Abraham Lincoln to Mason Brayman, 4 May 18531
O'REILLY'S TELEGRAPH.
ATLANTIC, LAKE AND MISSISSIPPI RANGE.
And all other Offices in the U. States and Canada.
Saint Louis, Galena and Chicago Section.
Office, South side of the Public Square, up-stairs.
SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS.
Please write plainly— without figures or abreviations— and answer promptly.
ATLANTIC, LAKE AND MISSISSIPPI RANGE.
And all other Offices in the U. States and Canada.
Saint Louis, Galena and Chicago Section.
Office, South side of the Public Square, up-stairs.
SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS.
Please write plainly— without figures or abreviations— and answer promptly.
The following Dispatch has just been received, dated
Pekin, May 4th 1853.To Mr Brayman,A. Lincoln25
<Page 2>
2Lincoln was attending court in Pekin, Illinois when he sent this telegram. Mason Brayman
was an attorney for the Illinois Central Railroad, which, by the time of this telegram, may have hired Lincoln to represent it. Although
it is unclear precisely when Lincoln was initially hired by the railroad, he represented
it in the Champaign County Circuit Court in May 1853 in the case Illinois Central Railroad v. McGinnis. Roy P. Basler, editor of The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, speculates that this telegram may have been related to this case in some way.
On October 7, 1853, Brayman wrote Lincoln to officially retain his services on behalf of the Illinois Central Railroad,
enclosing a retainer fee of $250 for Lincoln.
The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln, 4 May 1853, http://thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1853-05-04; Sandra K. Lueckenhoff, “A. Lincoln, a Corporate Attorney and the Illinois Central
Railroad,” Missouri Law Review 61 (Spring 1996), 394; Roy P. Basler, ed., The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1953), 2:194; Receipt of Abraham Lincoln to Illinois Central Railroad Company; For full details on Lincoln’s involvement in the case Illinois Central Railroad v. McGinnis, see Illinois Central Railroad v. McGinnis, Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, 2d edition (Springfield: Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, 2009), http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=136555.
Handwritten Telegram Signed with a Representation, 2 page(s), Lincoln Collection, Chicago Historical Society (Chicago, IL).