In the McLean County Circuit Court, Lincoln represents plaintiff David L. Thompson, who seeks $3,000 in damages from William W. Patton in the slander suit, Thompson v. Patton. Thompson charges that Patton publicly declared that Thompson had committed bestiality. The previous day, after the jury was unable to agree on a verdict in a related but separate case, Thompson v. Henline, the parties in that case reached an agreement, and the court dismissed the case. Thompson and Patton agree to dismiss their case as well. Lincoln defends David M. Pantier in the case of Flagg & Ewing v. Pantier. Pantier knew Lincoln when he lived in New Salem, Illinois, and Pantier served in Lincoln's company during the Black Hawk War. Flagg & Ewing are suing Pantier for his failure to pay for a reaper he had purchased from them. Lincoln files a plea for Pantier and asks Judge David Davis to give the litigants until the next term to work out an amicable agreement. Judge Davis continues the case until the following term. Plea, Replication, October 1851, Thompson v. Patton, Herndon-Weik Collection, Library of Congress, Washington, DC; Judgment, 21 April 1852, Thompson v. Henline, Common Law Record 4, 265; Judgment, 22 April 1852, Thompson v. Patton, Common Law Record 4, 276, both in McLean County Circuit Court, McLean County Courthouse, Bloomington, IL; Benjamin P. Thomas, Lincoln's New Salem (Springfield, IL: Abraham Lincoln Association, 1934; reprint, Chicago: Lakeside Press, 1947), 54; Plea, 22 April 1852, Flagg & Ewing v. Pantier, Herndon-Weik Collection, Library of Congress, Washington, DC; Order, 22 April 1852, Flagg & Ewing v. Pantier, Common Law Record 4, 276, McLean County Circuit Court, McLean County Courthouse, Bloomington, IL.