He took a great fancy to poetry and became somewhat of a poet himself.

His desire was that after his death there should be placed at the head of his grave an epitaph, which he prepared himself, in rhyme, in the following words: "'Here lies poor Johnnie Kongapod; Have mercy on him, gracious God, As he would do if he were God And you were Johnnie Kongapod.'" Of course all this had no reference to the case, nor did Lincoln intend it should have any.

It was merely his way of ridiculing the eloquence of his opponent.

The verdict of the jury was for the plaintiff, as Lincoln expected it would be; and this was the reason of his treating the case as he did.
A story somewhat similar to the above was told by the late Judge John Pearson shortly before his death.

In the February term, 1850, of the Circuit Court of Vermilion County, Illinois, a case was being tried in which a young lady had brought suit for $10,000 against a recreant lover who had married another girl.