The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-03-16
oINCoLN's LAST PILLOW.
Ghascly Relics of the Great Post-Bel-
lum Tragedy.

washed, and it is also somewhat discolored, "
said pleasant-voiced lady, as she held to
the view of a reporter for the Chicago Nail
what TO all appearances was an ordinary
feather pillow, save only that one end wss
covered with a mass of dark blotches, the
result of its being drenched with some liqiid
substance. .-
The pillow was the one on which rested
the head of the martyred President, Abra-
ham Lincoln, during his last moments after
he was shot in Ford's Theatre by J. Wilkes
Booth on that sad and eventfuL night of
April 10, 1865, and the lady was Mrs.
Charles Rector, of the north side Mrs.
Rector has a number of relics which were
in the room at the time Lincoln died, which
she prizes dearly and which grow in value
and in interest as the years go Dy. Mrs.
Mrs. Rector was then Miss Petersen, and
lived with her parents at Ass Tenth street,
opposite the theatre. Her father was a
German and had lived in Washington
many years. Like many others he was a
sy1npathizer with the South when the war
came on. A man of generous impulses and
of hospitable motives under all circum-
stances he offered his house for the occu-
pancy of the dying President and directed
that Mr. Lincoln be taken there immedia-
tely after the tragedy. When Mr.. Peter
sen bought the property, over forty years
ago. when Tenth was one of the fashionable
residence streets in Washington. Across
the way stood the First Baptist Church,
which, shortly after the outbreak of the
war, was converted into a hospital, then
into suffers headquarters, and after that
into a theater.
The Petersen home was two-story, base
ment and attic brick structure painted
white, the entrance to the basement being
down a couple of steps. A winding iron
stairway of about dozen steps led to the
entrance on the main or parlor floor The
front is plain and unpretentious. A hall
way extended the entire length of the house
Mr.. Lincoln was taken through this hall
way to bedroom in the rear of the back
parlor. where he was placed on the bed. He
was so long that it was necessary to take off
the foot-board that he might lie comforta-
bly,. Here he lay with his head propped up
with pillows until death relieved him of his
sufferingS. The pillow, which was ex-
hbited to the reporter was, as has been ex-
planned, the one on which his head rested
1t is an ordinary pillow of feathers inclosed
in ticking" and is about IA inches wide
and 20 long Time has wrought a change
in the color of the blue and the white,
and now it is of saffron hue, and at the
one end, with the beginning clearly defined,
is where the blood trickled down. The pill
low remains intact still, containing the
feathers that were in it at the time. Mrs
Rector has also a bolster which was on the
bed at the time. Near the one end a spot
about three inches in diameter is covered
with blood. The bolster was becoming
worn and getting thin and they had it re-
covered with new ticking TO preserve it,
Mr.. and Mrs. Rector have slept with this
bolster on their bed for over nineteen years
Mrs. Rector has also a small piece of
towel covered with blood, and a piece of
the curtain of the proscenium box which
Mr.. Lincoln occupied at the theatre. She
also has the cuspidore of chinaware which
/ was in the room Her brother in Washing
ton has the pillow case which was on the
pillow and is stained with blood, while her
sister in Baltimore has the spread which
| was on the bed
The room was we'll furnished, and a num-
Der of pictures were suspended from the
walls. One was an engraving, 1.-The Village
Blacksmith 31, >" another The Magic Lake"
THE Recovered Mother" aud 1.-The
Widows Mite" The first two adorn the
wall of Mrs Rector's parlor and the others
the ming room. Mr.. Lincoln's eyes seemed
fixed on THE Village Blacksmith" all the
time. 1t hung on the wall at the side of his
bed. The scene portrayed is the interior of
a blacksmith shop There is the anvil, with
hammer laying across it. The furnace,
the bellows, and the tools. The. blacksmith
big, brawny fellow, with pleasant look
on his face, and his arms barred up to the
elbows, is in the act of shoeing beautiful
white horse. His wife, with a sweet old
fashioned face and that of the country
beauty, with a light shawl thrown over her
shoulders and a dainty white cap on
her head, has brought her husbands dinner
in basket, which hangs from her arm. The
horse feasts his eyes OH her, and an Italian
greyhound standing near is an interested
spectator. All the pictures are in deep wal
nut frames with a narrow margin OF gold
on the inside The room, after the sad event
of Mr.. Lincoln's death, was always called
by the family..the Lincoln room, by which
name it goes to this day. While Mr.. Lincoln
was in the house all the assistance possible
TO aid in his recovery was rendered by Mr..
Petersen and his family, and nothing which
lay In their power to supply was lacking.
Mr. Lincoln was taken into the house at
about 1880 and was taken away at about
the next morning. The room at tine pres
ent time bears table giving the record of
the Presidents death.
The house in which Lincoln died is now
In the hands of speculative patriot named
Louis Schade. He secured it at a price that
was but a fair one for it as a mere real
estate investment. He Immediately pro-
ceeded to label it, and work up boom for
ITS purchase by the government at a fancy
figure. He is the editor of the national
brewers organ, and has charge of the lobby
constantly employed to labor with Congress
men against possible prohibition legislation
for the District of Columbia or the Terri
tories. In the basement of the house is the
printing Office in which the type for the
paper is set up. The place is one of the
sights of Washington, overshadowed, how
ever, by the big building on the other side
Of the street. Ford's theater was later on
occupied by the War Department as the
Army and Navy museum, but the building
being considered in an unsafe condition the
museum was moved to quarters in the
Smithsonian grounds. The building will be
torn down and replaced by handsome
business block.
When Mrs. Rector was visiting in Wash
ington about year ago she paid her old
nome a visit, and was informed that there
We're almost countless visitors constantly
ealing to see the room. There wer other
relics and numerous other articles in the
room at the time, but they have either been
s9id years ago or else given away, and the
thngs mentioned are he only ones about
which anything is definitely known. 1t is
not known what has become of the bed
further than that it was sold to a man in
Washington when the other household fur
nlture was disposed of some years ago
ROW n A n