"I am the only attorney who practiced and was employed to defend Armstrong, yet alive. I am in the practice of law now, and am in good health, and on the 9th day of May last was seventy-six years old. Was about twenty-six years old at the time of trial of the Armstrong case in Beardstown, and my partner, some years older than myself, was the senior member of our firm. He attended the trial in Beardstown with Lincoln. I was not present, but stayed at home in the office in Havana. "Mason and Cass counties join, and the crime of killing Metzker, for which Armstrong was indicted, took place in Mason County, and the indictment against Armstrong was found in this county, and a change of venue was taken to Cass County, which was in the same judicial district. "I was well acquainted with Hannah Armstrong, mother of "Duff," with whom Lincoln had boarded in Menard County, which also joins Mason, when he was a young man, and before he was a lawyer, That was the reason Lincoln would not charge anything for defending her son. Our firm, Walker and Lacey, did not charge her anything for our services. "Duff" could not pay. His mother employed us and Lincoln. Lincoln and our firm consulted together about the defense, and Walker assisted at the trial. "I would be glad to give you any information in regard to the trial and the parties in the Armstrong case. It was quite celebrated, and things have been told that were not true. "In regard to myself, in 1873 I was elected judge of the Circuit Court, and elected three times afterwards, and served in all twenty-four years. By appointment of the Supreme Court of this State, I served twenty years on the Appellate Court bench. I retired from the bench in 1897. "Yours very truly, "LYMAN LACEY, SR." After receiving the above letter, I wrote to Judge Lacey for additional information, and, in reply, received another letter containing interesting data, which here follows: "HAVANA, ILLINOIS, September 1, 1908.