Unsigned legal document penned entirely in the hand of Abraham Lincoln, one page, 7.5 x 12, June 22, 1858. A summary of a deposition given by David H. Hill in a case involving the sinking of a steamship that had caught on fire. In part: "I was engaged on the Steam-ferry boat of the Libellants at St. Louis, or between St. Louis and the Illinois shore. Discovered the Ocean Spray on fire two or two over a half mile above the city. She floated down the stream a perfect laming wreck, drifting, by force of the wind…If left alone, she would almost certainly have floated down the stream and finally sunk when nothing could be saved from her…With considerable labor and some danger to the Ferry boat, and on our lives, pressed her into shore…and scuttled and sank her where she now lies, and where her boiler and some other valuable parts of her can be saved…Witness added that it would be to the interest of all concerned that the wreck of the Ocean Spray be sold as speedily as possible." The case in question, Wiggins Ferry Co. v. Ocean Spray, is documented in the standard reference Lincoln Day by Day: A Chronology 1809-1865, in the entries for June 21 and 22, 1858. Double-matted with the original manuscript filing record for the case (in another hand), bearing the notation "Lincoln & Herndon, Proctors for Libellants," with a photo and explanatory sheet to an overall size of 26 x 16. In fine condition. An impressive manuscript containing over 175 words in Lincoln’s own hand that dates to both the dusk of his legal career and the dawn of his role within the nation’s political arena.
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