Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-02-12
ILLINOIS HONORS
L|NC0LN'S NAME
Capt. Nelson Thomasson Re-
calls Incidents in Life
of Emancipation.
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press. :,
CHICAGO, February 12.--As to a
shrine, pilgrims went today to the
Chicago Historical Society to view
the bed in which Abraham Lincoln
died of wounds inflicted by an assas'
sin; to see the shawl he wore while
President and other mementoes of the
great man Illinois and Kentucky gave
to the Nation.
Many other Chicagoans helped swell
the throngs moving into Springfield
for the meeting of the Lincoln Cen
tennial Association at the tomb OF the
emancipation. Among the Springfield
visitors was Gaius Paddock, 81. OF st.
Louis, who witnessed the marriage OF
Lincoln to Mary Todd in the Illinois
capital in 1912.
On the 118th anniversary Of Lin
coins birth in a log cabin in Ken
lucky men who knew him recalled
today his many-sided nature as incl
dents of his life were told and retold.
Noted Document Burned.
The burning of the original copy
Of the emancipation proclamation,
by which Lincoln freed the slaves,
when the great fire of 1871, virtually
destroyed Chicago. was recalled by
Capt. Nelson Thomasson, commander
of the military order Of the Loyal
Legion in Illinois. That document
was destroyed with the building of
the historical society.
1.-THE first time ever saw Lincoln"
said Capt. Thomasson, was about the
60 7 CIT
ting on a little balcony over the
northeast corner of Clark and RAN
dolph streets (now the site of a sky
scraper in which the Associated Press
has it's Chicago offices). My father,
looking east on Randolph, suddenly
cried out There's old Abe Lincoln.
He said to me: Put on your hat and
we will go and see him If he stops
at the Sherman House. which he did,
across the street. But, of course, Mr..
Lincoln had hardly stepped down the
several steps leading to the Sherman
when he was surrounded by quite a
number OF admirers who seemed to
spring from the ground and the
planked sidewalks. Then I saw him
daily for three weeks in 1860"
Friend Of Hay.
The captain recalled the stirring Re
publican national convention of 1860,
in the Wigwam'-a hall that long
since has vanished-in Chicago, wher
Lincoln was nominated for the Presi
dency. Afterward Lincoln wanted the
Attorney General to appoint the cap
tains father, w. p. ThomaSsOn, for
mer member of Congress from Louis
willie. KY. to Federal Office In Ken
lucky.
John Hay, who was private secre
tary to President Lincoln, was q warm
friend of Capt. ThomassOn. Their
mothers were sisters, and Thomassor
was often at the Executive Mansion
in Washington.
One morning Lincoln dropped into
the basement Of the old War Depart
ment Building, used as a telegraph Of
fee, where Thomasson and some
friends were Willing time away. The
President started to write on a tele
graph blank.
Popularized Crisp Bacon.
young gentlemen, when do you
use a semi-colon?' he asked them.
Willard (who afterward became
president Of the Northern Pacific Rail
road and Hit were our literary cuss
es' and they quickly said a lot" the
captain remembered. But Lincoln
after taking the pen from his mouth
said, I never use 1t much, but when
I am in doubt what to use, generally
employ the little fellow"
John Hay always said." the captain
recalled, that Lincoln popularized
the crisp bacon that we now have at
our daily breakfast"