The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-03-03
RELICS OF GREAT VALUE.
ELDRIDGE COLLECTION OF CTV-
 IL WAR MEMENTOES
Articles Include Former Property of John Brown, Lee, Grant, Lincoln md Jackson, Most of Them Accompanied by Proofs of AuthentIcity,

Jackson, Most of Them Accompanied
 by Proofs of Authenticity.
 If ghosts haunt any place in Hart ford it is undoubtedly room in the house of James w. Eldridge, No. Sl Wethersfield avenue, where he keeps his collection of war relics that the Grand Army men are anxious to se- cure for the State of Connecticut. II they are there that is the ghosts, they form a distinguished company, TOT there are relics of Lincoln and Jerer- son Davis, of John Brown and Of Rop- ert D. Lee, of Phil Sheridan and of Stonewall Jackson and of hundred other lesser actors in the great scenes of the civil war. The most important part of the exhibit is that all of the more important relics are accompanied by affidavits that prove their authen- ticity beyond question, and how MT. Eldridge is going to fix any price upon the collection is mystery, for the ar ticles are unique and could never be replaced if they were destroyed.
 Mir. Eldridge catalogues about tWen- ty-five hundred different articles, but as one collection of missiles contains about seven hundred pieces the cata- logue does not give an adequate idea of the extent of the collection. Probably a visitor could spend half day in the room and then leave with the feeling that there were good many things there that he had not seen.
 The articles are arranged in. chrono- logical order and the first article to be looked at is pen-and-ink set owned by John c. Calhoun, the exponent of the doctrine that made secession possi- ble. An Inscription on it showed that it was given to Calhoun upon his first election to congress, the giver being his wife. It came into Union hands during the war when slaves, who justly regarded it as hoodoo, had hidden it.
 A number of articles of slave manu- fracture are seen, and by them is a small copper tag once familiar in the south. and which was known as a slave tag The possession of this al- lowed its owner to pass unchallenged as mechanic. It was worn by Robert Smalls, once a slave and the man who captured the first steamer from the Confederates; he was made a captain in the United States navy and was the first negro to become member of con- gress. The steamer he captured was the Planter and it's port lantern is one of the relics in the collection.
 A collection of John Brown relics have nearly a whole case to them selves. One of these is the pair of handcuffs placed upon John Brown at the time of his capture at Harpers Ferry. Along with it is calfskin wallet taken from him at the same time with the sword with which he was armed, his eyeglasses and pocket rule. There are two bikes with which John Brown hoped to arm the slaves. The pike heads were made in Torring- Y ton and the wooden handles were shipped from Connecticut as "agricul- tural implements" There Is pickax used by a slave at Browns bidding, to open a porthole in the so-called John Browns Fort and which was brought away after the surrender of Colonel Washington, one of the hostages Near by is the sword of Oliver Brown, which was taken from his dead body after the surrender; door latch from the John Brown house at Torrington and a number of other relics of the same sort. The list may close with a peculiarly ghastly exhibit, the hatchet that was used to cut down John Browns body after his execution.
 The first cannon ball fired in Vir- ginia during the civil war is exhibited and it has considerable personal inter- est aside from that fact It was fired from a howitzer aimed and shot by Nicholas Crouch, an Englsh subject who will long be remembered as the author of the song Kathleen Movour- neen." Documents give an account O. the preservation of the ball as well as MT. Crouch's account of the circum. stances.
 There are many relics of the bonn. bardment of Fort Sumter and the fore most of these is look of white hail cut from the head of Judge Edmund Ruff1n, who fired the first gun at Fort Sumter. He was then nearing ninety years of age and an ardent advocate of secession. After Lees surrender Ruff1n killed himself rather than livt under the rule of his conquerors. The lock of hair was cut from his head by one of the men who were guarding his body A book containing the code o signals used by the United State' steamer Pawnee and Harriet Lane, ant on board the latter boat when sht made an unsuccessful attempt to re victual Fort Sumter is also exhibited The code is pencilled on blank pagt and was written by Signal Officer s. Osborn This was devised for the oc casion so that the Confederates coul( not read it.
 The silk sash worn by Colonel A. R Rhett, first Confederate commander o the fort, is shown. Not far away is { chair owned and used by Jefferson Da wis when he was secretary of war, anC Mir. Eldridge is also able to exhibit thu saddle used by the first and only presi dent of the Confederate States o America. The visitor can also see portion of the Confederate flag tha foated over the Marshal House at Al exandria Va, and which was haulet down by Colonel Ellsworth, who wa shot and killed by Jackson, the land lord. Ellsworth was the first Union of