The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-02-14

with officials of the government and gem
erals of the army The sofa is a combi-
nation affair and was made of unusual
len=th to accommodate the president 1t
was used as a sofa or lounge during the
gay and at night.could be adjusted into
double bed of two berths each-upper and
iower-like berths in a sleeping car.
ne car was considered in that day
triumph of the car builders art The
walls OF each of the compartments were
padded with rich. corded crimson silk up
holstery, reaching half way to the cell
ing. and the frieze of the presidents room
was decorated with painted panels of the
coatS-of-arms of the different states or
the Union. The car was ironclad. aImor
being set in between the inner and outer
walls. rendering il bullet proof. This
added considerably TO its weight. so fluch
SO mat its builders thought 1t necessary
tc mount 1t on four four-wheeled trucks
Just after the close of the war the gov
eminent put great amount OF its rail-
..-- material that had been used in the
an auction firm in Cincinnati and among
Il was the Lincoln car Sidney Dillon,
:. 70 was then at the head of Union Pa
enc auairS. was directly responsible TOT
It's purchase. For a long time after its
arrival in Omaha the car was a great
curiosity. both on account of its con-
nection with the martyred president and
also for the reason that IL 'Eas then con-
s-dered the finest railway coach that had
exec been constructed and many thou-
sands of people visited the car shops Tor
the purpose of seeing It.
Late in 1892 company of men from
New York sent an agent to Omaha with
a view of negotiating a purchase OF the
car. intending to exhibit it at the World
fair. Satisfactory arrangements with the
Union Pacific people could not be made,
however, and the project was abandoned
The agent desired to have proof of the
authenticity of the car IRON the rali-
way officials. and Mr.. l. II. Congdon. Tor
many years master mechanic OF the
Union Pacific railway. in lengthy letter
7 on
eral passenger agent OF the road. said;
THE famous car was brought 10
Omaha in 1866. and was purchased Tor the
Union Pacific road by T. .. Durant- SID
ney Dillon manifested great interest IN
the car in the early days of the road 1
was in charge Of the locomotive depart
ment of the Great Western railroad or
Illinois at Springfield during the war
and was there at the time President Lin
coins remains were brought there Inc
car had been used as the funeral car
and stood in the railroad yards during
the time that LincOln'S body lay in state
in the capitol building. and We had an
opportunity of examining 1t closely 1
remember identifying IL as the same car
brought TO Omaha il was used as a
private car by the directors. but on &C
count of its extreme weight ana me
manner in which it was mounted. It rode
so poorly that they soon abandoned II. L
have been over the road with Mr.. Dil-
lon in the Lincoln car. and heard him
speak of il as being the one that the
president used during the war and IN
which his remains were brought to
Springfield Mr. S. H. II. Clark. now pres
ident of the Union Pacific, stated to me a
good many years ago that Mr. Dillon de-
Sired some of the furniture of the car
taken out and sent to New York. and
saw that his request was carried out
THE car was built as nearly as posi-
BILE to suit Mr.. Lincoln'S idea. and was
so peculiar in construction as TO give
IL individual characteristics
After the death of Dillon and Durant
the Ger was sent out on the mountain
division of the Union Pacific. and was
in the Decorating capacity of dining
car for a construction gang. Unless the
directors of the TransmiSsissiDpf eXpo-
sition or some Snowman or historic relic
collector rescues it from its present OBJ
security the old car that carried one of
the latter end of his life and then, after
death. TO his burial will soon pass into
disintegratiOn-