The Washington weekly post. (Washington, D.C.) 1878-1916, 1899-04-18
RELIC OF LINCOLN RECOVERED.
Valuable Sideboard which Used to Serve
Him In the White House.

In the possession Of Mrs. A r. Perlie,
Of S7i Fourteenth street northwest. this
city. il an interesting relic of the days OF
the civil war and OF the time when Abra-
ham Lincoln occupied the White House.
Il Is the old sideboard. or wine press.
which stood throughout the time OF the
war in the dining-room Of the Presi3en-
tiai Mansion. Aside from the historic
interest which attaches TO this antique
piece OF furniture, on account OF its hav-
ing Been in the possession OF the mar
tyred President. It has a subsequent his
tory which Is a peculiarly sad one
In showing the historic relic TO a Post
reporter Mrs PerIie told the story Of how
il came into her possession
1T was IN 1885 that I moved TO Wash
ingtOn and rented a house on Twelfth
street, between G and II streets north
west. Shortly after / had settled down
tho former tenant called and asked for
me When l went down to meet her she
told ne that all Of her former belongings
had been sold out at Sheriff's sale by
the landlord in order to pay her rent.
which had fallen behind. Some of the
window shades had been overlooked in
the general sale and she had returned to
see IL | wanted 10 buy them.
Il told her that l would give her for
them whatever they were worth. She
then asked me IL | had seen LincoIn's
sideboard. / told her that nothing had
been left in the house except an old cup
board down in the kitchen. and that
supposed that no one wanted it at the
sale on account of its being so unwieldy.
She then told me that the old cupboard
y4-rc " M nf praSffierr
Lincoln Her uncle had been one Of the
Presidents favorite servants during his
first term at the White House Mr. Lin
coin had given it to him toward the close
of his first term, and at that time IL was
an exceedingly handsome piece of furni-
tgre.
Her uncle had priced the gift from
President Lincoln highly and mad left it
upon his death to his niece. She. how
ever, had been unable to utilize It in any
way as an ornament to her parlor. and
when her finances became so involved
had taken it down in the kitchen, where
1t was used as a cupboard
Mrs. Perlie says that she examined il,
and found that upon the back of the old
piece of furniture were credentials show
ing that it had belonged to Lincoln, and
woman who formerly owned it, The wo-
man told her that the sideboard had been
formerly suTmOunted by a handsome mir
ror and that the drawers intended for
wines had been lined with copper, while
those intended for silver had been lined
with velvet. All of this had been torn
out by the people conducting the sale,
and the mirror had been removed as well.
Mrs. Perlie paid the woman few dol
! lars Tor the old sidebOard, and she left
thinking herself well rio of it. At that
| time the craze for antique furniture had
not come into being. and Mrs. Perlie de-
| termincd to have the old sideboard mod
| erniZed. Accordingly she sent 1t TO a
! cabinetmaker and had eighteen inches
| OF It's depth cut off. Size also had new
drawers fitted into it, and now uses 1t as
| cheffOnier When il was thoroughly
| renovated the old sideboard turned out
| to be very valuable, both from the arts
tic and utilitarian standpoint. 1t is made
| of rosewood and mahogany, and was for
merly almost a perfect cube in shape. 1t
is now five feet tall, five and a hall feet
| long, and about three and a half feet
deep. The panels of the doors and of the
drawers are of rosewood and the rest Is
heavily veneered with mahogany A
heavy slab of rosewood of a thickness OF
one and a half inches serves as back.
| The top is likewise of heavy rosewood
| The handles 10 the drawers and the knob
of the doors are of heavy brass, and alto
gether the old sidebOard is an extremely
odd and beautiful piece of furniture Its
| present owner has been frequently Of
| fered sums far beyond what she paid for
| il. but she prefers to retain in her pos
session the interesting relic of Lincoln 5
household