The report of the decision, in 6 McLean, 539, shows that the suit was brought by McCormick to enjoin an alleged infringement of patent. It is a fact well known among lawyers that Mr. Dickerson and Mr. Harding were both patent lawyers of high standing, and they were doubtless employed by the respective parties for that reason. Mr. Ralph Emerson, of Rockford, Illinois, one of the defendants in the case, who knew Mr. Lincoln well, has stated that Mr. Lincoln was retained by the defendants at his suggestion. There seems to be no doubt that Mr. Lincoln made careful preparation for the argument of the case and regarded the prospect of meeting the distinguished counsel who represented the opposition as worthy of his best efforts. The opportunity was one rarely granted to any western lawyer at that time, and Mr. Lincoln went to Cincinnati eager for the contest, arriving the day before that on which the hearing was to begin before Mr. Justice McLean, of the United States Supreme Court, and District Judge Drummond, of Chicago, sitting as circuit judge. It was agreed between the parties that the case should be heard at Cincinnati, as that was the place of residence of Justice McLean. The account of the occurrence at Cincinnati, as related to the writer by Mr. Bigelow, is in substance as follows: Messrs. Harding and Stanton were already in Cin cinnati when Mr. Lincoln arrived, and had taken rooms at the Burnett House, then a leading hotel of that city. When Mr. Lincoln reached the hotel, Messrs. Stanton and Harding were absent and Mr. Lincoln awaited their return. He stood at the entrance to the hotel as they approached and was greeted indifferently as they passed by him and went to the room of Mr. Harding. How they knew Mr. Lincoln Mr. Harding did not say, but on arriving at his room, a conference was had between the two lawyers, and Mr. Stanton insisted that it would never do to allow a man of Mr. Lincoln's type to make an argument in the case. Mr. Harding described Mr. Lincoln as awkward and ungainly in appearance, his clothing utterly devoid of the tailor's art, ill-fitting and in no wise suited to his angular frame. He wore heavy boots and his appearance was that of the average western farmer of that period. Having determined that Mr. Lincoln should not be allowed to participate in the hearing of the case, Harding and Stanton sought a method to bring about the desired result, and it was finally determined to send for Mr. Lincoln and inform him that as there were but two counsel on the opposite side of the case, they had decided that it would be unwise that more than two arguments should be made on behalf of the defendants. It was agreed that Mr. Harding should be the spokesman when Mr. Lincoln came, and upon his arrival at the room of Mr. Harding, the latter informed him of the conclusion which had been reached and told him that he (Harding) would make the argument on the technical questions regarding the infringement and that the other argument would be made by Mr. Stanton. Mr. Lincoln replied, "Very well, gentlemen, I have here some suggestions which I had intended to use in my argument which you are at liberty to use if you see fit"; at the same time taking a manuscript from the inside pocket of his coat and handing it to Mr. Harding. Shortly thereafter Mr. Lincoln left the room and Mr. Harding threw the manuscript into the wastebasket without opening it. That same evening a dinner was given by Messrs. Harding and Stanton to the judges and the other counsel in the case, with the exception of Mr. Lincoln, who was not invited. Mr. Emerson, who was present at the trial, has said that Mr. Lincoln remained in Cincinnati throughout the trial of the case, but took no part in it. That he was entirely ignored by his associates seems to have been admitted by all who have professed to know anything about the matter. Mr. Emerson published a pamphlet in the latter years of his life in which he gives his recollections of Mr. Lincoln, and in it he says that in the trial of the reaper case the parties were limited "to two lawyers on a side"; but he fails to state who fixed this limit, and there is considerable evidence that his memory of the incidents of that distant day was defective when his pamphlet was written. He states that Mr. Lincoln informed him at the conclusion of the trial that he (Lincoln) was "going home to study law," and that when he replied that Mr. Lincoln then stood at the head of the Illinois bar, the latter answered, "Yes, yes, I do occupy a good position there, and I think I can get along with the way things are going there now. But these college-trained men who have devoted their whole lives to study are coming west, don't you see?" In the face of the fact that many the lawyers who were then practicing law in central Illinois were college-bred men, it does not seem possible that Mr. Emerson's recollection is correct as to what Mr. Lincoln said to him. of Among the college-bred men with whom Mr. Lincoln came in contact at that time in Illinois may be mentioned Orville H. Browning, who received a classical education at Augusta College; Charles H. Constable, a graduate of the University of Virginia; Benjamin S. Edwards, a graduate of Yale; Jesse B. Thomas, a graduate of Transylvania University; Isaac G. Wilson, a graduate of Brown University; |