A story has been reported that the introduction of an almanac in the Armstrong trial was a piece of trickery on Lincoln's part; that an almanac of 1853 was used with all the figure 3's changed to 7's. This was not necessary, for the almanac of 1857 answered the purpose, and, besides, Mr. Lincoln was not a dishonest lawyer.
Others have claimed that no almanac was used at all in the trial. George Cary Eggleston, a noted author, is reported as putting a discount on it, and intimates that the story arose from an incident connected with a trial in the early 'fifties at Vevay, Indiana, witnessed by himself and his brother Edward, the author of the "Hoosier Schoolmaster," and other popular novels. He says his brother, in writing the novel, entitled "The Graysons," exercised the novelist's privilege, and attributed this clever trick to Abraham Lincoln in the days of his obscurity.
Part First of Honorable J. H. Barrett's "Life of Lincoln" was prepared for the press in June, 1860, just after Mr. Lincoln's nomination for the presidency, and only two years after the Armstrong trial, and there the trial is mentioned in full, with the almanac incident. How does the George Cary Eggleston account jibe with these facts? His brother Edward simply stated an historical fact in attributing the almanac incident to Lincoln, and it was not the exercise of a novelist's fancy.
In order to secure additional facts in the Armstrong case, I recently wrote to the postmaster at Havana, Illinois, for the names of the lawyers, if yet living, who were associated with Mr. Lincoln in the case. The following letter was received, which is here given for its historic value:
"Havana, Illinois, August 22, 1908.
"Rev. J. T. Hobson, Dear Sir:—Your letter directed to the postmaster of this place, dated August 18, 1908, was handed to me by the postmaster, Mr. Oscar Harpham, and he requested me to answer your letter.
"You ask for the names of the lawyers in Havana, who, in connection with Abraham Lincoln, defended Duff Armstrong in the Circuit Court of Cass County, Illinois, held in Beardstown, in 1858. In answer, I will state that the undersigned, Lyman Lacey, Sr., was one of the two lawyers who was employed to defend said Armstrong. Our firm name was Walker and Lacey, and we were practicing law in Havana, Mason County, Illinois, at the time in partnership, and had been so engaged at the time of the trial since 1856. Mr. Walker's given name was William. In 1865, Mr. William Walker removed to Lexington, State of Missouri, where he practiced law, and was county judge part of the time, and, a few years ago, died.
"I am the only attorney who practiced and was employed to defend Armstrong, yet alive. I am in the practice of law now, and am in good health, and on the 9th day of May last was seventy-six years old. Was about twenty-six years old at the time of trial of the Armstrong case in Beardstown, and my partner, some years older than myself, was the senior member of our firm. He attended the trial in Beardstown with Lincoln. I was not present, but stayed at home in the office in Havana.
"Mason and Cass counties join, and the crime of killing Metzker, for which Armstrong was indicted, took place in Mason County, and the indictment against Armstrong was found in this county, and a change of venue was taken to Cass County, which was in the same judicial district.
"I was well acquainted with Hannah Armstrong, mother of "Duff," with whom Lincoln had boarded in Menard County, which also joins Mason, when he was a young man, and before he was a lawyer, That was the reason Lincoln would not charge anything for defending her son. Our firm, Walker and Lacey, did not charge her anything for our services. "Duff" could not pay. His mother employed us and Lincoln. Lincoln and our firm consulted together about the defense, and Walker assisted at the trial.