LINCOLN, Abraham (1809-1865). Autograph legal document signed ("Lincoln, for defendant"), [Tazewell County, Ill.], [filed] 4 October 1853.

One page, 8vo (305 x 191 mm), on plain blue paper, old folds, very minor soiling.

In full: "Indictment for cheating - Change of venue from Peoria. And now the said defendants come and move the court to quash the indictment in this case, because
1. The pretences charged in the indictment as false pretences, are not stated with sufficient certainty.
2. The matters charged as false pretences do not in law, amount to false pretences.
3. The principal charge, towit, the charge that the defendants obtained the money etc. by false pretences, is not presented by the Grand Jury in the name, and by the authority of the People of the State of Illinois. For which reason, the defendants move that the indictment be quashed. Lincoln, for defendants."

The People of the State of Illinois vs. John Shaffer & Abner G. Shaffer was a legal case tried in Tazewell County, Illinois, stemming from an agreement between brothers John and Abner G. Shaffer to deliver 500 hogs to two men named Walker and Kellogg in exchange for $1,000. When the money was paid but the hogs were not delivered, the Illinois state's attorney indicted the Shaffers in Peoria County Circuit Court for fraud. The present motion sought to quash the indictment entirely; however, the court overruled it and set a trial date. The Shaffers failed to appear, and after a few years, the case was eventually struck from the docket.

This lot is located in Chicago.