Evening star., 1926-05-02
GETS STOREHOUSE
OF LINCOLN RELICS
Government Action Assures
Preservation of OIdroyd
Collection Here.

Passage by Congress of the measure
authorizing the purchase Of the Old
royd collection of 5000 authentic Lin
coin mementos now on display in the
historic Peterson house at SIG Tenth
street, where the martyr President
died, will preserve for future genera
lions making pilgrimageS to Washing
Ton a great StorehouSe of material
identified with Lincoln tradition. Only
the formal appropriation of $4,000.
TO which Congress pledged itself in
approval OF the present bill, is needed
10 transfer the collection from pri-
Vate hands to the Government as a
public museum memorializing the
Great EmancipatOr.
The decision Of the Government TO
take over the collection is a victory
tor Osborn H. Oldroyd, owner and
founder of the collection, who has re-
fused many tempting offers from
wealthy persons who wished to ac-
Quire the collection. For many years
MIR. Oldroyd has urged Congress to
buy the Lincoln relics, so that they
might be- preserved for the public.
Retain Present Quarters.
The bill authorizes a commission.
composed of the Secretary Of State,
the Secretary of War and the At
torney General, to buy the collection
for d sum not to exceed $50, 900. 1t
will remain in its present quarters.
The Petersen house was purchased by
the Government as a memorial build
ing 81 years ago.
Capt. Oldroyd has been gathering
the collection for 50 years, having
started on this patriotic work of love
Ii al,t tAff tot oft hn
released from service in the in
lernecine strife. Mr.. Oldroyd now is
50 years old. Having for years been a
student of Lincoln, acting as guide
for his collection all through its
formation, Capt. Oldroyd has become
a rich source of Lincoln traditions.
Visitors leaving the house often have
remarked upon the fund of informa.
ton their guide gave during the tour
Of the quaint old frame building.
Incidents throughout the life of
Lincoln are memoralized in the col
lection at the Tenth street building,
which stands directly across the street
from the old Ford Theater where
Lincoln was assassinated. Articles
collected by Mr.. Oldroyd range from
the Bible Lincoln heard his mother
read TO him as a child to death
mask taken of the face of Lincoln
after he had breathed his last.
One of the relics which tourists al
ways ask to see is the spur worn by
J. Wilkes Booth which caught a flag
as he leaped to the stage of the
theater after shooting the President,
causing him to break leg.
Each one OF the 5000 relics, how
ever, has story of it's own, all hav-
ing place in the development of the
Lincoln saga.
Furniture From Illinois.
Some of the most valuable portions
of the collection are pieces OF furni-
ture which once We're used by Lin
coin in his home at Springfield, Ill.
Among these are a cook stove, squat
and heavy. on which many a Lincoln
dinner was prepared; an unpreren-
tlouS looking armchair, in which Lin
coin wrote his first inaugural address
and formed his first cabinet; his ia
Vorite hair-cloth rocking chair; two
lounges and the cradle in which he
rocked his three sons, Robert T., Will
liam and Tad CThomas).
"A Whatnot, relic OF two generations
past, made from a walnut bedstead
which Lincoln presented to a Spring.
field carpenter who had aided him IN
packing for the trip to Washington,
also is among the collection.
There is~a mahogany roundtop ta-
BILE purchased by Capt. Oldroyd after
President johnson had discarded it
when he became the incumbent at tn,
White House.
Other similar articles are the first
desk used by Lincoln at Springfield,
containing pigeon holes in which he
stuffed legal documents; a wooden
wheel taken from the family carriage:
Il piece Of oak flooring from the log
cabin at New Salem, ILL.,, owned by
caleb Carmon, with whom Lincoln
boarded in 1884, after returning from
The Blackhawk war where he had
served as captain; an oak joist from
The kitchen floor in the Springfield
home of Lincoln; and a black locust
rail split by Lincoln in 1880, which
was taken from the fence around the
home of Lincoln's father by John
Hanks, a cousin of the murdered
president.
An old-fashioned gray checked
shawl worn by President Lincoln was
presented to the Oldroyd collection
by Dora d. FoWler-Stowers, to whose
mother Mrs. Lincoln had presented
the shawl.
Last Bit of Handwriting.
The last bit of handwriting of Lin
coin is preserved in the collection.
Two hours before he was assassinated,
President Lincoln wrote the following
note to two men, who had asked him
tor a pass to Richmond shortly after
the surrender of Gen. Lee: mo pass is
necessary now to authorize anyone to
go to and from Petersburg and Rich
mond. People go and return as they
did before the war. tSigne0 A.
Lincoln"
Hanging still on the wall where
Lincoln died is a picture of THE Vii
lage Blacksmith. 1t is shown in
scores of pictures of the President,
and the group that was with him
when he died.
In the same room are 145 pictures,
illustrating the assassination and the
funeral of Lincoln, and many draw
ings of his bust.
Mr. Oldroyd once walked the entire
route of so miles taken by Booth in
his flight from Washington following
the murder, and took pictures of
scenes along the route, which now are
among his collection.
Copies of newspapers which printed
The story Of the assassination are
hung in cases on the walls of the
house. The New York Herald car
1ied "a headline which now seems
strangely too small and reserved for
so tragic a happenings: Important,
Assassination of President Lincoln"
The Washington Chronicle, predeces.
Sor of The Star, carried the one
column headline: Murder of Presi-
dent Lincoln
Mr.. Oldroyd fashioned from a log
taken from the log cabin at Peters
burg, ILL.,, a rough -hewed stand which
he intended as symbol of the rugged
character of Lincoln.
Other articles in the collection in.
clude II autographed letters and