The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-01-24

given to many others he would be a
hundred years old on February u next,
To the millions whose interest in him
has been whetted by this approaching
centenary Washington offers the great
est wealth of material throwing light
upon him as man, President or martyr.
After his assassination at Ford S
Theater on the night of April IA, 1865,
he was carried across 10th street to
Peterson s lodging house where he died
next morning. Twelve years ago the
government paid $4,000 for this house,
| which already contained the Lincoln
collections that had been removed from
the Lincoln homestead at Springfield,
H., by their owner, 0. H. Oldroyd, a
veteran of the civil war These Old
royd collections, which have now grown
to more than 5000 items, and which
represent fifty years of interchangeable
collective enterprise, are still on view
in this house, where Lincoln died.
| ss,kae
| Entering the museum, the visitor
passes two parlors on the left and is
ushered into the death chamber at the
rear of the hail. 1t is marrow room
occupied by a young infantry volun-
| teer at the time of the tragedy. 1t
| contains funeral paraphernalia taken
| from the catafalque and numerous
other exhibits bearing upon the death
| and funeral: but unfortunately the
| bed in which the President died was
| sold at auction after the death of the
| tailor who kept the lodging house.
| The purchaser sold it in Chicago for
$3.50 and two weeks later was offered
| $1,000 for it. The present owner has
| agreed to donate it to the collection
| whenever the government shall make
! the little museum ireproof. Back of
| this room is larger one occupied by
| servants of the lodging house at the
| time. Here is installed library of
| 1000 works and articles bearing on Lin
coin and the tragedy. Through this is
reached large rear room in which is
seen the furniture from the Lincoln
| homestead. The most conspicuous of
| the many items are the Lincoln cook
stove, the walnut cradle in which Lin
coin himself often rocked his children
| to sleep, his office chair, in which he
sat when he wrote his first inaugural
address; two horsehair sofas. settee,
his favorite home ehair-a horeshair
rocker with very tall back, and a little
| pigeon holed desk, upon which lies the
framed copy of letter from the donor,
| whose husband, she says, was once Wis
tied by Lincoln, who, entering with the
desk in two pieces, said: "Will you
take my old desk and give it room in
L l., Il r
when I commenced to do business for
myself9 Mrs Lincoln, in one of her
passions, threw it into the street be-
cause l upset the ink"
*Nk
! In this room are also fifty distinct
photographs Of Lincoln, the last made
upon the south portico of the White
House a few DAYS before his death.
But that, regarded as the most char
acteristic of al his portraits, shows the
President and his favorite "Tad -
glancing over a book, in the attitude
in which Brady, the celebrated war
! photographer, found them when he en-.
| tered the room. The book which the
| two are perusing has been proclaimed
! over the land ever since as the Bible,
but in reality it was photograph al
| bum. According to Mr.. Oldroyd, who
| has traced up the circumstances under
which each Of these photographs was
| taken. Lincoln had none of them made
| voluntarily, but was good-natured in
posing, especially for poor photograph
ers who, he realized, would benefit fnan-
cially by having a negative of him.
Thus that known as the Gardner photo
| graph was made one day when the Pres
ident was walking up 18th street. Gard
ner. who happened to be standing out
side his gallery, importuned the Pres
! ident on the street and the latter, al
| though not knowing the hustling photo.
grapher. accommodated him by going
upstairs and submitting to the slow
fortunes of the old wetplate process of
those days.
In the front parlor of this house Mrs.
Lincoln rested on the night of the
| tragedy when she was not beside the
| President $ death bed. Here are shown
the original spur which tripped Booth
| causing him to break his leg while he
was escaping from the President s box
and the flag in which the spur caught.
Here are also relics of the arsenal
| prison. in which the conspirators were
confined. as well as original portraits
of all Of the conspirators themselves.
4 CHASTITY series Of relics nearby are
| photographs showing the various steps
in the execution of the eonspirators and
twists Of the ropes by which they were
hanged. Here are also relics of the
| barn in which Booth was shot, and
locks cut from his hair while his body
| lay in a naval vessel off the Washing
| ton navy yard.
A black locust rail, to which IS at
tached the affidavit of John Hanks,
Lincoln 5 cousin, that it was split by
the great rail splitter and none other,
| hangs in the archway between the front
parlor and that to the rear, in which.
| on the night of the assassination were
gathered the various officials of state,
| who awaited the death of the President.
In this rear room is a museum of relics
of the Lincoln campaigns, including
framed copies of the scores of notable
| cartoons caricaturing Lincoln. Besides
these articles named the little museum
| contains 1000 Lincoln biographies, $50