The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1914-12-17
THE NATIONAL CAPITAL

Brookings Register Bureau, Washington. DC.
(By J. e. Jones)
The efficiency n economy commits
sion reported in favor of tearing down
Ford's Theatre where Abraham Lin
coin was shot, and although that was
more than a year ago, the reporters
still make a piece of news" of the
story that the building is to be aban-
doned and leveled to the ground. How
ever, the war department, which is in
charge of the building, and has its
destiny in keeping, has absolutely no
intent or purpose to give up the struc-
ture. In fact, extensive repairs have
been made on the building within re-
cent months, and since it is well
lighted and airy, and the foundation
and walls firm and substantial, there
is not the slightest reason to suppose
that Ford's Theatre will not be used
as an office building by the govern
ment for many years to come.
There are a hundred people employ
ed by the Adjutant Generals Office in
the Ford Theatre building, and al
though the Washington Guide Book
says the place contains nothing of in
terest | found it very interesting. For
though the place has been completely
remodeled since that dreadful night
pf Anvil "A lQeE uuhan Jnhp yLi1knc
Booth assassinated the great Lincoln,
yet found the location of the stage,
the Lincoln box, and passed through
the same door by which Booth made
his escape. And employed in the
building / me Edwin H.. Spang who
went with his girl" to Ford's Theatre,
and he told me how he made use of
his season pass that very night, and
arrived in the theatre ten minutes be-
fore the tragedy occurred. Spang is
now a gray haired old man, but he is
only one of a great many veterans of
the civil war who work within the
gray brick walls keeping straight the
war records of the men who fought
for and against, the United States.
Originally the structure was a Bap-
fist church, which explains the peaked
roof so unusual in modern building
operations. AS a theatre it must have
been a very fine n for its day, since
the auditorium was large, and it is
still possible to figure out what was
the location of the orchestra floor, the
balcony and the peanut gallery"
These three floors now do service for
Office purposes. And through the alley
It the rear has been changed as a re-
suit of the congestion of business, yet
standing in the door through which
the the murderer escaped it is possible
to trace the direction taken by that
fieet-footed white horse that carried j.
Wilkes Booth eighty miles away in his
flight from the righteous wrath of a
people struck almost dumb by the
horror of his deed.
Perhaps the Guide Book is right
when it says that Ford's Theatre con
tains nothing of interest" But stand
ing there in the center of the great
building on the ifty-first anniversary
of Lincoln's Gettysburg address my
attention fell upon the labels of the
long rows of card files which occupy
almost the entire space of three floors,
and 1 learned that here the records of
soldiers Of the war of 1912, the civil
war, the Spanish-American war, and
the Philippine instruction, are care
fully preserved, Some of these Sec
tons are devoted to the Confederacy,
and 1t may be a little surprizing to
most people to learn that the United
States government has an almost COM
plete record of the men who wore the
gray Tiers were devoted to Con-
federate betallions, sharp shooters, in
fantry, artillery and state guards, and
the roster of these troops from Ala
bama to Virginia Is as carefully kept
as those of union troops. In response
to the question I was informed that
n of the reasons was to aid the
state-pensioning plans of a number of
southern states, and my informant
added that during the civil war north
ern soldiers captured a great many re-
cords of the Confederates, SO that it
had been found best for Uncle Sam to
maintain the roster of southern troops.
At the present time a representative
of the state of Mississippi is engaged
in copying the records for that state.
There are miles Of rows of these
cards, and / was struck by the fact
that these gray headed old men who
work in this place evidenced a tender
sentiment for these little white cards,
each of which was the story of a man
gone to war. The spirit of the words
of Lincoln stood preserved before me: