Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1911-02-13
ASSASSINATION Of
LINCOLN SEEN BY
KEARNY VETERAN
Inmate of Soldiers Home Tells
of Incidents in Staying
and Presidents Life.

Sergeant William Elmendorf. Of the
Sixth New York Heavy Artillery. who
IL an. inmate of the New Jersey Home
for Disabled Soldiers, in Kearny, VINO
knew Abraham Lincoln and was in
Ford's Theatre in Washington when
the President was assassinated by
John wilkes Booth, talked yesterday
of Incidents in connection with the
shooting and events in Lincoln's life.
YES indeed. l saw Lincoln many a
time, and talked to him." said Ser
geant Elmendorf yesterday afternoon.
II call myself a Lincolnite, If there
il any such word, for 1 believe there
isn't another soldier in the country
who went through the whole combina-
tion of circumstances that ! did and
has lived to tell the tale.
"Something happened at his second
Inauguration that I will never forget.
1t may sound like a religious dream of
mine, but l la seen 1t in at least one
history, so you a rely on 1t. just as
Lincoln raised his hand with the words
SO help me God (this all happened in
the OPEN, a ray of sunshine broke
through clouds (for 1t was a drizzly
das), and shone right Town on his
face alone.
"How about the assassination? Yes,
I was there, too. 1t was only by chance
that | happened to go, for l had seen
the play, and wanted to go TO a va
riety show. / was with a friend of
mine. and we saw a bill board saying
that the President and his cabinet
would be at the play that evening.
Laura Keene was playing in Our
Co.t,g Co 70 MICA so nv
friend I went with him.
my memory is getting the best OF
me these days. continued the old
soldier, but | remember it as well as
IL II was yesterday, that scene when
the President came into the theatre
and the orchestra struck up Hail to
the Chief
Everything went along all right un-
til the curtain went up for the sec
ond act, and Their we heard the shot.
Guess they're putting on frills for the
President / said to my friend, 'cause
they didn't have any shooting when /
saw II before
"Then / saw Booth leap over the
rail that separated him from the stage.
drop his cap and dirk knife and stoop
to pick them up again. Then the cur
tain went down and the manage an
nounced that the President had been
shot and that the house would be
cleared.
my friend and I left with the rest
and started back to the hospital. 1t
wasn't a wound I was there for, just
a bad case of typhoid fever that l
had Just gotten over. Well, sir, If we
were challenged once by sentinels we
were challenged a dozen times. They
were SO thick all over the place that
a person couldn't get out Of town with
out being held up first. They even took
sick men from the hospitals to hunt the
murderer.
"a couple of days later I went and
saw Lincoln's body lying In state at
the Capitol, and when the funeral took
place / was among those who marched
in the long line of mourners.
Eyes, / was there at the Kirkwood
house when Johnson was i~naugurated,
too, and / couldn't help b"t notice the
difference between the noble form of
Lincoln as he TOOK the oath and that
Of johnson as he stood there sup
ported by two officials, who had 10
hold him up while he took the oath.
II often saw Lincoln at other tires,
both In Washington and twice on the
battlefield, when he reviewed us. The
time at Fairfax, Va. is the one I
remember most, because no shook
hands with US all there after the re-
view was over.
mot going, are your the Md SER
geant asked when his caller got up
to go. ''Tin.e drags hers. with nothing
TO do but eat and sleep and dream
about the old battles. Sometimes |
oven wish / was back in IL again. and
the old soldier gazed dreamlly at the
ceiling as he took a pun from his
pipe.