25084

Abraham Lincoln. Autograph Document Signed Abraham Lincoln. Autograph Document Signed "Saltonstall,

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:1.00 USD Estimated At:4,000.00 - 5,000.00 USD
Abraham Lincoln. Autograph Document Signed Abraham Lincoln. Autograph Document Signed  Saltonstall,
<B>Abraham Lincoln. Autograph Document Signed "Saltonstall, for plff".</B></I> Tazewell Co. (Ill.), September 1852, one and one-half pages, folio, on blue paper. In James E. Smith vs James C. Gaines, the plaintiff declares that the previous July the defendant <I>"in a…conversation…held in the presence and hearing of divers good citizens…concerning the evidence the said plaintiff had theretofore given on the trial of a certain cause before a justice of the peace, wherein the defendant herein was a party…spoke…the following false, scandalous, malicious and defamatory words, to wit: 'James E. Smith…swore a lie, and I…can prove it'…meaning and intending to impute to the said plaintiff the crime of perjury…"</B></I> Records show that on May 5, 1852 a jury decided for Smith, awarding him $100 damages, a tenth of the amount asked for in this document. Lincoln seems to have written this declaration as a favor for his colleague A.H. Saltonstall, and only later joined him in the suit; someone, perhaps county clerk J.A. Jones, has amended the signature by adding "Lincoln and" before what Lincoln himself wrote ("Saltonstall, for plff."). From the Henry E. Luhrs Collection.