Omaha daily bee., 1893-06-10
HISTORY OF ruE BuILprSG.

Brought Into World wide Prominence by
Ltncoln's Assassinntion-its Later Uses.
Note tho coincidonco-the building in
which Lincoln was assassinated falls on the
morning Of the funeral of the last surviving
brother of the assassin.
whole generation, as time is counted, has
passed away between the occurrence Of the
awful tragedy which brought tho odifco
INTO worldwide note and the hardly less
shocking catastrophe in which it figures
today. The date of the assassination was
April II, 1865.
The building stood on the cast side of
Tenth street W., about midway between Il
and + streets n. 1t was plain brick struc-
turc, painted dark brown, three stories
high. having frontage OF sevcuty-one feet
and depth of 100 feet. Originally it was II
church, and then theater. The building
was closed by the government Immediately
after the assassination, and twelve months
later it twas purchased by congress for
$1,000 for the purpose of an Army
Medical Museum, TO which it has
been applied at tho suggestion
of Surgeon-General Joseph X. Barnes, who
was the founder of the institution. The in
terror was taken out, remodled and made
fre-proof, leaving no tracing of the exact
scene of the assassination.
\ Great Loss to Science.
The museum was on the third floor, and
was unique institution, having no counter
part in America or Europe. 1t obtained
great celebrity and was visited by thousands
Of people, mostly medicnl men aud students,
every year, who came from all parts
of the United States and abroad.
Visitors of every class were allowed
to inspect its immense collections.
An attendant was at hand whose duty it was
to answer questions relating to objects OF
special interest. Tho floor was well lighted
in front and rear and by n large central sky
light which also lighted the floors
below through oblong openings. The speci-
mems were arranged in cases and otherwise,
divided into six sections, and numbered
10000. The sections We're the surgical, med
zeal microscopical, anatomical, the section
OF comparative anatomy and the mis-
cellaneous section. The museum was
founded in the interests of sci
ence, and its collection was the
finest of the kind in the world The original
design of the museum was the collection of
specimens illustrative of military surgery
and camp diseases for Tho education of med
ical men for military service. Its destruc-
ton will be a heavy, if not irreparablc, loss
to the entire civilized world
Valuable Records Damaged.
On the first floor of the Army Medical Mu-
scum as the building has been called, was
the pension and record division of the sur
geon Generals department, where the
clerks employed numbered over 400
The majority were engaged upon matters
concerning the settlement of pension appli.
cations. The hospital records stored on this
floor exceeded 5000 volumes, and as the pay
ment Of pensions is based upon information
received from these records the work of the
| pension Office for some time to come is
| likely to be seriously impedcd. The
alphabetical registers on this iiOor over
| 10000 volumes, contained about 3OO,-
! 600 names of the dead of the army
| and besides these were the papers belonging
| to the military hospitals and monthly
| sick reports of the army during the re.
beilion, lS6l-65, and those since received
| from the various posts of tho regular
army. The registers, in all, contained
the names of over 1,OOO,O0O OF
sick, wounded and deceased soldiers
and nearly half the names were arranged in
| convenient form for everyday reference.
| When recovered from the rains q large por-
tOn of this immense amount of valuable
y
! of the civil war, which were preserved be
side it and very complete, is only too likely
! to be in badly mutilated condition, and
much of it may be irreparably destroyed.
Thousands of Medical Volumes.
The second floor contained the library OF
the surgeon generals department, which
was considered to be the largest and
! best collection of medical books in
the world. In the cases were ovcl
$4,000 volumes and nearly seventy
thousand pamphlets, some of them very
| ancient. They were in many languages, and
| constituted a thorough history of medicine
and surgery, from the earliest times. Tho
library was used free of charge by ply
sicinns ana was much resorted to, many
members of the profession going from dis
tant parts Of the country TO consult its rare
| and precious books
On the north side, in the rear of the build,
ing, was a small wing, occupied by the mu
scum workshops, and in front, on the
south side, was another wing, USED
by the chemical laboratory and tho
officers on duty. The laboratory was charged
| with the examination of alleged adultCra
| tions of medicines and hospital supplies, aut
other Investigations of Il similar natur,
which come before the surgeon-gencral, whC
has the care of the health of the army.
Among the most priced articles in tht
! museum were illustrations comprising owe
10000 specimens taken from life ana ar
| ranged in systematic series. IL was a very
interesting exhibition, even 20 the uOnpro
fessional, and furnished many nstructy
object lessons. The display OF surgica
| implements and appliances was very larg
and included the ancient as well as tn
modern, and there was n large collection o
models of barracks, ambulances, railroaC
cars for the sick and wounded, cCt, a grea
deal of pains was taken with the museum
and yearly its unsurpassed collections nav
been considerably increased,
When one thinks OF the nature of the con
tents OF the collapsed building, embracing
not only collections Of various kinds anC
rare value, but also stacks Of document
necessary in the performance of tn
functions of two important depart
ments of tho general government, on
cannot but feel thankful that the fall of tn
structure was not attended, rs is so ofte
the case, with an outbreak OF fire, since it
absence from the scene leaves some rcaSO
TO hope that with careful management
great deal may yet be saved.