Wilson, Douglas L., ed; Davis, Rodney O., ed. 'Register of Informants' in 'Herndon's Informants: Letters, Interviews, and Statements About Abraham Lincoln' . Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1998. [format: book], [genre: history]. Permission: University of Illinois Press
Persistent link to this document: http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu/file.php?file=herndon737.html

Shaw came to Illinois from Massachusetts in 1836 and eventually established a law practice at Beardstown. A talented writer and orator who later served in the Illinois House of Representatives, he appeared for the prosecution in the William "Duff" Armstrong murder case in 1858, the famous "almanac" case in which AL played the decisive role in gaining an acquittal for the son of his old friends Jack and Hannah Armstrong. (William Henry Perrin, ed., History of Cass County, Ill. [Chicago, 1880]; Virginia [Ill.] Gazette, August 17, 1885)