The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-11-10

that ne remain in charge Of IL at a salary
during his lifetime. That was agreed 20
I'M for a few years the collection wAa Ope
to the public in the old home.
Then Altgeld became Governor said
Mr.. Oldroyd Quietly, and gave me two
weeks TO get out.
II was a hard blow. Years Of time and
all the money he could spare had been put
into the work Of forming a collection which
he believed would become one OF the most
interesting and valuable legacies this gene
ration could leave to the country. Yet
nobody seemed willing 20 help him carry the
burden 81 its maintenance.
He was yielding to the thought ~ selling
II when a telegram come from the Lincoln
Memorial Association at Washington. "
was followed by letters FULL OF enthusiastic
predictions Of what would happen ~ MT.
Oldroyd would bring the great collection TO
Washington and place IL on exhibition in
the house where Lincoln died. Why, &C
cording IN the sAnguine ideas OF those
who wrote 90 Mr.. OldrOyd, the negroes
alone would rush in such numbers to view
the relics Of the Emancipator that a gold
mine would seem poor in comparison.
60 the collection came TO Its present
home. The rent was 500 a month ana the
memorial association paid IL Tor a year:
The negroes showed IN unexpected In
differences and the thousands Of men and
women who visit Washington were slow
10 find out the high red house in Tenth
street. There we're three months in 1894
when the receipts were 81. e12.JO and sI7-
with rent, however. remaining stationary
at 500 all the time.
II was hard pulling, indeed. but In 1897
the Government bought the house n tho
collection is kept there free OF rcnt-. There
are plenty OF persons who say tnat the
Government eight to buy the collection
too, and some Of them are working toward
that end. II they succeed in persuading
Congress 70 buy il they should SOC that the
collector himself goes with the rest. All
--~-A ~.-
seem to speak OF Lincoln, but none OF these
is so impressive, when one stops to think
1t H., as the man who has devoted forty
years Of his life to p~erpetuating the memory
of his hero.
the reporter after listening to n visitor
after another ask the same questions.
calling for the repetition OF the same stories
and explanations.
-Tired?" was the quiet reply. Does a
man get tried Of his profession II It Is a
profession he loves; preaching or modt-
cine or law? This ia my profession.
Il would rave been a collector, anyway.
IL is as natural to me as breathing. But
when you d to that instinct the interest
of doing something that is OF lasting value
to the country" he shook his head--nO.
! don't get tired OF IT,"
Tell me how you happened to get some
Of these reIics-the cradle in which the
Lincoln children we're rocked
We'll, before Lincoln went TO Washington
he sent this cradle down to a store IN Spring
field. kept by a man named John Williams.
There were n good many clerkBjn the store.
but hone of them was married. Lincoln
said to the proprietor:
Friend Williams. here's a cradle that
we're through with and | want you TO put
il up in your stOrerOOm and give II TO the
first one of your clerks that gets married
and has a baby to rock in IT,.
8 Mr.. Williams took 1t and gave It TO
a clerk who, by the way. married a friend
Of my wife who was a Springfield girl her
self. They moved out West and before
they started the cradle was sold at auction
along with some other things.
A man named Whitecraft heard a
stranger in town say that he was going 70
get that cradle. Whitecraft didn't really
want il, but he was bound the stranger
shouldn't get IL. 80 he bid II in.
Then he put il down cellar or in some
damp place and when l moved into the
Lincoln homestead and he found | was
making such a good collection, ne sent IL
TO me. The legs were rotted from the
dampness. brt had it all fixed up and
there II is"
If ne had added -As large as life" he
would have spoken 20 the point. for IL is
positively the largest cradle to be seen.
Il is like a small bed on rockers.
Close to it is an old fashioned ONCE chair
with signs of long and hard usage written
all over IL.
yes, that was Lincoln's chair in his law
Office at Springfield" was the response TO
a question. II got it from William II.
Herndon. Lincoln's old law partner; lie
had been using it himself for years after
Lincoln's death until one day when l
was in his office l said to him:
I believe you could find a chair hat
would he more comfortable for o and
more ornamental to YOU ofice.'
II don't know but you're right he
said.
pick out any chair o like in the furniture
store and I'll pay for it,
"He did so and l carried on this with his
signed statement as to it's g~enulneness.
THAT haircloth sofa and the haircloth
rocking chair next to il were sold when
Lincoln went to Washington: Some sisters
by the name Of Rockwell who were Dress
makers bought several things at the Lincoln
sale. but I got them back when they left
town some years later
How did you get Booths spur?'
well, I.tramped out over the road by
which he escaped and l Interviewed every
body along the route. There were very
few who had been living there at the time
oi .0ns Of these was Mrs. Mudd. wife Of
DIR. Mlidd, to whose house Booth went and
where ne staJed while the doctor treated
his injuries got the spnr from Mrs.
Here are some Of the most interesting
things in the collection" showing a good
sized candle, discolored by age, and beside
il a black handled table knife with some
hardened substance adhering TO the blade.
The room here. where Lincoln breathed
his last, was rented at that time by a young
man named Clark.
After the Presidents body was removed
Clark found this candle, with which the
bad heated the plaster, and this
knife. with which they had applied 1t, That
il some of the plaster that is still clinging
to the blade.
CLARK kept them as relics and sent them
t. his sweetheart up at Boston. After his
death his wife-his former sweetheart-let
me nave them.
"CIark also had a small lock OF Lincoln's
hair; not very much. but genuine. IL was
a little Of that which was cut by the sur
Reons that night. Mrs. Clark always said
/ should rave IL after her death; but when
that happened IL came into the possession
Of a sister out West. She says l shall have
10 in time, but the time hasn't come yet.
There is one lock in the Army Medical
Museum, one in the possession. l suppose,
Of John Hays heirs and another 10 owned
by a son OF DIR. Taft. who was one OF the
surgeons. DIR. Taft promised that It should
come TO his collection after his death. but
his son wants 81 900 for it,.
Those are the only genuine locks l
know Of, though l have been offered a
good many that claimed TO be genuine
One woman sent me. on approval, q lock
of rather light brown hair OF fine, soft
texture. She assured me that IL was
genuine. having been cut from the Presi-