Beardstown, Illinois
Beardstown Courthouse
The first floor houses city offices, so you trot upstairs
to see this courtroom where Abraham Lincoln defended 24-year-old William
("Duff") Armstrong. It's the only courtroom still in use where
Lincoln once practiced law.
The acquittal represented a personal and professional triumph for
Lincoln, who once rocked the defendant's cradle in New Salem.
The trial resulted from a nighttime brawl, and Lincoln produced an
1857 almanac (the year of the incident) to argue that the state's
witness could not have seen Armstrong kill the victim. There was little
light at the time, supposedly making it was too dark to identify
the assailant.