, 1905-06-29
WANT THE TACKS
THAT ALICE DROVE
PRESIDENTS DAUGHTER LEFT
INITIALS IN OUTER WALL
OF HIS DAKOTA CABIN.
Structure Removed to Portland Expo,
sition and Special Guard Detailed
to Prevent Relic Hunters from
Digging Out the NaiIs--Genuinn.
ness Proven by Bent Tack.
Specia. 20 The Republican.

Specia, 70 The Republican.
Portland. Ore, June ga special
guard watches over the tacks which
compose the initials "A. r." in the
outer wall of the Roosevelt cabin at
the Lewis and Clark exposition, in or
der to preserve the initials from the
attack of relic hunters. The guard has
his hands full, Tor every one seems to
have a longing desire to obtain one of
the tacks.
While the tatacks on the lacks be-
gan at the opening of the fair, as was
evidenced by the gouging about them
made by the knives of the relic hunt
ers, it was thought that they were
pounded in so firmly hat it would be
ago, however, it was discovered that
one of the lacks was missing and the
fact caused CONSERVATION among the
North Dakota commissioners, who
have found that the cabin in which
President Roosevelt spent his three
years as a ranchman forms the most
interesting part of their display. The
discovery that a tack was missing was
made before the doors were opened,
and the commissioners at once sub
stituted another tack for the stolen
one. Then they detailed ?. guard to
watch the initials and prevent further
depreciation.
The initials "A. R." were made by
Miss Roosevelt a year ago. The let
tiers are about four inches high, and
the carpentry work by which they
were made is crude, several of the
tacks being out of line. The genuine
ness of the female origin of the work is
evidenced by a tack at the top of the
"A" which was bent over after being
driven half way in.
The Roosevelt cabin is a small two
room structure, built of logs, with a
roof of earth, which stands near the
south wall of the agricultural building.
In the main living room are shown a
chair which was the future presidents
favorite, a pair of high boots which
Mr.. Roosevelt wore as a cowboy, the
war bag in which he carried clean
shirts when travelling, his fur chaps,
an old straw hat, and a number of 9TH
err relics.
When President Roosevelt went to
Dakota in 1888 and purchased his
ranch, the place was known as the
Maltese Cross, and the maltese cross
was the cattle brand. Mr.. Roosevelt
changed the name to Chimney Butte,
On account of a chimney-shaped butte
a short distance away, but retained
the brand as his own. One day he en-
ployed an idle hour in driving empty
cartridge shells into the end of one of
the logs of his house, so as to form a
Maltese cross, and those cartridges re
main as he drove them in. The mar
who was destined to become president
appears to have been no handler with
tools than his daughter, and the Nal.
tese ross which is composed of ex-
posed heads of shells is no more arts
tic than Miss R~oosevelt's "A. R." So
far, no attempts have been made to
extract any of the cartridge shells, but
after their experience with relic hunt
ers the commissioners have come to
respect the ability of the vandals and
they are watching the cartridge cross
as well as the brass tack initials.
The chair which is declared to have
been President Roosevelt's favorite
has proved so popular among the visi-
tors that it was evident hat if not pro-
tected it would soon give way under
the strain of the weight of thousands
of visitors daily, and the chair now
bears a card on which is the legend,
please do not sit on this rocker"
why, ! never saw anything like it,"
said one of the guards the other day.
Some of these people seem to be
crazy over anything that belonged to
the president. The other day a girl
wanted me to let her go into the store
room and try on the presidents boots"