"Well, you go back and tell the Judge I cannot come.
Tell him I have to _wash my hands_." The bailiff returned with the message, and Lincoln's client suffered a non-suit.

It was Lincoln's way of saying he wanted nothing more to do with such a case.
Lincoln would never advise clients into unwise or unjust lawsuits.

He would always sacrifice his own interests, and refuse a retainer, rather than be a party to a case which did not command the approval of his sense of justice.

He was once waited upon by a lady who held a real-estate claim which she desired to have him prosecute, putting into his hands, with the necessary papers, a check for two hundred and fifty dollars as a retaining fee.

Lincoln said he would look the case over, and asked her to call again the next day.