Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-11

Paris together with the stable lot pertaining
thereto" which now covers 1898 street.
Adams, forebear of the present Secretary Of
the Navy, apparently had collection of canes
OF which he was proud, for these are spoken Of
in the will, and one of white ivory with gold
head, he presented ITO the People of the United
States Of America" through the Office of the
commissioner of patents. where it was to re-
main, and there it did remain for more than
aalf century until some As years ago it was
transferred to the National Museum, where It
may now be seen in a case along with a garb
OF brilliant hue that once graced the wardrobes
OF John Quincy Adams and John Adams. The
reason that Adams chose this cane for the =.
bequest to the public seems to lie in the fact
that it was given him as some sovt of recogni-
ton of anti-slavery activities. The Adams gill ,
shows that he had a library that was also one
of the loves of his life. :.
Adams seems to have been pretty well sup
piled with this worlds goods and he was salts
fed to pass on all to his family
A T the opposite financial pole was President
Grant. He left no will, and the saddening
chapters which closed his life are recalled In
the petition for letters of administration filed
by his son, Frederick D. Grant after his fathers
death in 1885,
In the petition he states simply that Grant
died "Seized and possessed of personal property
to the extent of $1,000, consisting of 1925, %
days pay due by the United States and certain
volumes of the Records of the Rebellion, now IN
the War Department
The money to which reference is made was
Grants retirement pay, for after Grant left the
presidency he engaged in business, failed, and
sacrificed his entire personal fortune, even to
the extent Of converting into cash articles he
had collected on world tour, to pay creditors.
Then, to add misfortune, he fell victim Of a
malignant and deadly ailment which resulted
in his death
Another interesting document on file here In
which tragedy is bound up is the will made by
Charles j. Guiteau the day before he was
hanged for killing President Garfield. The Will
seems to establish pretty clearly, for one thing
that Guiteau was a supreme egoist In 1t he
expressed his desire that his legatee, Rev.
Willial.. w. Hicks his spiritual adviser, write a
truthful history of my life and execution" pre-
sumably based on a work of Guiteaus, The
Truth and Removal" and he added as his con-,
Guiding sentence And if at any time hereafter
any person or persons shall desire to honor my
remains they can do 1t by erecting monument
wherein shall be inscribed these words: Here
lies the body Of Charles Guiteau, patriot and
Christian. His soul is in glory"
He by the way left his body to Rev. Mr..
Hicks and warned against its use for any "mer-
SSAoAJ PuPocc, aAlO WLl4e various SCOrleS have
grown up about its diSp.,yal, 1t seems pretty
clearly established that after the autopsy the
skeleton was for some time II the Army Medical
. Museum and may even now be boxed up some
place there. Some of the organs were on exhi-
btion at the museum in the days when it main
tanned what is referred to as the chamber
OF Horrors but no longer. Among the weird
tales which were spread was that Guiteau,s
head was put on exhibition at Atlantic City. the
story apparently growing out of a waxworks
exhibition there. At any rate, though, Gaiteau's
dream Of monument never was realized
Because Of its provisions, the Guiteau viii
rather falls in the category Of freaks and there
are others of the sort to keen 1t company.
ONE testator, who shall be nameless, con-
cluded his requests with this, and with no
explanation: II also bequeath to each of M
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