LINCOLN, Abraham (1809-1865). Autograph document signed three times ("Lincoln p. d[efendant]"). [Tazewell County, IL, ca 1 May 1865].

1 page, 4to, docketed by Lincoln and the Tazewell County Clerk verso ("Filed May 1. 1854 [corrected to "1855"]), slight browning, separations to folds. Provenance: Sold Sotheby's New York, 25 April 1989, sale 5837, lot 71.

Lincoln's pleas on behalf of the defendant in the case of Samuel Hitchcock, administrator of Isabella Hitchcock, v. William C. Glasgow, an action of "debt upon record." Lincoln writes out three separate please on the same sheet, signing each.

AN OHIO JUDGMENT. Lincoln had appeared for Glasgow in two cases heard before the Tazewell County court in October 1854. The court decided against Glasgow in one decision, awarding the plaintiff $387.45 plus costs. In this second case, Hitchcock v. Glasgow, Lincoln was more successful. The case was continued until spring 1855, when Lincoln filed these pleas, arguing that the Hitchcocks could not recover "Dept on Record" as there was no valid "record," since Glasgow was an Illinois resident at the time the Ohio court awarded the Hitchcock estate its judgement, and had "never appeared in person to said suit, nor authorized any person to appear for him, therein; and this he is ready to verify." The plaintiff dismissed the action on 1 May 1855 when the case came up. Lincoln Day by Day, p. 129, 145.