The Mankato free press., 1905-09-01
The Log Cabin Where The
President Was Born.
An Historic Spot In Old Ken
lucky to Be Closed Out.
And 1t will Sell For a Pit
tance, II Is Feared.

L. & = - Is
Louisville, KY, Aug. 29-From the
door of the county courthouse at Hodg-
enville, Larue county, there will be sold
to the highest bidder Rock Spring farm.
the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln and
the home of his childhood, where it may
be supposed were ingrafted those sterl-
ing principles of character and love for
truth and honesty that afterward made
him next to Washington, the premier
molder of American history.
Under the terms of the official notice
of the sale, it will occur between the
hours of 10 a. m, and 3 p. m. In view
of all that has gone before in the shape
of abortive attempts to convert this
more than sentimentally historic ground
into a national park, it is not thought
likely that the land will be looked upon
in any other than purely sordid, com
mercial way-say $l5 or less per acre.
At the time of Lincoln's birth Rock
Spring farm was located in Hardin
county, but in lS43 the county was sub
divided and the portion set apart be-
came known as Larue county. All early
biographers have therefore made the mis-
take of giving the birthplace of Lin
coin as Hardin county without reference
to the subdivision.
Since the birth of Lincoln, Feb. IL,
1909, the farm has changed hands but
twice. Thomas Lincoln, the father of
the president, sold the land to Richard
Creel about the time the Lincoln family
moved to Indiana. The property con-
tinued in the hands of this family UNI
til something like fifteen years ago,
when A. w. Dennette of New York,
bought the place for $500 The sale
scheduled for tomorrow is at the insti
cation of A. w. Linforth, trustee in
bankruptcy for Mr. Dennette, and unless
outsiders appear there is every probabil
ity that the place will literally 60 for a
song, despite its great possibilities as a
park of which the nation might well be
proud.
The soil is not of the best, because
long years of cultivation have tended to
exhaust it's vitality and it is for this
reason that it is not likely that high
price will be demanded, and so the birth
place of Kentucky's most noted son will
become for third time merely, so much
county and state taxable property,
which, judging by the past, the owners
will have some slight difficulty in keep
ing up.
During the last decade or so many at
tempts have been made to perfect plans
looking to the converting of the prop
erty into an national park, and while
these efforts have aroused some COM
ment, nothing substantial has resulted.
Thomas B. Kirkpatrick, postmaster at
Hodgenville, has tried in vain to awak-
en- a patriotic interest, though he still
believes that the time is not far dis
tant when the people will appreciate the
opportunity that has so long been neg
lected, and then in true American style
make the most of it.
Among those in public life who have
taken a pertinent interest in the pro-
jeet is William Jennings Bryan. He has
had considerable correspondence with
Mr.. Kirkpatrick looking to a popular
subscription for the purchase of the
farm and its later presentation to the
county, state or federal government. In
letter written about a year ago Mr.
Bryan, said:
''It is nothing to the credit of the
American people that Lincoln's birth
place has been neglected. 1t is decided
mark of disrespect to the memory of
one of the greatest men the world has
ever known that the home of his in
fancy should be allowed to remain a
backwoods farm The time will come
when our posterity will regret the ruin
and decay of the old log cabin and the
magnificent spring"
The farm derives its name from a