In the U. S. Circuit Court, Lincoln & Herndon represent Mary Macready in the case of Macready v. Alton, Illinois. Macready is suing the city of Alton for $20,000 in damages. Macready 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." The court swears in a jury, and the case proceeds "until the hour of adjournment." Judge Samuel H. Treat orders that the trial continue the next morning. Declaration, Praecipe, filed 17 April 1858, Macready v. Alton, Illinois, Record Group 21, case file 335; Order, 29 June 1858, Macready v. Alton, Illinois, Record Group 21, General Records, Vol. 1, 411, both in U. S. Circuit Court, Southern District of Illinois, National Archives and Records Administration, Great Lakes Region, Chicago, IL.