recedents and the venerable rules of law had little weight.
The "Squire" took judicial notice of a great many facts, often going
so far as to fill, simultaneously, the two functions of witness and
court. But his decisions were generally just.

James McGrady Rutledge tells a story in which several of Lincoln's old
friends figure and which illustrates the legal practices of New Salem.
"Jack Kelso," says Mr. Rutledge, "owned or claimed to own a white
hog. It was also claimed by John Ferguson. The hog had often wandered
around Bowling Green's place, and he was somewhat acquainted with it.
Ferguson sued Kelso, and the case was tried before 'Squire' Green. The
plaintiff produced two witnesses who testified positively that the hog
belonged to him. Kelso had nothing to offer, save his own unsupported
claim.

"'Are there any more witnesses?' inquired the court.

"He was informed that there were no more.

"'Well,' said 'Squire' Green, 'the two witnesses we have heard have
sworn to a ---- lie. I know this shoat, and I know it belongs to Jack
Kelso. I therefore decide this case in his favor.'"

An extract from the record of the County Commissioners' Court
illustrates the nature of the cases that came before the justice
of the peace in Lincoln's day. It also shows the price put upon the
privilege of working on Sunday, in 1832:

JANUARY 29, 1832.--Alexander Gibson found guilty of
Sabbath-breaking and fined 12-1/2 cents. Fine paid into court.

"(Signed) EDWARD ROBINSON, J.P."

LINCOLN ENTERS THE ILLINOIS ASSEMBLY.

The session of the ninth Assembly began December 1, 1834, and Lincoln
went to the capital, then Vandalia, seventy-five miles southeast of
New Salem, on the Kaskaskia River, in time for the opening. Vandalia
was a town which had been called into existence in 1820 especially
to give the State government an abiding-place. Its very name had been
chosen, it is said, because it "sounded well" for a State capital. As
the tradition goes, while the commissioners were debating what they
should call the town they were making, a wag suggested that it be
named Vandalia, in honor of the Vandals, a tribe of Indians which,
said he, had once lived on the borders of the Kaskaskia; this, he
argued, would conserve a local tradition while giving a euphonous
title. The commissioners, pleased with so good a suggestion, adopted
the name. When Lincoln first went to Vandalia it was a town of about
eight hundred inhabitants;