To [David A.?] Smith1Jump to section
This is my first day at this place, & on reaching here I found your letter in relation to your business with Douglass. I met him afterwards, but disliking to dunn him at the first meeting with him, I let it pass, for the time. I will attend to it shortly however & write you.
You intimate there is some danger of my neglecting the business; but if you will get me as good a fee as you got for Jo. Gillespie2Jump to section in the case he tells of, I'll never desert you. Yours truly
A. LINCOLN
Annotation
[1] ALS, ICHi. It seems probable that the person addressed was David A. Smith, an attorney of Jacksonville, Illinois, with whom Lincoln had long been acquainted in law practice. The possibility of its being Robert Smith of Alton, Illinois, seems less likely, in view of the fact that he was like Lincoln a member of the Thirtieth Congress, and being in Washington could very well have attended to the business indicated in the letter for himself.
[2] Joseph Gillespie of Edwardsville, Illinois.