American Historical Ephemera & Photography, Featuring Property from the James Milgram, M.D., Collection of Broadsides, Ephemeral Americana & Historical Documents

Visible 9 1/2 x 20 5/8 in. (toned, light soil or dampstain to lower right); framed to 10 3/4 x 21 3/4 in. (not examined out of frame). Signed in type by L.B. Handley, Special Commissioner of the LaRue Circuit Court.

In November 1894, New York entrepreneur Alfred W. Dennett purchased 110 acres of the Sinking Spring Farm in LaRue County, Kentucky, the site of Abraham Lincoln's birth. A year later, he purchased a nearby log cabin, which was spuriously reported to contain some of the logs of the original Lincoln cabin. By 1901, Dennett filed for bankruptcy, but in an effort to protect his investment he conveyed ownership of the farm and cabin to David Crear.

In May 1905, however, as noted on this broadside, the LaRue Circuit Court adjudicated that the transfer to Crear was fraudulent and ordered the sale of the farm by commissioner sale. That sale is advertised in this broadside, which includes the details of the auction, the description of the land, and the terms. The site would be purchased by the Lincoln Farm Association with aid of Robert Collier, publisher of Collier's Weekly.