In the U. S. Circuit Court, Lincoln & Herndon, Orville Hickman Browning, and Nehemiah H. Bushnell file a declaration and a praecipe for the plaintiff Mary Macready in the case of Macready v. Alton, Illinois. Macready is suing the city of Alton for $20,000 in damages. She fell into a hole and injured herself while walking on a sidewalk in Alton. Macready claims that the City allowed "a deep and dangerous excavation to be and remain in one of the public sidewalks." Further, the City did not "warn and notify persons upon said sidewalk, of the excavation." Declaration, Praecipe, filed 17 April 1858, Macready v. Alton, Illinois, Record Group 21, case file 335; Clerk's Docket, 17 April 1858, Macready v. Alton, Illinois, Record Group 21, [Clerk's] General Docket, Vol. 1, fol. 67, U. S. Circuit Court, Southern District of Illinois, both in National Archives and Records Administration, Great Lakes Region, Chicago, IL.