Imperial Valley press., 1914-02-12

the march of commerce have decreed
the passage of these two spots SO in
timately connected with the career of
the civil war president, and both have
been condemned and will be torn down
before Washington again observes
the natal day of Lincoln. The sentence
of extinction has, therefore, been
passed upon the two houses of the
national capital which, more than all
others, are reminiscent of the presl
dent who gave up his life on the night
following that on which Lee surren
dered at Appomattox.
There is little at present in the ap-
pearance of Ford's Theatre to sug-
gest its historic recollections. Tall, un-
couth and CHASTITY in its glaring coat
of yellowish paint, it raises on the east
side of Tenth street like the ghost of
its former self.
Following the assassination of Pres
ident Lincoln the theatre was pur-
chased by the government for $780,
600 to be used for an army museum.
The interior was entirely torn out and
converted into three floors. When the
war department became so crowded
that a number of clerks were forced
to work in the halls, Ford's was taken
over by the record and pension divis-
ion and has been used for this pur-
pose ever since. -
Thus, since it's erection in 1850, the
building has been successfully Bap-
tist church (for which it was orig
inally intended), a theatre in which
was staged the greatest of American
tragedies, a museum and an annex
to one of the governments executive
departments.
BY a recent decree of the building
Inspector it is to be torn down and a
modern office building erected in its
stead. It's demolition is expected to
commence in a short time and it is
practically certain that the next re-
currence of Lincoln's birthday will see
only an empty space where today
stands the theatre where the wartime
president met his death.
The assassination of President Lin
coin was not the only tragedy which
occurred within the walls of Ford's
theatre. On June 8, 1893, the day
that Edwin Booth, brother of the man
who shot Lincoln. was buried in Bos-
ton, the three floors of Ford's theatre
collapsed during repairs to the build
ing. twenty-five men were killed and
So injured.
Up to this time there had been some
effort made to retain at least traces
of the stage of the theatre and the box
where the president sat on that fate
ful Good Friday night. but the inside
of the building was then entirely re-
modelled and the former interior re-
moved. Only the gray walls re-
mained.
Now, as even the walls are to be torn
down thus will pass the last visible
remembrance but one of the death Of
President Lincoln. The other, the
house on the opposite side of Tenth
street, in which the President died
and which is now used to house a
varied collection Of Lincoln relics, will
not last many more years and the cap
ital will then be practically without
a contempOraneOus remembrance oil
one of the landmarks of American his
tory-for the Lincoln memorial, mag
nificent as it doubtless will be, will
still lack the mute appeal of the ugly
old building in the heart of the bust
ness section of the nations capital.
Scarcely less repIete with historical
recollections of the great wartime
president is a little building on New
York avenue between Twelfth and
Thirteenth streets-the little toy shop
where Abraham Lincoln was wont to
seek relaxation from the cares of the
war.
At times when the burdens of the
war seem unbearable, President Lin
coin would take his little son, Tad,
and stroll down to the little two-story
brick toy shop, four blocks south of
the white house and there, surrounded
by all the toys dear to the minds of
children the president of the United
States and his little son would re-
fight the battles of the war and plan
the future campaigns, all with the aid
Of the lead soldiers with which the
shelves were lined.
Today the toy shop remains practi-
cally as it was when President Lin
coin visited it.
On an upper shelf one may see
rows and rows of crude lead soldiers