Omaha daily bee., 1909-02-12
EXERCISES At LINCOLN FARM
Elaborate Program at Birthplace of
Dead Emanoipator in Kentucky.
PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT SPEAKS
other Addresses VIII he by Generals
Wright and Wilson, Governor
Wilson and Ez-Gov-
ernor Folk. ,,

| De ODSefNed generally throughout the United
states, but nowhere will the commemoration
exercises command more interest than those
to be held in this little town on February
IL Two miles from here. on the Lincoln
| farm, which has been purchased by a ma
tional association formed for the purpose,
President Roosevelt will lay the corner
stone OF a memorial building now being
erected by popular subscription to mark
Lincolns birthplace and to protect for all
times the little log cabin in which the
martyr president was born.
The centenary address on this occasion
will be delivered by President Roosevelt
General Luke f. Wright the secretary of
war will speak on behalf of the confed-
crate soldiers General Grant Wilson will
represent the veterans of We union
army and Lncolns native state Will
be represented by Governor Augustus e.
Wilson Of Kentucky. other addresses will
be made by Bishop Galloway of Missis-
sippi and Ex-Governor Joseph w. Folk OF
| Missouri.
Hodgenville, 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
| a new Mecca in America and the Lincoln
farm, a second Mount Vernon. Although
! Abraham Lincoln had other homes, there
| is a sentiment about his birth place 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 a man."
| He went swimming in the nearby creek
and the light from the huge fireplace in
| the little one-room cabin he learned his
! first lessons.
Fairgrounds of Abe Lincoln.
1t was in 1906 that Thomas Lincoln
brought his bride, Nancy Hanks, and estab-
lished the rude little home 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 1t
! 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 necessities
| OF life were seldom lacking but 1t was a
life of severe poverty. For some years
Thomas Lincoln served as a county super
visor of public roads, important posi-
tion 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 section of
the old pike within several miles of his
home along which Abraham Lincoln has
not played or on which he has not driven
his OK team.
At this time Kentucky offered few allur-
ments to a poor man, and in 1914 the Lin
| coins sold the little farm and moved to
Indiana Subsequently Abraham Lincoln
moved into Illinois and the rest is his
| tory. But through all the years that fol-
| lowed he never forgot his first home. He
rarely referred to it, but after he had be-
come president Of the United States he
is known to have said: when the war is
over l would like very much to visit my
old Kentucky home. 1 remember 1t WELL"
History of Log Cabin.
But he never did return and the farm and
| little log cabin had varied history.
! Thomas Lincoln sold the place to a family
named Creal and it remained in their
hands for over twenty years. It's beautiful
rock spring was apparently its one redeem
| ing feature and only recently has anyone
| awakened to the realization that those 1l0
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 Lincoln's origi-
nal transfer. A few years ago 1t was
given into the management OF a Rev. j. w.
Bingham who removed the log cabin to the
exposition at Nashville and later sold it
to some exhibitors who took 1t about the
country as a travelling show. But a year
or two ago the logs were found in a cellar
at College Point, Long Island, where it
was stored and with ceremony was re-
stored to Its original site.
The farm itself has been the subject of
| litigation for several years and efforts
have been made by various interests to use
1t for one purpose or another Many
schemes have been suggested from time to
time, but none OF them have borne any
large national Significance Finally in 1906,
il was advertised that ION August 2S the
Lincoln Farm was to be sold between the
hours of 10 and 2 from the court house
steps. at public out-cry and to the highest
bidder"
Dramatic Sale of Old Farm.
Mr.. Robert j. Collier OF New York City
had been negotiating for the property and
! upon the appearance OF this notice he
despatched Mr. Richard Lloyd Jones to
Hodgenville with instructions to buy the
Il
The day set for the bidding was on Mon
day and the laws forbade Sunday rail
way operation in this neightborhood, Eliza
bethtown, twelve miles away was as near
as Mr.. Jones could come by rail before
Monday noon. At the little hotel in Eliza
bethtown, Mr.. Jones met two individuals
who he learned were sent on the same
mission himself. One represented
| prominent eastern merchant, the other a
| dstilling concern which recognized the
commercial value Of the pure water from
the rock spring and the bottle label bear
ing the inscription Lincoln Birthplace
Whiskey" Both had come with instruc-
tions TO Bid Il in" and the sentiment
which they displayed about their mission
was intense. 1t eventually worked their
ruin for before evening their patriotic
enthusiasm had been stimulated to
high degree and by midnight both were
peaceably abed.
Mr.. Jones came here by buggy early the
next morning and sought out the commits
sioner who was to conduct the sale. With
the thought of the two men who were still
/ resting In EliEabethtown he tried to per-
Il