THINGS THAT GET IN THE WAY OF OTHER THINGS

Lane and I were preparing to go to Illinois to visit the courtroom where Lincoln tried his famous Moonlight Murder case, which is better known as the Almanac Trial. Lane wasn't nearly as interested in seeing the courtroom as I, but she likes to travel and thinks we don't travel enough. It now looks as though we're not going to be able to go. The upcoming execution which is scheduled for tomorrow is  likely to  be put off, possibly until next week. I am scheduled to be an official witness, and as one of the  prosecutors on the case, I feel duty bound to see it through to the end.

I'm probably not missing much by not going to the courtroom. I've taken a virtual tour of the courtroom online. But you always gain insight by visiting the "scene of the crime." I'm now on the twelfth draft of my book on the trial, and I'm pretty well finished except for proofreading. Of the books which I have written, I enjoyed writing this one the most, and this is the book on which I have received the most cordial reception from experts in the field. There seems to be a collegiality among Lincoln scholars which is lacking in some of the other fields I've researched. Experts in other fields have been relatively cool toward me, but Lincoln experts have been both friendly and helpful. 

I'm toying with the idea of writing a book entitled "Lincoln for the Defense: The Criminal Trial Practice of Our Sixteenth President," but that project will have to wait on the completion of a book on the Lindbergh  Kidnapping Case which I am helping a colleague to write.