The Omaha Sunday
Bee
PART III.
LINCOLN
PACES 1 TO a.
PART III.
LINCOLN
PAGES 1 TO 8.
VOL. XXXVI IT-XO. 34.
omaha, Sunday morning, febkuaky 7, 1909.
SINGLE COPY FIVE CENTS.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN AS HE WAS KNOWN DURING HIS LIFE
Before He Was President and After His Personality Touched Lives of Local People Who Recall Important Incidents Vividly
Lincoln and the Union Pacific
VV k '''' '-'v. ' J .".'..".. f E
G RENVILLE M. DODGE.
Who Consulted With Lincoln About Building; the Union
Paclflc Road.
Rock
We
Island
made
railroad, as It
a survey for
Oanaral O. X. BodtVs Story.
BRAHAM LINCOLN'S part In locating the eastern terminus
f of the Union Pacific railroad baa not been generally un-
derstood. General Grenville M. Dodge of Council Bluffs,
JL . who was In charge of the location and early work of con
struction of the road, tells of his meetings with President
Lincoln.
"I was privileged to see Abraham Lincoln but twice during his
life. The first time was in the fall of 1669, when he addressed a
neetlng here In Council Bluffs," said General Dodge. "The second
time was during the war at the time I was In command at Corinth, '
Miss., as a brigadier general, when I was ordered by General Grant
to report to President Lincoln in Washington.
"I had known of Mr. Lincoln some time prior to his visit to
Council Bluffs, as he was the owner of some lots iu Council Bluffs,
while the owner of the adjoining
property was Clement L. Vallan
dlngham of Ohio. It waa through
Mr. Lincoln's ownership of Coun
cil Bluffs real estate -that I first
came to know him.
"I next saw Mr. Lincoln In
Washington In 1863, during the
civil war, whence I had been or
dered by General Grant at Mr.
Lincoln's request I did not see
him again after my Washington
interview with him. I was In
command of the western military
department at St Louis at the
time of his death. My estimate
of President Lincoln is that he
was one of the greatest men that
this country has ever produced.
In my two Interviews with him I
came to know him well. He was
far-seeing and seemed able even
In the awful turmoil of war to
comprehend the great needs of
the country when war should
cease.
"I have been Invited to deliver
an address upon President Lincoln
In Council Bluffs at the centenary
celebration of his birth next
month and will there endeavor to
go more Into detail of my ac
quaintance with him."
In the February issue of Apple
ton's General Dodge, in alluding
to Mr. Lincoln, accords to him the
full measure of credit for" his par
ticipation In events that made the
building of the Union Paclflc rail
road possible. In this article
General Dodge says: "My first
work In an engineering corps was
In on the Chicago &
built westward from Chicago.
the extension of this line across Iowa to the Missouri river and es
tablished (he terminals In Council Bluffs. I bought the eighty acres
on which, these terminals wer located and subdivided the tract, a
portion being taken by the Rock Island Interests and a portion by
Council Bluffs clUxens. Borne of the lots of the railroad company
were taken by N. B. Judd, the general attorney for the road. He
was a prominent Illinois republican, the Intimate friend of Mr. Lin
coln, and bis representative in the debates with Douglas. Mr. Lin
coln's attention was drawn to the progress of the road westward
and to the opportunities it offered. He therefore bought from Mr.
Judd a portion of his Interests in this tract, and his visit to Council
Bluffs half a century ago was for the purpose of seeing the country
and looking after Mb real estate Interests. I was Just then return
ing from making a reoonnoisance westward for the proposed Paclflc
Vail road and reached Council Bluffs at the same time as did Mr. Lin
coln. We both stopped at the Paclflc hotel. After dinner Mr. Lin
coln sought me out and made many Inquiries of me regarding the
country west of the Missouri river. He was much interested and
expressed himself as believing that there was nothing more impor
tant before the nation at that time than the building of a railroad
to the Pacific coast
Of his second interview with Mr. Lincoln, then president of the
United States, four years later, General Dodge says: "When I
reached Washington and reported to the president I found that he
had called me to Washington to consult as to the proper place for
the Initial point of the Union Pacific railway, which under the con
gressional act of 1863 he waa empowered to select He had not tor
gotten our conversation on the porch of the Pacific hotel at Council
Bluffs. I found him well posted in all the controlling reasons cov
ering such a selection and we went into the matter at length and
discussed the arguments presented by the competing points. After
going over all the facts that could be presented to him, President
Lincoln finally fixed the eastern terminus of the Union Paclflc rail
road where our surveys determined the proper locality at Council
Bluffs. After this discussion of the location he took up with ma
the question of building the road. The law of 1863 had failed to
bring any capital or men to undertake the work, and I said to him
that in my opinion private enterprise could not build the road. Mr.
Lincoln said that the government had its hands full and could not
undertake the work, but was ready to support any company to the
fullest legal extent and amend the law so as to enable such a com
pany to Issue securities that would furnish the necessary funds. I
went to New York and Informed my associates in the enterprise the
result of my visit with the president and what he haji. said. They
were greatly encouraged and immediately went to work on the
preparation of the measure, which was afterward presented to con
gress and passed as the Union Paclflc bill of 1864. Under this bill
the road was built In four years, although congress had allowed ten
years for Its construction.
j "I feel that it was Lincoln's faith, energy and comprehensive
grasp of what the building of the road meant to the United States
that induced congress to pass liberal laws and made it possible to
raise the funds to accomplish the work."
Member of Lincoln's Bodyguard
J. W. Btobola 8w sum Oftoa.
J.W. NICHOLS, watchman at the postofflce building, Omaha,
belonged to Company K, 160th Pennsylvania infantry, that
was detailed in August, 1863, as the personal bodyguard
for President Lincoln, and continued on that duty at the
' White House until June. 1866. Mr. Nichols says:
"I saw Mr. Lincoln almost dally from August 1863, until his
death, the early morning of April 15, 1866, and waa afterwards one
of the bodyguard for President Andrew Johnson until our final dis
charge from the service In June. 1865. We were quartered in tem
porary barracks Just south of the Treasury department building in
the White House grounds. It was our duty to escort Mr. Lincoln to
and from his summer home at the Soldiers' Home during the Bum
mers. We all came to know him personally and he knew most of
us by name. Tad Lincoln was at our quarters most of the time.
"Tad was a most lovable young fellow, and was the favorite son
of the president, and for this reason I think Mr, Lincoln always had
a very kindly feeling for Company K. One thing that always rather
amused me regsrdlng Mr. Lincoln waa the way lnwhlch he would
respond to a salute. He always wore an old-fashioned plug hat and
In returning a salute he would awkwardly swing his long right arm .
around back ever his shoulder and grasp, his hat by the top Instead
of the rim and then bring it down In front of him. I often thought
be did this more for the fun of the thing than to really return a
salute. He would much sooner grasp a person by the hand and shake
it kindly and warmly. Mr. Lincoln was one of the kindest and best
of men. His face In the later years of the war always wore an ex
pression of the deepest sadness. He seldom smiled, but whenever he
would meet a soldier, no matter how humble his rank or however
dirty or ragged were his clothes, Mr. Lincoln always stopped him
and spoke to him in the kindliest manner.
"I shall never forget the night of his assassination. Yet I had a
premonition that something waa going to happen, but did not con
nect Mr. Lincoln with it In any way. We had all been on the Peace
Jubilee parade that day and were pretty tired. Mr. Lincoln sent
word out to the company that it need not go on duty that evening,
as he was going to the theater and would not need a guard. Two
or three of the boys went to the theater that night, and when the
president was shot one of them came running down to the barracks
and told us. . The company was
under arms In an Instant and
we double-quicked up to the
theater and were the first troops
on the ground. The commanding
officer Immediately took charge of
the situation and we drove the
populace back from the front of
the theater and then opened the
way across the street to the Peter
son house, whre the president
was carried. The Peterson house
waa a red brick, two-story house
sitting above a high .basement, a
sort of French flat, and was one
of a row of similar houses along
side. The president was carried
up these steps and laid on a bed
In. the front room, I think, where
he died the following morning at
twenty-two minutes past 7 o'clock.
"Of course, everything was in
the utmost confusion. Mrs. Lin
coln fainted and It was thought
for a while that she was dead. ' I
think that those most affected by
the tragedy were Secretary Welles,
Secretary Stanton and Postmaster
General Dennlson. Secretary
Stanton's grief was most pathetic,
lie said repeatedly as he leaned
over the body of the dying presl- .
dent: "No one knows, or will
ever know, the sorrow of these
years, nor how you and I have
suffered and been misunderstood,
and now I am left all alone, all
alone.' Of course, very few peo
ple were admitted . to the house,
, none In fact except those con
nected with the higher officials
of the government We re
mained on guard at the Peterson house until the dead body
of the president was removed to the White House., We continued on
guard there until the summer. And, oh, how we missed the gentle,
kind face and greeting of Mr. Lincoln.
"There was not a man or boy of us but felt that we had lost more
than a father In that great and good man. We had come to look
upon him as more than mortal. Not that we stood In awe of him,
but that we loved him and esteemed him more than any other mortal
being."
marked contrast to that of his opponent In the debate, for Douglas
was well-appearing. But there was no advantage in Douglas' ad
dress over Lincoln's, for Abe was a powerful speaker and he made
Just as much of a hit with the Alton people as Douglas did. He was
popular with the women, too.
"Lincoln's whiskers were a reality during the time I knew him,
when his debate with Douglas waa going on. He shaved them off
when he ran for the presidency two years later.
"Lincoln knew how to talk to the best advantage. Whenever
he got rather serious in his speeches he would stop awhile and tell
a story to get next to bis auditors and liven them up, so that they
never were given a chance to get tired. His power of holding an
audience was one of his greatest assets. With plain language and
great penetration of voice he held his audiences in rapt attention.
"Every one in the state had heard of Abe Lincoln, but it was
the debates that brought him out before the country. I don't know
but what Lincoln had things figured out pretty well about how his
debates and later contests were
going to result. He once told
Douglas during the debates that
Douglas might win the Beat in the
senate, but he could never become
president on his slavery platform."
On the fiftieth anniversary of
the Alton debate Judge Cockrell .
was invited to go to Alton to at
tend the reunion and the repro
duction of the original contest
between Lincoln and Douglas.
He accepted with great pleas
ure and spent several days
there. He has this to say
about the reproduction of the
debate:
"The platform for the speeches
was In the same place by
the city hall as the original
one had been, and the Alton
citizens had endeavored to re
produce, as far as possible, 'the
scenes of fifty years ago. There
was an immense torchlight pa
rade, but only about 100 of
the old crowd were alive to
go to the reunion."
As to Lincoln's death. Judge '
Cockrell, who fought in the war,
says:
"We had Just taken a town
on Mobile bay and were at
Blakeley, Ala., when the ' news
of Lincoln's death reached us.
It threw the whole regiment
Into deep mourning, not only out
wardly, but with personal feeling
and great Blncerity. The boys
were spurred to fight all the
harder when they learned the
president had been killed."
party blindly followed Us leaders In whatever Impracticable or rad
ical measures they advocated. That was about the substance of
Judge Test's reply and It waa not much of a debate, after all.
"Lincoln made a good Impression, as well as making lots of
friends, by his visit to the Bluffs and the people remained his stead
fast friends ever afterward.
"As I remember him, hevwas tall, awkward and ungainly, and
also homely, but his earnestness impressed me, as 1( did all who
heard him." '
M'
V-; TfiVV'.v V -cV- . i , X 7
Y' 7
DAVID DORN.
Who Saw Lincoln Shot.
J
Heard Lincoln and Douglas Debate
JnOg-a OoekxwU Xmv Thsm WaU.
UDGE GEORGE C. COCKRELL, one of the local Justices of the
peace, is a man who not only knew Lincoln, but who also met
him Intimately the time the great emancipator was in Alton,
III., for one of his debates with Stephen A. Douglas, and Judge
Cockrell even asted as marshal of the day during that for
ensic contest. '
It was on October 16, 1858, that two rivals for the senator
ship from Illinois met in Alton for one of the debates that have
since gone down in history as among the greatest of word battles.
Douglas, being the leader of the political faction with which Judge
Cockrell was affiliated at that time, registered at the latter's hotel,
while Lincoln became a guest at the only other hotel in the town.
"Even on the day of the debate Lincoln was willing to go to see
his rival, and they had a witty talk together at my hotel," says Judge
Cockrell, recalling the occasion of the debate. "Many people came to
see the two men, sentiment and popular opinion being about equally
divided between the two at that time.
"Wagons were used by hundreds of farmers and their wives,
buggies being scarce, and trips of fifty or sixty miles to hear one of
the great debates were not uncommon. There must have been 15,000
people in Alton the time the debate was held there. And I was made
marshal of the day, although I was only 23 years of age. It certainly
kept me busy to look after that big crowd.
"Tall, awkward and homely, Lincoln's appearance was In
When Lincoln Spoke at Council Bluffs
' M. X. ruid BcUa & Bvent. -
HH. FIELD, a pioneer of Council Bluffs, living at 160
.Park avenue, that city, was present at the meeting ad
dressed by Abraham Lincoln in Council Bluffs in the
fall of 1869.
"I remember the visit of Mr. Lincoln to Council
Bluffs very distinctly," says Mr. Field. "He came here by steamboat
from St. Joseph, Mo. It waa the year after his great debate with
Stephen A. Douglas, and we all were curious to Bee and hear him.
The political sentiment of this community then was strongly demo
cratic and we were all admlrera of Mr. Douglas. The question of
the extension of slavery to the free states had already been settled
by the Missouri compromise, so the slave question was not bothering
us to any serious extent. There was no particular demonstration
over the arrival of Mr. Lincoln, or Old Abe, as he was more popu
larly known. He spoke in the old concert hall, corner of Sixth
street and Broadway, where the opera nouse now stands.
"Judge Test, a former Indlanian, but then in business in the
Bluffs, spoke the same night. He was a democrat and was supposed
to reply to Lincoln's address. I think that Mr. Lincoln was the
guest of W. H. M. Pusey while In the city. I do not remember who
presided at the meeting. Mr. Lincoln's speech was along argumen
tative lines similar to those presented In his debate with Douglas.
He compared the conditions of the states where freedom prevailed
with the slave-holding states and made an earnest plea for human
freedom. He said that he would not Interfere with slavery where
it already exlBted, but was opposed to Its further extension. He did
not arraign the democratic party at all severely, and I rather think
that he greatly strengthened the republican cause in his speech. He
certainly made friends by his temperate address.
"Judge Test in his reply took the broad democratic ground and
Intimated that the democratic party waa satisfied In leaving well
enough alone. He denied Mr. Lincoln's charge that the democratic
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MRS. MARY A. MARROW.
Who Knew John Wilkes Booth
GEORGE a COCKRELL,
Who Knew Lincoln Well.
Omaha Woman Who Knew Booth
Mrs. Marrow Ua Intaraatinr Story.
RS. MARY A. MARROW. 3609 Charles street: "I well
remember the night of President Lincoln's assassina
tion. I lived In the same row of flats on Tenth street,
be twecn E and F Washington, about five doora from
the Peterson house to which the body of President Lin
coln was removed after he. was
shot In Ford's theater the night
of April 14, 1866. I was then
MIbs Mary Sardo, my father was
Nathaniel Sardo, who was then
connected in an editorial capacity
with ttie -Washington Star. J.
Wilkes Booth, the assassin of
President Lincoln, was well
known to all of us young poople
living opposite Ford's theater. He
occasionally took rooms in the
Peterson house, because of Its ac
cessibility to the theater. I was
a frequemt visitor there, knowing
William Peterson and his family
quite well. Peterson has two
daughters and one son. The
daughters were intimates of mine
and we very frequently went to
the theater Just across the street.
"On the evening of the assassi
nation of the president I had been
Invited by Mr. Booth to go to the
theater and see Laura Keene in
her production of 'The American
Cousin.' I had intended to go
with the Peterson girls, but being
a Catholic aud the day being
Good Friday, I did not go. I
went to bed reasonably early that
evening. About 10 o'clock my
brother came to my room and
called me, stating that the presl
, dent had been Bhot over In the
theater and to get up at once. I
dressed hurriedly and went to the
parlor window. The street was
then thronged with an excitable
mass of humanity arfd soldiers
were hurrying up to the front of
the theater. Shortly afterward
a pathway was cleared through
the crowd from the theater to the Peterson house, which laid di
rectly across the street from Ford's theater. I saw the body of the
president brought from the theater to the Peterson house. The
military then forced the crowd back from in front of the house and
theater.
"The body of the president was taken into the servants' room,
which is on the first floor above a high basement of the Peterson
house. The room was very small and but few people could get Into
it We did not go into the Peterson house that night, but did the
following morning after the president's death. Miss Peterson took
me Into the room and showed me the blood-stained pillows upon
which President Lincoln's head had rested. That same day our en
tire family was placed under arrest under the presumption that
Booth had Becreted himself in our house. We remained under ar
rest only that day, for it had been ascertained that Booth at that
time was rooming with Mrs. Surratt on H street, between Fourteenth
and Fifteenth streets.
"I have always believed that Mrs. Surratt was wholly Innocent
of any connection with . President Lincoln's assassination. Booth
and his confederates simply roomed there, and I believe that she
was unjustly hung. She could not, by any possible means, know
the personal character of any of her roomers, and hence knew noth
ing of Booth."
Saw Fatal Shot Fired
David Bora, WitBMS of Kurdor.
AVID DORN of Beatrice actually saw President Lincoln as
sassinated. Mr. Dorn was at Ford's theater In Washing
ton that fatal night and saw J. Wilkes Booth fire the shot
that ended In cold blood the life of one of the sublimest
characters in history. He gives a most graphic descrip
tion of this tragedy.
Mr. Dorn had served his country as a member of the First United
States cavalry. He had been wounded and was In the hospital at
Washington. He went to the theater that night on crutches and he
believes had he not been crippled he might have caught Booth.
"I was Bitting right across the theater from the president's box
and saw the whole tragedy," Bald Mr. Dorn. "I was on crutches.
The president's box was decorated with flags and the flag toward the
stage Bide partly obscured a full view of all those in the box. But
I think Mr. Lincoln, Mrs. Lincoln, Major Rathbone, Tad Lincoln and
possibly another man and woman were in the box. Mr. Lincoln sat
pretty well toward the front. Laura Keene was on the stage at the
moment playing 'Our American Cousin.'
"I noticed that Mr. Lincoln was laughting at something in the
play. JuBt then I noticed the curtain In the rear of Mr. Lincoln's
box pulled apart and I looked squarely at the man as he came in.
At first I thought he was one of the theater attendants bringing in
a glass of water and decanter, for something shone in each of his
bands.
"Just then a shot rang out and Mr. Lincoln seemed partly to rise
from his Bitting posture andthen sank back and his head lunged
forward and I saw a little trickle of blood running down his cheek..
Mrs. Lincoln screamed and Major Rathbone rose quickly and turned
to aelze the man, who struck at him with a dirk knife and, breaking
loose from Major Rathbone, put one foot on the rail of the front
of the box and sprang toward the stage. His spur caught in the
flag and Booth partly fell on the stage. Laura Keene screamed as
Booth rose to his feet, limping and waving the dagger, spoke out In
a deeply tragic voice, 'Sic Semper Tyrannla,' and then ran toward
the rear of .the stage.
"Some of the boys with me made an effort to get onto the stage
and catch Booth, but they were held back and someone called out
'Be calm, men, be calm; the president is only slightly hurt' The
theater people have caught the assassin.'
"While I have suffered the tortures of the damned from my lost
leg and have had to submit to two partial amputations, I never more
regretted the loss of my leg than that minute. I could have caught
Booth when be started to fall on the stage, for I was an active lad
in those days before my wound. But there I was, helpless. All I
could do wss cry.
"Necessarily I was ons of the last persons to lesve the theater.
Mr. Lincoln had been taken some little time before. ' The curtain
had been lowered In the meanwhile, though It was raised shortly
'afterward, when ene of the theater people cams to the front and said
that Booth had escaped out the back window and had ridden away
on a horse. Soldiers filed In Immediately afterward and took pos
session of the theater."
D
