Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-11-28
An Interesting but Mournful Relic aid Away
in Washington's Untsnantsd Temb-Des-
poiled by Relic Hunters-Designed to Bear
President Lincoln's Remains.


Gent henry wilson OF MASSACHUSETTS,; OF Iresl-
dent James A. Garfield and Of Gen. John
A. Logan. 1t is made Of wood and consists
of platform and elevated dais covered with
fine black broadcloth and ornamented at the
sides with tasteful funereal trimmings. The
base il one foot high, five feet wide and ten
feet long, while the catafalque proper IL three
feet high, the top surface being thirty inches
wide and seven feet long, spreading outward to
| . width Of three feet and length Of eight feet
below When not in use all these twenty-six
years since it was constructed the bier has
been kept in a dark stone crypt or tomb inside
the Capitol. away down under ground in the
very center of the building remote from all
scenes Of legislative strife and political turmoil
This subterranean crypt was prepared in the
first year Of this century as mausoleum to re-
ceive sarcophagus containing the remains of
George Washington, under a resolution Of Con-
gress passed early in 1900, when 1t was proposed
to build statue of him in the rotunda Of the
Capitol and accord his dust a national sepul-
ture underneath. But the crypt never
called into requisition for that purpose. be-
cause Mrs. Martha Washington in her lifetime
objected to the separation OF her remains from
those OF her illustrious husband and desired to
be buried with him, and because Washington
also in his will signifed his desire to lie in
TERED permanently at Mount Vernon.
THE CENTRAL POINT OF THE CITY.
1t is worthy of note that the site of this un-
tenanted tomb Of Washington marks the exact
central point Of the plot of Washington city.
1t is reached from the floor below the basement
by fight Of marble steps. and person visit
ing it must first get the key from Architect
Clark's accommodating janitor and then thread
some dark and dismal passages to the left Of
the main stairway before reaching the entrance
Of the Crypt Inside there is a groined alcove
on each Of the three sides from the entrance.
The bier was built after original design
by B. B. French, j., commissioner Of public
buildings. This officer. it might be mentioned
en- PEASANT, had an unappreciated talent for
rhyming and versemaking, and during the en-
suing administration of Andrew johnson pub
lished q panegyric on the new President, en-
titled Two Andrews" in which the respective
virtues and strong points in the characters Of
Presidents Andrew Jackson and Andrew
Johnson were eulogized and COM
pared, johnson being made to appear
even Q wee bit bigger man than Jackson. This
comparison irritated the republicans in Con-
gress and when the next appropriation bill was
framed providing for the legislative and execu-
tive service the salary attached to Mr.. French's
Office was omitted and the office itself thus
starved or abolished.
PRESIDENT LINCOLN.
President Lincoln's remains, after lying in
state for two days in the east room of the White
House, were transferred to the Capitol, where,
resting on this bier, they we're exhibited in the
EOsuuuo lIOu1 uoOu Ou hPIh ~ uutu y CiOCk
in the evening Of April q, 1855. In that in
| terval says The EVENING STAR Of that date.
40, 900 people passed about the catafalque and
gazed upon the features Of the dead. A short
| supplementary burial service WAS held over the
body there, and then the memorable journey
was begun to Springfield, H., over the same
route taken by Lincoln as President-elect on
his way to take charge OF the government, but
little more than four years before.
On this occasion the four corners Of the bier
III h,s -
symbolizing the sentiment that in union there
is strength, made of polished walnut bound
together with silvered velvet. Heavy festoons
of black cloth edged with silver fringe were
draped across each side and gathered with
rosettes Of satin ribbon and silver stars. At
the sides Of the platform were grounded two
muskets with bayonets, two carbines and two
sword bayonets, crossed. Over all was thrown
the black velvet pail.
After Lincolns funeral the bier was slowed
Relic hunters located it by peculiar power Of
scent or instinct that they have, and from time
to time, despite all the precautions that could
be taken to preserve it intact they despoiled it
OF many OF its ornaments and trimmings. Three
years later an explosion was occasioned in the
crypt by the escape Of gas from the pipes in
the surrounding walls. and the man who
undertook to investigate the leak was killed
and the bier sadly singed. When Thaddeus
Stevens died at his residence on Capitol Hill,
however, the frame was covered anew and
drawn out Of the crypt into the rotunda above,
and from noon on August IS to 10 o'clock on
the morning of August IA, 1868, it did good
service as the couch whereon Stevens body lay
exposed to public view. When the cortege
proceeded to Lancaster, Pa, the home Of the
tombed.
CHASE, SUMNER AND WILSON,
Its next service was rendered on May II and
II, 1873, in the Supreme Court room. where the
remains Of Salmon P. Chase, who died on May
T. lay in state before the official burial services
were held in the Senate chamber. Scarcely
had Chase's vault in Oak Hill cemetery closed
upon its sleeping occupant when George WASH
ington's mausoleum again received its mani
mate tenant.
Thirteen months afterward the bier was
again brought out to the rotunda to uphold the
| casket containing the mortal dust OF Charles
Sumner, who had died on March IL, 1874.
Shortly after the funeral ceremonies had been
concluded in the Senate and before the corpse
and escorting party had started to New York,
| on their way to Boston. George Washington 8
crypt again received its own; but only for q
lease Of eighteen mouths. The death Of Vice
President Henry Wilson called it out, and from
midday on November Is to the same hour
Of the day following this historic bier
was the Incidental, not the real goal
Of the countless multitude who elbowed
their way between the serried lines of
| pOliCo anu eOAuAcfy " tuc VELVET Ol Tue
rotunda. Then II was reconsigned to obscurity
| for q space, while the Vice Presidents clay
drew other crowds before its final interment
around other biers in turn at Baltimore, Phil
| adelphia. New York and Boston.
| GARFIELD AND LOGAN.
Nearly six years elapsed. Then Garfield re.
ceived Guiteau's bullet, and his wasted body
came back from Elberon lfeless The cata-
falque, freshly covered with black velvet and
silk and draped crosswise with an American flag
was destined to bear its second weight of mar
| tyred dead. Crowds filed with sympathetic
| sorrow surged around 1t in the rotunda for two
days. from the evening of September 81 until 8
on the afternoon Of September %, when the
mournful pilgrimage to Cleveland, Ohio, began
and with ID the return Of the bier to confne.
| ment
For Ave years IL hibernated. But Logan'f
fame and achievements in life called for elab-
crate national obsequies when dead and they
we're not denied. The rotunda once more be.
came the scene Of public mourning. and from
81, 1885, multiplied procession Of sorrowful
faces passed and repassed the cstafalque with
its still burden. The self-same pail that had
covered the casket Of Lincoln there was nov
used by direction of Architect Of the Capitol
Clark TO cover Logan, the second son Of Illinois
in the hearts Of the psopla
The fasces at the four corners and the silver
ornaments and satin festoons are now totally
gone, carried Oh piece by piece In the pockets
Of predatory tourists, and what II left OF the