The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-12
President Roosevelt and Other Prominent Men VIII Speak
 At the OId Farm
HOW COLLIER BOUGHT
 THE FARM AT AUCTION
Representative of New York Publisher OutWitted Two Rivals Who Were Also Seeking to Buy the
 Historic Place.

Hodgenville, Ky, February ll.-Ine cen tenary of Abraham Lincons birth Will be observed generally throughout the United States but nowhere will the com memoration exercises command more ih- terest than those to be held in this ht- tie town tomorrow. Two miles from here on the Lincoln farm, which has been pur- chased by national association, formed for the purpose, President Roosevelt will lay the cornerstone of memorial build ing now being erected by popular sub scription to mark Lincolns birthplace and to protect for all time the little log cabin in which the martyr President was born.
 The centenary address on this occasion will be delivered by President Roosevelt. Gen. Luke E. Wright, the Secretary of War, will speak on behalf of the Con- federate soldiers. Gen. Grant Wilson will represent the veterans of the Union army, and Lincolns native state will be repre- scented by Gov. Augustus E. Wilson of Kentucky. Other addresses will be made by Bishop Galloway of Mississippi and Ex-Gov. Joseph w. Folk of Missouri.
 New Historical Mecca.
 Hodgenvlle which is near the geo. graphical center of the state of Kentucky and not far from the center of population of the United States promises to become new mecca in America and the Lincoln farm second Mount Vernon. Although Abraham Lincoln had other homes, there is a sentiment about his brthplace~that does not attach to any of them. He lived here for eight years and before he left knew very much of what Mark Twain calls "the model little farm that raised man. He went swimming in the nearby creek and by the light from the huge fire place in the little one-room cabin he learned his first lessons.
 Home First Built.
 It was in 1906 that Thomas Lincoln brought his bride Nancy Hanks, and es- tablished the rude little howe that three years later was to welcome into the world the future President. Theirs was the rough life of pioneers the farm was then as it is now, a sterile piece of land, and to make both ends meet the older Lincoln did odd jobs of carpentry in the vicinity. besides working the farm The actual ne- cessites of life were seldom lacking, but it was life of severe poverty. For some years Thomas Lincoln served as a county supervisor of public roads, an important position in that time Land owners paid their poll tax with pick and shovel then and on road mending days he used to take little Abe along, both for company and for help. There are old-timers here now who claim that there is not a sec ton of the old pike within several miles of his home along which Abraham Lin coin has not played or on which he has not driven his OK team.
 LincoIns Move Away.
 At this time Kentucky offered few allur- nents to a poor man, and in 1874 the Lin coins sold the little farm and moved to Indiana. Subsequently Abraham moved into Illinois and the rest is history But through all the years that followed he never forgot his first home. He rarely referred to it. but after he had become President of the United States he is known to have said: When the war is over would like very much to visit my old Kentucky home. I remember it we'll"
 But he never did return and the farm and the log cabin had a varied history. Thomas Lincoln sold the place to fam fly named Creal and it remained in their hands for over 70 years. It's beautiful rock spring was apparently its one re- deeming feature and only recently has any one awakened to the realization that these 11O acres had any value beyond their yield in corn and sorghum. From time to time newspapers have announced that the Lincoln birthplace farm was to be sold but as a matter of fact it has only changed hands twice since Thomas Lin colns original transfer. few years ago it was given into the management or Rev J. w. Bingham, who removed the log cabin to the exposition at Nashville, and later sold 1t to some exhibitors who took it about the country as traveing show. But a year or two ago the logs were found in a cellar at College Point, Long Island, where 1t was stored and with ceremony was restored to its origi- nal site.
 Sale Is Advertised.
 The farm itself has been the subject of litigation for several years and efforts have been made by various interests to use it for one purpose or another. Many schemes have been suggested from time to time but none of them has borne any large national significance. Finally in 1905 it was advertised that lon Au- gust 2S the Lincoln farm was to be sold between the hours of 10 and from the courthouse steps at public outcry and to the highest bidder.''
 Robert J. Collier of New York city had been negotiating for the property and upon the appearance of this notice he dispatched Richard Lloyd Jones to Hodg- envile with instructions to buy the place if possible
 Jones Meets Rivals.
 The day set for the bidding was Mon day and as the laws forbade Sunday railway operations in this neighborhood, Elizabethtown, 12 miles away, was as near as MT. Jones could come by rail be- fore Monday noon. At the little hotel in Elizabethtown MT. Jones met two in- dividuals who he learned were sent on the same mission as.himself One represented a prominent eastern merchant, the other a distiling concern which recognized the commercial value of the pure water from the rock spring and the bottle label bear ing the inscription Lincoln Birthplace Whisky" Both had come with the in- '------------------
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