The Portland daily press., 1898-02-17
REMINDERS OF LINCOLN.
Two Hundred and Seventeen Newspapers
That Cover Period of % Years From
IS43 Down to 1865.
Philadelphia Record. }

philadelphia Record.
One of the most interesting collections
of relics in the country is to be- seen in
the house in Washington where Lincoln
died. On December g., 1885, Congress
purchased theIhouse for the sum of $780,
900. but failed to make any appropriation
for the purchase of the collection which is
entirely private one, owned by Osborne
81. Oldroid. He began at Columbus,
Ohio, in 1860 when a lad of IS, to get to-
gether campaign badges and medals. The
nucleus of the entire collection is faded
pink badge with printed vignette of
Lincoln and 1.-The words: "Abe Lincoln
for President Fl. Hamlin for Vice-Presi-
dent"
The fact that the collection contains no
object of great intrinsic value is account
ed for by Lincoln's well-known poverty
and humble existence. The authenticity
of everything it does contain is indisputa-
BILE, no article ever having been purchased
or admitted to the collection the identity
of which could not be unequiyocally es-
tablished.
The value of the pictorial collection
would be difficult to estimate. Through
cuts, photographs, colored prints. and
engravings may be traced Lincoln's whole
life, from is humble and sordid begin
ming down to his last resting place be-
meath the monument at Springfield.
1t comprises besides library of two
thousand works bearing on Lincoln, slav-
cry and the late war, 217 newspapers that
cover period of 90 years from 1S43 down
to 1865, in themselves a complete history
of the man; 1900 newspaper clippings of
which Lincoln is the subject; 67 pieces of
music. il ol ,ding triumphal and funeral
marches; 2i5 funeral sermons; 167
medals of gold, bronze and white metal,
and 800 autograph opinions of statesmen,
Gterati, soldiers and fellow citizens on
| the character of Lincoln.
A certified copy of Lincoln's mother S
| marriage certificate, together with pic
| ture of the reverend gentleman who tied
| the knot, Jesse Head, and the one of the
Rev. Charles Dresser, who joined A bra
ham Lincoln and Mary Todd in indissolu-
| BILE union, are interesting features of the
collection.
Linooln's bust, by Thomas D. Jones, of
which only four were made, and his
| mask, by Volk, with casts of both hands.
showing the difference in the sizes of the
right and left after the former had been
shaken by $1,000 people. are here pre-
served.
Lincoln's Bible, given him by his
mother in his extreme youth, with his
name written in his own hand on the fiy
leaf, and his copy of the Revised Statutes
which he used while in Congress, Mr..
Oldroid considers his most valuable pos
| sessions.
The quaint old cook stove of the ROYAL
| Oak make, on which Mrs. Lincoln pre-
pared the family breakfast the day thew
| left SPRINGFIELD for the White House; two
plain pine chairs, with sparse coat of
brown paint, from the dining room at
Springfield; rush bottom chair, de-
gree more pretentious than these from
| thessitting room; wide, old-fashioned
cradle, in which Llncoin's children were
rocked; a wooden chair, with rounding
| back and arms, from bis law office. in
which he sat while writing his first in
augural addrss and making up his first
| Cabinet, are the articles of the collection
which possess distinctly personal ele-
ment and proclaim the pathetic poverty
of Lincoln.
than ANYTHING else in Booths apprehen.
sion is also here in a glass case. AS he
Jumped upon the stage his spur caught in
the Tag that draped the front of the box
and threw him, causing him to break his
leg, which rendered his escape beyond n
| certain point impossible.
| There has always been much specula-
tion as to Booths resting place. some
even intimating that he had been buried
at sea. By no means the least interestino in
item, therefore, in Mr.. Oldroid's nossass
sion is copy Of the undertaker's i'f9 bili for
the removal of Booths body from the
sF0canas comeery IN in n~Bsshdst0n
the permit, No. 6,S21, for his intern ment 'ant
there. The transfer was made hn u,
undertaken namedsJohn Weaver. in 4 nrii sI
1869, the bill of s25 being paid by Edwin ii'
Booth. -