Hello, listers. I have received a clipping with a slightly new (to me) slant on the Chiniquy lawsuit, from my cousin Margaret Guertin Bedard of Kankakee - it has been cut from a newspaper of unknown date (although there are some date-clues in the context) and photocopied - Margaret did not know its source and has had it for many years among her papers. Since it was Father Charles Chiniquy who essentially settled the village of St. Anne and gave it its name, the story of his life is an integral part of the history we trace. He was revered by some and villified by others - whatever the truth, he must have been an amazing person. His association with Abraham Lincoln is one more interesting occurrence in a long and remarkable life. Here's the clipping, verbatim: [HEADLINE] LINCOLN WAS ATTORNEY IN CHINIQUY SUIT [sub-head] ATTORNEY C. .M CLAY BUNTAIN FINDS INTERESTING BIT OF HISTORY IN BOOK [more caps] ACTION FOR SLANDER [1855-1856] [another sub-head] Change Of Venue Is Taken To Champaign County On Account Of Bitter Feeling Here [article begins] The celebrated slander suit of [Peter] Spink vs. Rev. Charles Chiniquy, a priest of St. Anne, back in 1855, and the part played by Abraham Lincoln were recalled yesterday when Attorney C. M. Clay Buntain ran across the story in Jesse Weik's "Life of Lincoln" which he was reading. As soon as he came acrossthe story of the incident, Mr. Buntain went to the office of Circuit Clerk Charles F. Skinner and there, among the oldest records in the court house, he found the complete records of the suit. [sub-head] Lincoln Settles Case It developed that while the suit was originally filed here, yet on account of the bitter feelings which followed, it was taken on a change of venue to Champaign County. President Lincoln, then an attorney making a citcuit of various courts in central Illinois, was one of the force of lawyers employed by Father Chiniquy and his friends and took part in the trial after it reached Champaign [actually, Urbana]. Following a disagreement of a jury [i.e., a hung jury], the Great Emancipator brought about a settlement betwthe parties and was the attorney who wrote the final degree [sic]. [sub-head] Bourbonais County Seat The entries in the case were made in Kankakee County during the term of Phillip Worcester as circuit clerk and the handwriting is that of the late Thomas Benfield, Sr., who was then deputy circuit clerk and afterwards one of the ablest lawyers at the Kankakee bar. The court at that time was located in Bourbonnais which was then the county seat. It is doubtful if there is now a living person in Kankakee County who actually recalls the case. The following account of the litigation appears in the book [?] now in the possession of Mr. Buntain [Weick, "Life of Lincoln"?]. [The case with which] Mr. Lincoln was associated was that of Spink vs. Chiniquy, begun in Kankakee County, Illinois, a case in which Charles Chiniquy, a priest, was sued for having falsely charged that Peter Spink, one of his parishioners, had been guilty of perjury. The parties and most of the witnesses were French Catholics. Mr. Lincoln and Leonard Swett represented Father Chiniquy. It was a well known and warmly-contested case. "Father Chiniquy was plucky," related Henry O. Whitney, who was present and remembered the trial, "and pled justification." Preparations were made for a fight to the finish, not only between the two principals but by the two respective neighborhoods in which they lived, for eventually almost everybody became involved. A change of venue brought the case to Champaign County, and when the term came on, the principals, their lawyers, and an immense retinue of followers, came to Urbana. The hotels were monopolized and a large number camped out. After a tedious and long-drawn-out trial the jury disagreed [since the jury could not reach a verdict, a re-trial was scheduled] . Next term the crowd, in no wise diminished, returned, camp outfits, musicians, parrots, pet dogs, and all. The prospect was that all their scandal would have to be aired again; but Mr. Lincoln, who abhored that class of litigation, in which there was no utility, and dreading the outcome, set to work and finally effected a compromise. The formal decree reciting the terms of the settlement of the case which follows was prepared by Lincoln and is an excellent specimen of his concise and orderly presentation of a legal proposition: "Peter Spink vs.Charles Chiniquy. This day came the parties and the defendant [Chiniquy] denies that he had ever charged or believed the plaintiff [Spink] to be guilty ofPerjury; that whatever he has said from which such a charge could be inferred, he said on the information of others, protecting his own disbelief in the charge; and that he not disclaims any belief in the truth of said charge against said plaintiff. It is therefore, by agreement of the parties, ordered that the suit be dismissed, each party paying his own cost - the defendant to pay his part of the cost heretofore ordered to be paid by said plaintiff." [end of article and clipping] And where did Jesse Weick get his information, one asks. It seems everyone had an ax to grind in this fact situation! According to Charles Chiniquy in "Fifty Years in the Church of Rome" (pp. 620 ff.), the lawsuit came about because Chiniquy believed that Spink had told lies about him to the Roman Catholic Bishop of Chicago (O'Regan) and further that Spink had been encouraged by the bishop to spread these lies in the St. Anne area. Of course, there is more! The Illinois Historical Society Lincoln project has recently retrieved and preserved the surviving documents generated by this action. This list's Audrey NiteOwl received a copy of the case docket and the text of the agreement signed by Abraham Lincoln from the project directors from the project director - she kindly gave me a copy for my file - thanks again, Audrey! I will review it for anything to add to this account and will send a follow-up note. Cheers to all - I hope this has been of interest. Ginny Virginia Crawford List Admin - ILSTANNE-L VCrawf@aol.com