The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-04-13
RooseUelt On Final
 White House Journey

one was on his toes for the chief executives arrival
 He was supposed to have been there at 4:3O o'clock and when he didn't arrive at that scheduled mo- ment, someone called the Little White House switchboard to ask what the trouble was. At the same moment, Louisa .Hackmeister, the Presidents personal telephone oper- tor. reached Allcorn's cottage with the news.
 Last night Mir. Roosevelt was to have attended minstrel show put on by infantile paralysis patients in wheelchairs and on crutches. The performers, wheeling their chairs out of the tiny playhouse where they have been rehearsing, were a throat-clutching sight. Their idol, their biggest source of hope was gone. For it was here 20 years ago that MT. Roosevelt began to show them how a person could overcome crippling polio and go on to great things.
 The Presidents train was Sched- uled to go from here to Atlanta, then up through the Carolinas, past Greenville and Spartanburg, s. c, and Charlotte, N. c.
 At each of the major towns through which the funeral train passes there probably will be brief stops to service the railroad equip ment.
 Mrs. Roosevelt was lonely vigil at the small cottage where the body of her husband was being embaimel and put in a coffin by Atlanta un- dertakers. Outwardly, she evidenced nothing but sad calm.
 The Presidents daughter, Mrs. John Boettinger, did not accompany her mother here from Washington. She remained behind at the White House to supervise the funeral ar- engagements there and to prepare for turning the mansion over to President and Mrs. Truman.
 MT. Roosevelt had arrived at Warm Springs on March 30. He had spent the previous weekend at his Hyde Park home. stopping oil 1n Washington for five hours in be- tween.
 Railroad crews worked all night getting the 11-coach funeral tram in order for the trip to Washington. They took the same meticulous care with the presidential special as in the past.
 Two big engines of the southern railroad were assigned to pull the train, and that was about the only thing to distinguish it from any other. The presidents car was the last one.
 The White House luggage and ef- fects of others who were to ride the train were loaded last night.
 A small crowd of curious stayed around the loading platform most of the night, but Marine guards with carbines slung over their shoulders kept them from getting too close
 The presidents body was to be placed in what for a number of years had served as his office car The body was to be slid in through | large rear window.
 Wartime security precautions made it impossible for the late president to arrive home in his | own car, which has immovable win- dows of 3-inch bullet-proof glass. | His private car also is equipped | with special electric elevators on the rear platform which were in- stalled to obviate the use of long, cumbersome ramps which the crip- | pied chief executive once used.
 The presidents body was to be borne from the Little White | House" by motor-hauled Army caisson.
 White helmeted military police from Fort Benning and gray-clad Georgia state troopers were on the scene, clearing streets fETAOI-) scene, clearing cars from streets and blocking out roads along which the funeral entourage was to move.
 An honor guard of 2,0O0 Fort Benning paratroopers was on hand.