Details
LINCOLN, ABRAHAM, President. Autograph document (unsigned), a decree of court, CONTAINING ABOUT 425 WORDS, n.p. [Decatur], [c. 5 June 1852]. 1 3/4 pages, folio, integral blank, on blue-gray paper, a few small fold tears.
A DECREE IN KING, ET AL. VS. LEE, ET AL., 1852
A very lengthy decree in chancery, entirely in Lincoln's hand, concerning the non-appearance of John Lee, a key defendant in a suit over a piece of real estate: "This day came the complainants [11 individuals], and all the defendants [7 individuals] except John Lee, having filed their joint and separate answer herein; and the said John Lee having been duly notified of the pendancy of this suit by a publication in a newspaper, and being three times solemnly called, came not but made default, it is ordered by the court that the complainant's Bill, as modified by the Revised and amended Bill be taken for confessed as against said John Lee -- and therefore the complainants and the other defendants submit this cause to the court for hearing..." (Meirs, Lincoln Day by Day, pp. 76-77). Lincoln won this case when the jury found for the complainants (see Thomas, Lincoln: 1847-1853, p. 284). Not in Collected Works, and apparently unpublished.
Provenance: Oliver R. Barrett (sale, Parke-Bernet, 19 February 1952, lot 101).
A DECREE IN KING, ET AL. VS. LEE, ET AL., 1852
A very lengthy decree in chancery, entirely in Lincoln's hand, concerning the non-appearance of John Lee, a key defendant in a suit over a piece of real estate: "This day came the complainants [11 individuals], and all the defendants [7 individuals] except John Lee, having filed their joint and separate answer herein; and the said John Lee having been duly notified of the pendancy of this suit by a publication in a newspaper, and being three times solemnly called, came not but made default, it is ordered by the court that the complainant's Bill, as modified by the Revised and amended Bill be taken for confessed as against said John Lee -- and therefore the complainants and the other defendants submit this cause to the court for hearing..." (Meirs, Lincoln Day by Day, pp. 76-77). Lincoln won this case when the jury found for the complainants (see Thomas, Lincoln: 1847-1853, p. 284). Not in Collected Works, and apparently unpublished.
Provenance: Oliver R. Barrett (sale, Parke-Bernet, 19 February 1952, lot 101).