Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1911-03-23

its final resting place at Springfield, H.,
is mass of charred wood and iron.
The car, which has been visited dur
ing the last forty-six years by hundreds,
of thousands of Americans who wished
to honor the memory:ofkthe martyred
president, was destroyed yesterday by
prairieIfre which swept through ten
blocks in Columbia Heights, an Anoka
county village which adjoins the north
east city limits. Sqauds of women and
boys, who rallied to fight the flames
which threatened the historic relic, were
unsuccessful in checking the spread of
the fire. and two boys were slightly
burned in their eagerness to save the
car.
The Lincoln funeral car, which was
purchased by Thomas Lowry in 1905,
brought to Minneapolis and placed in
Columbia Heights, had more than the
memory of Abraham Lincoln to make
it famous. 1t was used as the private
car of Lincoln and his cabinet during
the last three years of the civil war
and after it was taken back to Wash
ington from Springfield, in 1864, it car
ried the body of Mrs. William II. Sew
ard from Washington to the Seward
home.
Theffire started at 2:30 a. m. A boy
had been burning brush and grass in the
rear of a house at Thirty fifth and
Architects avenue. The blaze, famed
by high wind, got beyond his control
and swept north. Other boys and some
of the women of the neighborhood,
joined tina fight on the flames. Their
efforts were largely limited to prevent
ing the fire from igniting houses and
barns in the district bordering the fire
swept section, and the flames swept
steadily:north.
The Lincoln car was at Thirty-seventh
avenue NE and Quincy street. In the
excitement, the Lincoln funeral ear had
been forgotten, and it was not until the
flames were within a few feet of the
Enclosure which contained the car that
the fire fighters realized that the car
might be destroyed. Then the efforts of
the workers were centered in an attempt
to save!the car from destruction.
Mrs. Henry Schoenheiter had seen the
danger to the Lincoln car and had tele-
phoned to Engine company No. 10, at
Twenty-fourth and Central avenues NE.
The company made a quick run, but
when the firemen arrived they found
the shed (which protected the car des-
troyed and the car in flames. The fire.
men succeeded in checking the fire, but
the car which had carried the body of
Abraham Lincoln was charred wreck.
Story of the Relic.
The Lincoln funeral ear was built in
the military car shops at Alexandria,
Va, in!1863 and 1864, for the special
use'of Lincoln and his cabinet. 1t was
used by Lincoln in many trips during
the last two years of the war, and at
the time of Lincoln's death it was in
Washington.
April Is, 1865, orders were issued by
the.war'department toprepare the preis-
dents car to receive his body for the
journey to Springfield. On thu morning
of April Fl. the car was moved across
the Potomac to Washington and attached
to the funeral train in waiting. On the
<Ssame day, after the funeral services at
the national capitol, the body of Lincoln
was placed in the car the government
had built for the president two years
before. At the foot of Lincoln's coffin
was placed another coffin, containing
the body of his son, Willie Lincoln, who
died in 1862.
At O'Clock on the night of April 81,
the funeral cortege, consisting of the
funeral car and eight coaches for the
accommodation of government officials
and members of Lincoln's family
started on the journey to Springfield.
From the time the Lincoln train left
Washington to the time it arrived in
Springfield it passed through two con-
tinuous lines of mourners. In the larg-
est cities the body was placed in state
in capitols and city halls. The route of
the journey was practically the same
Lincoln had followed four years before
when he had left Springfield for WASH
ington. 1t led through Baltimore, Har-
risburg, Philadelphia, New York,
Albany, Cleveland, Columbus, Indian
apolis and Chicago.
OF the morning of May the funeral
train reached Springfield. The coffin
was immediately transferred from the
presidents car to the capitol.
After the funeral train returned to
Washington the presidents car was
returned to the military shops at Alex
andria. 1t had always attracted atten-
tion as it was said at the time it was
built to be the finest car in the world,
but the fact that it had carried the
body of the president made it an object
Oh intense interest for the next few
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