Abraham Lincoln's suit against a medical imposter who assaulted his client

In 1851, A. Lincoln, Esquire represented Edward Jones who charged in a law suit that his attending physician had assaulted him. Jones, also a lawyer, had sharply questioned Dr. Joseph S. Maus about his claims of attendance and graduation from Philadelphia's Jefferson Medical College, an allopathic medical school. Jones claimed that Maus became enraged at his persistent questioning and attacked him. In turn, Maus denied the allegation. He said that he was merely defending himself from Jones' blows with a large cane. Lincoln's legal approach was to argue about the state of medical education and whether Maus had really graduated from Jefferson Medical College. Acting as a peacemaker, he finally arranged to settle the dispute between Jones and Maus out of court.