细节
LINCOLN, Abraham, President. Autograph letter signed ("A. Lincoln") to Thomas J. Turner, Springfield, 15 August 1853. 1 page, 4to, bold dark ink with a strong signature. Fine.
LINCOLN PREPARES FOR A COURT CASE
A lengthy letter on a legal matter, in which Lincoln spells out the preparations necessary for the trial. Lincoln was attorney for Turner and Adam Adams, a farmer residing in Ogle County, in a suit over land; certain special procedures are necessary: "Herewith is the commission for taking depositions. They are to be taken in conformity to our State statute for taking the depositions of non-resident witnesses - the reason of which is that the Federal court, by rule, adopted our statute, with this modification, that witnesses residing more than one hundred miles from the place of holding the court, shall be classed as non-residents...." In the case of another certificate "...you have only to see that they conform to our statute. The [commissioner] chooses his own day to begin the job, in regard to which, I doubt not, he will conform to your wishes. When I served notice on [Stephen T.] Logan I promised him that if he would name any attorney in the vicinity whom he would wish to be present at the taking of the depositions, I would request you to notify him of the time and place; but he is gone off to the 'Worlds Fair' without having named any. You will perceive Logan filed cross-interrogations; and which I hope may be fully and fairly answered as our own. My former letter contains all the other suggestions which occur to me." The circumstances and individuals figuring in this case are obscure, as the records of the U.S. District Court for this period are not extant. A small portion only published in Collected Works, ed. R.P. Basler, 2:201, from E. Hertz, Abraham Lincoln: A New Portrait (1931), 2:619. See also Basler, 2:72n.
LINCOLN PREPARES FOR A COURT CASE
A lengthy letter on a legal matter, in which Lincoln spells out the preparations necessary for the trial. Lincoln was attorney for Turner and Adam Adams, a farmer residing in Ogle County, in a suit over land; certain special procedures are necessary: "Herewith is the commission for taking depositions. They are to be taken in conformity to our State statute for taking the depositions of non-resident witnesses - the reason of which is that the Federal court, by rule, adopted our statute, with this modification, that witnesses residing more than one hundred miles from the place of holding the court, shall be classed as non-residents...." In the case of another certificate "...you have only to see that they conform to our statute. The [commissioner] chooses his own day to begin the job, in regard to which, I doubt not, he will conform to your wishes. When I served notice on [Stephen T.] Logan I promised him that if he would name any attorney in the vicinity whom he would wish to be present at the taking of the depositions, I would request you to notify him of the time and place; but he is gone off to the 'Worlds Fair' without having named any. You will perceive Logan filed cross-interrogations; and which I hope may be fully and fairly answered as our own. My former letter contains all the other suggestions which occur to me." The circumstances and individuals figuring in this case are obscure, as the records of the U.S. District Court for this period are not extant. A small portion only published in Collected Works, ed. R.P. Basler, 2:201, from E. Hertz, Abraham Lincoln: A New Portrait (1931), 2:619. See also Basler, 2:72n.