In the Fall of ’58, two men, in a grocery store at Sadorus, engaged in a discussion upon politics, became angry, and one, snatching from the counter by his side, a four pound weight, threw at the other and killed him. Ward H. Lamon was at the time Prosecuting Attorney. The widow of the murdered man engaged O. B. Ficklin to aid in the prosecution. Messrs. Lincoln and Swett were the lawyers for the defense. When the time came for the presentation of the argument, Mr. Lincoln, in his turn made his speech. As the trial had proceeded, he had become more and more persuaded that his client deserved severe punishment. His speech was a failure. Judge Davis told him so afterwards, and he acknowledged it. Swett, however, took his turn with a fine argument and the murderer was let off with a few years in the penitentiary. At another time, I am told, having become convinced that he was on the wrong side of the case, he was missing when called for to make his argument. The messenger, sent to search for him, found him in his room. “Tell the Judge,” he said, “that I am busy and can’t come”. His humor oft times served him in a trial. I find in the “Urbana Union” for March, 4, 1858, a story of his own, to the point. A crowd of men were in an office discussing the fight in Congress upon the “Lecompton Constitution”, when Lincoln entered and was asked his opinion on the matter. Having seated himself in a chair, and having thrown one leg over the other in his usual way, he said he could best illustrate his opinion by means of a story. There were two men, he said, in a neighboring county, who had often met at “logger-heads”. One day, after an earnest discussion at their border line, one of them, in his anger, leaped over the fence and gave the other a sound thrashing. “I was engaged for the defense. The witness for the prosecution was a very talkative fellow, not confining himself to the mere matter of the questions put, but willing to tell all he knew. When it came my turn to question him, I asked: ‘You say you saw the fight?’ ‘Yes, stranger, I reckon I did’. ‘Was it much of a fight?’ ‘I’ll be darned if it wasn’t stranger, a right smart fight’. ‘How much ground did the contestants cover over?’ ‘About one acre’. ‘About one acre’, I repeated musingly; ‘well now witness, tell me, wasn’t that just about the smallest crop of a fight off, of an acre of ground that you have ever heard of?’ ‘That’s so stranger. I’ll be gol-darned if it wasn’t.’ The jury” said Mr. Lincoln, giving his leg a twitch, and waiting for the roar of laughter to subside, “fined my client just ten cents”.