Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1901-04-26
lINC0IN'S BODY removed
1T Is at Last Placed Within the
New Tomb.
FIVE CAsKETS TRANSFERRED,
fSemnins of tho Martyrod President
Taken Up by Trustees of the Monu-
snent In Presence OF Prominent I'LL
noisans-Casket Not Opened.

Springfield, Ill.,, April 26.-Withoul
ceremony the body of Abraham Lin
coin was transferred yesterday after
;.noon from it's temporary vault on Mon
ument Hill, in Oak Ridge cemetery, tc
b the tomb in the reconstructed national
Lincoln monument. The transfer was
officially witnessed by the trustees OF
the monument and by the Lincoln
guard Of honor. In addition to these
and several distinguished guests a
crowd Of 300 people assembled in spite
of the secrecy maintained and wit
messed the removal Along with the
body Of the president the caskets con-
tanning the remains of his wife, his
Ihree sons and his grandson were
transferred from the temporary vault
10 their final resting place. The body
of the emancipation was placed in the
marble sarcophagus, where it rested
when the unsuccessful attempt was
made to steal it on the night OF the
general election in November, 1876.
In crypts at the rear of the tomb are
rsmmured the bodies of the other men,
hers of the family. with two vacant
~rrypts reserved for the bodies of Rob-
--ert T. Lincoln and his wife.
Lincoln's Relatives Absent.
While no blood relation Of the presi-
dent witnessed the transfer, several
relatives of Mrs. Lincoln were there,
Excluding Mrs. A. S. Edwards. the
surviving sister Of the president
wife; Mrs. Edward d, Reyes, niece
of Mrs. Lincoln, and several of her
grandnephews. The transfer was made
without special incident. Considerable
time was taken in the removal of the
nine tons of stone that capped the
vault where the bodies lay. Even
after these immense slabs had been
removed with a steam derrick, it was
found necessary to demolish one side
of the vault before the bodies of the
president and Mrs. Lincoln could be
raised from the bottom. Without OPP
,ening, the baskets we're then conveyed
10 the tomb and placed in their re-
aspective crypts, the presidents remains
being left till the last.
Among Those Present.
The members of the board of trus-
lees in charge of the transfer were
Governor Yates, State Superintendent
of Public instruction Alfred Baylss
and State Treasurer Williamson, be-
sides the members of the Lincoln
Guard of Honor, which was organized
after the attempt to steal the presi-
dents body. The prominent persons
present were Senator Cullom, former
Governor Tanner, Secretary of State
Rose, former State Treasurer White
more, Attorney-General Hamlin, Lieu
tenant-Governor Northcott, Adjutant-
General Reece, G. C. Brown, Lincoln
Dubois, John w. Bum, Joseph P.
Lindley, Major E. S. Johnson, Colonel
N. B. Virgins, E. F. Leonard. Enoch
Payne. Colonel James Babcock, Clin-
ton l.. Conkling, George N. Black
Judge S. P. Wheeler, F. W. Tracy anu
Clark e. Carr, of Galesburg. besides
many members of the general assem-
bly,. The monument will be rededicat-
ed Oct. is next, upon the twenty-sev-
enth anniversary of the original dedi-
cation. Aside from the altitude of the
shaft. which has been heightened
twenty-one feet and nine inches, the
reconstructed monument is identical in
outline with the original. The prin-
cipal change in the pile has been made
under ground, the foundation now
resting on the solid rock at the base
of Monument Hill.