Lincoln writes to his client Abraham Bale, of Petersburg, Illinois, regarding the Menard County Circuit Court case of Bale v. Wright & Hickox. Bale is suing Virgil Hickox and Asa D. Wright to collect $1,000, from a wheat sale. Lincoln writes, "I understand Mr. Hickox will go, or send to Petersburg to-morrow, for the purpose of meeting you to settle the difficulty about the wheat. I sincerely hope you will settle it. . . . If you settle, I will charge nothing for what I have done, and thank you to boot. By settling, you will most likely get your money sooner; and with much less trouble & expense." Declaration, Praecipe (copy), 27 January 1850, Bale v. Wright & Hickox, IHi, Springfield, IL; Abraham Lincoln to Abraham Bale, 22 February 1850, CW, 2:76.