Lincoln's Last Trial: The Murder Case That Propelled Him to the Presidency

The Only Honest Man in IllinoisBy Bob Gelms Abraham Lincoln is THE towering figure in American history. Nobody else comes close. Everyone in America knows him as a politician, and a pretty good one at that. Everyone in American also knows that Abe Lincoln was a lawyer but most don’t know what he did as an attorney. For all they know, Mr. Lincoln wrote wills and handled divorces. Uh…well…he did do wills and divorces along with adoptions, trusts, and corporate documents. He was an all-purpose lawyer. During his law career he was involved in some 3,000 cases. Interestingly, between two and three dozen of those legal situations involved murder. It was an accepted fact among the Springfield, Illinois legal community that you truly had your hands full going up against Mr. Lincoln. He was considered the best attorney in Springfield and, after a few years, the best in Illinois. His folksy way of telling stories relating to the case had juries eating out of his hand. A jury would believe anything Abe Lincoln told them. It was widely known that Lincoln only took cases where his client was innocent. It might not have been the smartest thing to do as an attorney but since everybody knew it, most of any jury that heard Lincoln argue already believed his client was innocent. It was said that Honest Abe Lincoln would never lie and was the only honest man left in Illinois. In this issue we will look at Lincoln’s Last Trial by Dan Abrams. Within months after this trial ended, Abraham Lincoln, was elected president and never practiced as an attorney again. Here are the facts of the case. Greek Crafton and a few of his friends found Peachy Quinn Harrison at a local general store in Springfield. There was no love lost between the two men because, naturally, there was a woman involved. In the week before the confrontation, Greek was threatening to do grave bodily harm to Peachy. Peachy was so scared for his life he started to carry a knife for protection. One thing led to another and a fight broke out. Greek and two of his friends piled on Peachy and the owner of the store attempted to break it up. In the mêlée, Peachy pulled out his knife and stuck Greek in the belly. It was more like Peachy had sliced open Greek’s stomach. The doctor used the word evisceration. Greek died the next night but not before, on his deathbed, he forgave Peachy and admitted that he, not Peachy, was to blame for the fight. Greek wanted to square things up with God before he died so admitted that Peachy was only defending himself. Nevertheless, Peachy Quinn Harrison was arrested and charged with murder. Things start to get mighty complicated for Mr. Lincoln. He was contacted by Peachy’s parents, very old and very good friends of Lincoln who supported him in his political life. They hired him to defend Peachy. Here comes the complication (conflict of interest?) and it’s a doozy. Greek Crafton worked in the Lincoln & Herndon law office since Lincoln was tutoring Greek to be an attorney. Now, Lincoln was representing Greek’s murderer. For all practical purposes it was an open and shut case of self-defense. The prosecution, however, threw a couple of curve balls at Lincoln. It didn't matter. Honest Abe Lincoln proceeded to hit it over the right field fence and got the not guilty verdict. There was another exceptionally interesting aspect to this trial. It seems that Abe had attached himself to a Mr. Robert Hitt, a stenographer. This was a brand-new profession now being used by congress and police departments. In courtrooms, the judge, jury, prosecution and defense now had a completely accurate transcript of what was said. Lincoln paid Mr. Hitt so he had a transcript in case he lost and had to appeal. When we read Mr. Abram quote Lincoln in the context of the trial, he is using Abraham Lincoln’s actual words. It is unreservedly enthralling. Immediately after the end of the case, Lincoln started running for President. He got the Republican nomination on the third ballot and two months later was elected as our 16th President. I admit to being a big Lincoln fan. I didn’t know about this case so I found Mr. Abram’s book, Lincoln’s Last Case, compelling. This case and the recently concluded Lincoln Douglas debates turned the Prairie Lawyer into a national figure. At the time, he needed it because his name recognition factor outside Illinois wasn’t very high. Another Lincoln Lawyer story for another time: Abe is responsible for defending a lawsuit by the Illinois Central Railroad against the barge companies that plied the Mississippi River. The upshot was that Lincoln won the suit which was responsible for legally allowing the building of bridges across the Mississippi River. Honest Abraham Lincoln was THE MAN.

This extraordinary book, based upon a recently found transcript by Robert Roberts Hitt, is a pleasure to read...There are so many pieces to absorb beside the actual last trial by Lincoln. The time itself was in the midst of now being able to make available full transcripts of trials, speeches, and more. Robert Hitt was one of the earliest individuals who we normally called stenographers; i.e., there was no machine involved, it was one individual taking down what each individual said and then presenting a full documentation of what had occurred.Yes, I was one of those stenographers at one time early in my life; but it was as part of full secretarial duties, so I can't imagine taking notes hour after hour, within a trial environment. I found myself, since Mr. Hitt, serves as the book's narrator, paying attention to what he was going through... speaking of his fingers cramping but unable to stop writing...running out of ink and missing a few words which he would try to fill in later... And just imagine that he had become a personal friend to Abe Lincoln and had a personal desire to ensure his work for him was the best it could possibly be...The second point of interest was that laws were being written as a result of crimes being committed and trials taking place. It seemed a bit haphazard; on the other hand, the men who were lawyers at that time, loved the law and were personally dedicated to improving the processes as they handled each case. In order to move justice forward, lawyers would take turns acting on behalf of the defendant, as the prosecutor, and even the judge. Men like Abraham Lincoln had gained their reputation through their won cases and trust in the individual proved to be a deciding factor on which lawyer someone would select.A perfect illustration of this was being asked to handle the case for Quinn Harrison, by his grandfather, who within the political area, Lincoln and he were mostly enemies... Yet, Lincoln was requested and he accepted, even though he was already in the midst of, having decided to run, working to promote his candidacy as president of the United States.What was most refreshing, however, was the atmosphere of the setting of a trial. First, this was a highly controversial murder in a small town where the two men involved had family and friends. Everybody had already taken sides as to who was guilty... Indeed, at that time, entire communities would come to watch legal cases, using it as a high form of entertainment, even beyond their possible personal interest. While basic structure was maintained, still one lawyer or another felt free to stand, interrupt, and propose a thought, without anybody objecting. Then, too, most of the lawyers knew and liked each other and rarely would treat the other without complete respect.All in all I enjoyed the historical perspective of the whole book, well beyond the murder case itself...The research beyond the found transcript certainly increased the awareness of the time period as well as the people involved.For me, the murder case was cut and dry...There was no doubt in my mind that the defendant was not guilty--perhaps I've read too many novels by Kenneth G. Eade who gives us thrills and suspense! Kinda kidding, but, truly, there was such a difference...everything straight forward, nothing but the law being reviewed, applied and acted upon to pull together the facts that ultimately allowed a clear decision to be made... Or was it?Because the closing argument by Lincoln was "one of those speeches" he was known for and held all within the building spellbound... Just as I was for the entire book! For legal fiction fans...This is a Must-Read. For Historical non- and fiction fans...This is a Must-Read. And let's face it, just for the value of learning about our great president's last murder case... Well, I recommend it as a Must-Read...for Everybody!GABixlerReviews

I loved this book. I'm not normally into history but this book took an actual event and built a story around it. It was great. Thanks Dan Abrams

Good writer, I learned a lot from this book, You don't have to be American to enjoy this book.

Too much re the court reporter

Extremely poor writing style, grammar and readability. I am sure it is a good story, but it was very hard work, and I gave it up after three chapters.