stevens still doesn't look at Coffroth, but,

tickled, he grins and nods.

INT. GRANT'S TELEGRAPH ROOM AT CITY POINT - AFTERNOON

Grant stands with Robert at the balcony rail, waiting.

SERGEANT:

James Brooks...nay.

111.

On a nearby board, a large map has been tacked backwards; on

its reverse side, the count is being scrawled by an officer,

who marks off the votes in quintiles in columns marked YEA

and NAY.

SERGEANT AT ARMS

Josiah Grinnell...yea. Meyer

Straus...

INT. THE HOUSE CHAMBER AND BALCONY - AFTERNOON

STRAUS rises.

MEYER STRAUS:

Nay.

THE CLERK OF THE HOUSE

Mr. Joseph Marstern?

JOSEPH MARSTERN:

Nay.

THE CLERK OF THE HOUSE

Mr. Chilton A. Elliot?

CHILTON A. ELLIOT

No!

THE CLERK OF THE HOUSE

Mr. Daniel G. Stuart?

DANIEL G. STUART

I vote yes.

Then, in a sequence of rapid cuts:

THE CLERK OF THE HOUSE

Mr. Howard Guilefoyle.

HOWARD GUILEFOYLE

Yea.

THE CLERK OF THE HOUSE

John F. McKenzie.

JOHN F. MCKENZIE

Yea.

THE CLERK OF THE HOUSE

Andrew E. Fink.

ANDREW E. FINK

Nay.

112.

THE CLERK OF THE HOUSE

Mr. John A. Kassim.

JOHN A. KASSIM

Yea.

THE CLERK OF THE HOUSE

Mr. Hanready.

AVON HANREADY:

Nay.

THE CLERK OF THE HOUSE

And Mr. Rufus Warren?

RUFUS WARREN:

Yea.

INT. LINCOLN'S OFFICE, THE WHITE HOUSE - AFTERNOON

Tad is on Lincoln's lap. They're examining a book, the pages

of which feature illustrations comparing the varieties of

species of insects, zebras, finches.

INT. THE HOUSE CHAMBER AND BALCONY - AFTERNOON

The room is quiet and tense.

THE CLERK OF THE HOUSE

The roll call concludes, voting is

completed, now -

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