They saw that he would play fair.

He could stop a fight and quell a disturbance among these rude neighbors when all others failed." Under whatever circumstances Lincoln was forced into a fight, the end could be confidently predicted.

He was sure to thrash his opponent and gain the latter's friendship afterwards by a generous use of victory.
Innumerable instances could be cited in proof of this statement.

It is related that "One day while showing goods to two or three women in Offutt's store, a bully came in and began to talk in an offensive manner, using much profanity and evidently wishing to provoke a quarrel.
Lincoln leaned over the counter and begged him, as ladies were present, not to indulge in such talk.

The bully retorted that the opportunity had come for which he had long sought, and he would like to see the man who could hinder him from saying anything he might choose to say.