The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1888-03-10
CHASTITY Relics.

t'NN'NND~'-@
tion of Lincoln public sentiment re-
ro1Ted at the idea that the place
should continue to be play house.
Al proposition to transfer the property
to the Government was readily en-
tertained by the proprietor. The
purchase price was $S8,000. Then
came the suggestion that it should be
turned over to the surgeon-general.
It was accepted as peculiarly fitting;
and thus the building in which the
President received his mortal wound
became the store house for the
CHASTITY records and still more CHASTITY
relics of the army surgeon.
People with weak nerves do not
tarry long among the bones and
casts. Most visitors are disappointed.
They expect something realistic per.
tanning to the assassination, but the
building has been so altered that it
requires pretty strong Imagination
to turn the interior into a theatre and
picture the scene of that terrible
April night.
The failure to crafty morbid curl
osity by the preservation of the in
terror, or part of it. in the condition
1t was the night of the assassination
has been partially atoned for. All
these years there has been on exhi.
bition in the corner above where the
President sat that fatal night little
glass case containing three pieces
from a human ckb0ne. The Sec
lions rest one upon another. Be
tween the first and second, rs they
stand, there is jagged hole, showing
where bullet struck. This "sppci
men" was once part of the living
body of j. Wilkes Booth, the assassin
of Mr.. Lincoln.
The three vertebr@ are nearly all
of the remains of the mad actor
which have not crumbIed to dust. A
small bottle, such as surgeons use to
preserve specimens in alcohol, goes
with the portion of Booths back
bone. A clot Of grayish-Ioozing mat
ter floats in the preserving liquid. 1t
Is the part Of the spinal cord which
was struck by Boston COrhett's bullet
when Booth received his death
wound in the burning barn on the
Garrett plantation, near Bowling
Green, Va, eleven days after the
assassination. Lincoln and Booth
were shot in very nearly the same
portion of the body. The ball in
each case entered near the base of
the brain. In Lincoln's case the
nerves were paralyzed and no pain
was suffered. Booths torture, until
death came, was the most severe that
could have been devised. People
gaze and gaze at the two specimens,
after they learn what they are, and
go away satisfied. OF late years there
has stood near the Booth relics jar
which possesses almost equal interest
with its neighbors. 1t contains the
spleen of Guiteau, the assassin of
President Garfield.
"reminiscences of the Indian wars
are numerous. There is the skull of
one Apache brave who only sue
cumbed when he had been sabered
nine times. At least that must be
the conclusion, for the Uranium shows
nine distinct penetrating cuts from
the sword. OF course, it is not to be
supposed that the white man amused
himself by whacking away need
lessly at the red mans head after the
latter was hors de combat. The skull
belonged to an Arancanian, who was
killed by CHILEAN soldiers.
The skull Of the favorite sqaw of
Little Bear, the Indian chief. is
very good companion piece to the
above. She was killed in Wyoming.
In the preserved Uranium are seven
bullet holes.
Some of the wonderful accomplish
ments of the Indians with their
arrows are illustrated in a very rea-
listic manner. These arrows had
heads made of the iron hoops of
barrels. These may be taken between
the fingers and bent with ease. they
are so thin; but shot from the bow
ny the Indians they went through
obstacles which would have stopped
q bullet. They penetrated bones
without fracturing them and they
made cuts as clean as the keenest
surgical blades. The Apache arrow
head of soft iron has pierced where
q Ieaden projectile would have fiat
tened,
The skull, with an arrow point
driven into it almost to the head, is
q Renaissance of an Indian attack on
stage in Western Texas. Three
United States soldiers were the guard.
One was killed outright, one escaped
and the third crawled away through
the grass with this arrow point stick