Lincoln writes to T. J. Turner: "We can use Bradshaw as a witness, and we ought, by all means, to do it, if we can have any assurance that he will testify fairly. . . . He can make the matter entirely plain, on all the points, and no one else can. If you conclude to trust him, write me, and I will, at this term, get an order of court to examine him." Abraham Lincoln to Thomas J. Turner, 21 December 1853, CW, 2:208.