Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-10-27

| for which Wilkes Booth was being
| SOUGHT
| Old residents of Georgetown declare
| that Booth made his way in that direc-
exhaustion. he crawled under the plat
| form covering an old tar well at the old
gas works there and unable to help HIM
: self. fell to his death In the Well. The
finding of human bones in the forgotten
| hole the other day gave new life to the
story. half tale. half tradition. and the
fact that the skeleton had a leg bone
that was shattered at the precise spot
where Booths leg was broken lends a
| measure of confirmation to the story
= x
Lincoln is dead. and Booth is dead, and
all the actors in the great tragedy. per-
haps, have passed to their final judg-
ment. And now the day of Judgment
has arrived for the old building IN which
the tragedy was staged, and the thumbs
are turned down-old Ford's Thea ter
must go.
Repeated suggestions have been made
that the government should erect a build
ing on the site of the tlleater and house
therein the Lincoln relics that are now
owned by the United States, as well a. a
private collection.
y permanent Lincoln museum couId be
erected on the theater site at no great
cost, and such building, open to the pub-
lie at all times could easily be made
large enough to contain all the relics of
the emancipation in the governments pos
session as we'll as those privately owned
and which Won undoubtedly be added
to national collection if a suitable
building We're provided for them. Bills
to this effect have been introduced In
Congress times without number, but the
measures have never succeeded In secur-
ing serious consideration. Now however
that the old Ford Theater has been con-
demned and pronounced unfit and unsafe
for use as office or storage building. II
Is believed definite steps will be taken
either for the restoration of the building
to the appearance and condition in which
il was the night of the tragedy or for
the erection on its site of n permanent
national Lincoln museum
For several years the old structure has
been used as storage house for the
great bulk of the records of the adjutant
generals office. having been repaired
after the disastrous collapse when the
floors fell in. nearly twenty years ago.
In that disaster. twenty or more clerks
lost their lives, while scores We're in
jured. The collapse occurred during the
noon hour. when many of the clerks We're
out of the building, this fact undoubtedly
being responsible for the conpar atively
small loss Of life. Since that time the
building has not been used to great ex-
tent for Office purposes. of late years be-
ing devoted mainly to the storage of rec
ords and documents. 1t has for a long
I me been recognized unsafe and the
danger Of a destructive fire has repeated
ly been pointed out though Congress has
never taken any steps to make the build
ing safer or to render il even fire-resist-
ing.
If the report of the commission results
i'm an order for the demolition Of the
building another of the few rena ming
landmarks that link the dark days of the |
civil war with the present will have
passed into oblivion. II would truly be a |
pity If some way could not be found OF |
preserving the old walls and converting
the abandoned theater into permanent !
memorial to the nations first martyred |
President