onesty, and that
a wrong cause was poorly defended by him.

The story is told that a man offered to employ him in a case and
told him the facts, which did not satisfy Lincoln that there was
any merit in it. He said to him: "I can gain your case; I can
set a whole neighborhood at loggerheads; I can distress a widowed
mother and six fatherless children, and thereby get for you six
hundred dollars, which it appears to me as rightfully belongs to
them as to you. I will not take your case, but I will give you a
little advice for nothing. You seem to be a sprightly young man,
and I advise you to try your hand at making six hundred dollars in
some other way."

Mr. Lincoln was for a time employed by the Illinois Central Railroad
as one of its attorneys. In a case in one of the counties of Judge
Davis's circuit to which the railroad was a party, it was announced
that the company was not ready for trial, and the court inquired
the reason; to which Mr. Lincoln replied that Captain McClellan
was absent. The court asked, "Who is Captain McClellan?" Lincoln
replied that all he knew about him was that he was the engineer of
the Illinois Central Railroad.

What a strange juggling of destiny and of fate! In little more
than two years McClellan's fame had become world-wide as the general
in charge of all the armies of the Republic, only to prove in the
estimation of many people the most stupendous failure as a commander
in all our military history; Davis had become a Justice of the
Supreme Court of the United States; and Lincoln had reached the
Presidency.

In the trial of the murder case to which I have referred, I never
saw more striking evidence of Mr. Lincoln's power over a court.
There came a question of the advisability of certain testimony
which was very vital to the defendant. The question was thoroughly
argued by Judge Logan and Mr. Lincoln until the court took a recess
for dinner at noon. The Judge announced that he would render his
decision when the court reconvened. The courthouse was filled on
the reconvening of court in the afternoon, and the Judge began
rendering his opinion on the point in dispute. It seemed to Mr.
Lincoln and those present that he was about to decide against the
admissibility of the evidence. Lincoln sprang to his feet.
Apparently he towered over the Judge, overawing him. He made such
a tremendous impression that the court apparently gave way, and
decided the point in the defendant's