Evening star. [volume], February 26, 1961, Page 11, Image 147

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
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BALTIMORE A OHIO RAILROAD
Front ontronco to Washington's Baltimore & Ohio Railroad depot
through which the Lincoln party passed on arriving from Baltimore.
Station was located at New Jersey avenue and C street, near Capitol.
tionsl advisors, by all of whom he was grace
fully and cordially greeted....
(By other accounts, the aging over
wrought Buchanan could hardly con
tain his jog. He is said to have ex
claimed to Lincoln at one point: "If you
are as happy. my dear sir, on entering
this house at I am on leaving it and re
turning home, you are the happiest
man on earth.’!
From the President's house the twain
drove to see General Scott (Lt. Gen. Winfield
Scott. General-in-Chief of the Army), with
whom they remained for perhaps Fifteen
minutes....
They returned to the hotel shortly before
12 m . and Mr. Lincoln retired to his chamber
to rest, giving directions that he was not then
prepared to receive any of the numerous
crowd of intensely interested friends, who had
been kicking their shins in the hotel hall for
some hours in the hope of getting earliest in
terviews with him. Taking the hint, the latter
soon made themselves scarce, and a quarter of
an hour after his return to the hotel its main
lounging hall was actually emptier than we
had seen it before during the current session
of Congress. . .
(The above report, carried by The Star on
the day of Lincoln’s arrival, gave way on Monday
(Sunday being a non-publishing day) to a number
of delayed and conflicting reports and turmitet
gleaned from out-of-town newspapers concerning
the mysterious last leg of Lincoln's journey. These
accounts were strung out over two columns ]
The Evening Star. Monday. February 25
The Trip of Mr. Lincoln from Harrisburg
to Washington-The Passage through
Baltimore-Sensation Reports
The prevailing feeling excited by Mr.
Lincoln's quiet passage through Baltimore
was one of relief and of gratification, though
expressions of disappointed curiosity were
frequently heard. The injudicious determina
tion of certain political friends of the Presi
dent-elect ... to mark his arrival with a public
demonstration had excited . . . stern opposi
tion, which it was feared would manifest itself
in acts which . . . might . . . have been mis
construed into a personal affront to the Presi-
dent, and so have reflected discreditably upon
the good repute of Baltimore. The action,
therefore, of Mr. Lincoln, in disappointing
alike the purposes of his political friends and
public curiosity, was a simple and practical
avoidance of what might have been an occa
sion of disorder ...
Ample precautions were adopted to
guard against any violation of the public
peace. A large police force was detailed for
duty at the depot, and to protect the President
and his suite on their passage through the
streets against the turbulent pressure of the
crowds which he experienced in other cities
...; and these measures of Marshal (Joseph P.)
Kane . . would certainly have secured Mr.
Lincoln from insult, had such been intended.
THE ROUTE OF THE PRESIDENTELECT
TO WASHINGTON.
It appears that Mr. Lincoln did not reach
this city (Baltimore) by the Northern Central
Railroad, but came... byway of Philadelphia.
The Harrisburg Telegraph of Saturday after
noon says:
1 After the strongest solicitation from promi
nent gentlemen and military men at Wash
ington. Mr. Lincoln was finally induced . . .
to leave this city (Harrisburg! by a special
train for Philadelphia, and from thence direct
for Baltimore and Washington. He reached
Philadelphia just in time to enter a sleeping
car on the Baltimore road, and he passed over
it without attracting attention. Many may sup-
The William Mason, sister of
the locomotive that pulled
Lincoln's train to Washington.
SUNDAY. THE STAR MAGAZINE. WASHINGTON. D. C.. FEBRUARY 26. 1H«1
WARD HILL LAMON
Personal friend who traveled
with Lincoln on train trip.
ALLAN PINKERTON
Detective who served os Lincoln's
bodyguard on journey.
pose that he ought not to have taken the advice
of friends; but if they were acquainted with
such facts as have been presented to us. they
would think otherwise, and we are glad at
his safe arrival at Washington ...
[The editors seemed reluctant to be
lieve the following "sensation" story,
but published it nonetheless.]
The New York Times has the following
startling dispatch from Harrisburg, the su
preme fallacy of which may be seen from the
fact that Mr. Lincoln sends his family down by
the same train which was to be thrown off the
track and the survivors murdered on their
way to Baltimore:
HARRISBURG, Feb. 23.-8 am.-Abraham
Lincoln, the President-elect of the United
States, is safe in the Capital of the Nation. By
the admirable arrangement of General Scott,
the country has been spared the lasting dis
grace, which would have fastened indelibly
upon it had Mr. Lincoln been murdered upon
his journey thither, as he would have been
had he followed the programme as announced
in the papers, and gone by the Northern
Central Railroad to Baltimore (a more direct
route from Harrisburg).
On Thursday night, after he had retired,
Mr. Lincoln was aroused and informed that
a stranger desired to see him on a matter of
life or death. He declined to admit him unless
he gave his name, which he at once did. Such
prestige did the name carry, that while Mr.
Lincoln was yet disrobed, he granted an inter
view to the caller. (Presumably Frederick
Seward, son of William Seward.) A prolonged
conversation elicited the fact that an organ
ised body of men had determined that Mr. Lin
coln should never leave . . . Baltimore alive,
if. indeed, he ever entered it.
The list 0f... conspirators presented the
most astonishing array of persons high in
Southern confidence, and some whose fame is
. - -
Vanity Fair cartoon derides
flight in "disguise" through
Baltimore early February 23.
not to this country alone. Statesmen laid the
plan, bankers indorsed it, and adventurers
were to carry it into effect As they understood
Mr. Lincoln was to leave Harrisburg at nine
o'clock this morning by special train, and the
idea was, if possible, to throw the cars from
the road at some point where they could rush
down a steep embankment and destroy in a
moment the lives of all on board. In case 0f...
failure . . . their plan was to surround the
carriage on the way from depot to depot in Balti
more and assassinate him with dagger or pistol.
So authentic was the source from which
the information was obtained that Mr. Lincoln,
after counseling his friends, was compelled
to make arrangements ... to subvert the
plans...
Mr. Lincoln did not want to yield ... but
Mrs. Lincoln, seconded by . . . Mr. Lincoln's
original informant, insisted upon it, and at
9 o'clock Mr. Lincoln left on a special train.
He wore a Scotch plaid cap and a very long
military cloak, so that he was entirely un
recognizable ...
(Miss Dorothea Lynde Dix, social
reform crusader and anient Union
loyalist, Detective Pinkerton and
others had become convinced that the
secessionist element in slaveholding *
Maryland’s biggest city intended to
assassinate the President-elect. Reach
ing the same conclusion, official Wash
ington insisted that Lincoln change
his announced route by returning to
Philadelphia and slipping through
Baltimore from that direction. Lincoln
told a historian three years later that
he had left Harrisburg wearing a soft
wool hat given to him earlier on the trip
and an old overcoat. Whether these
were a "disguise" remains in doubt. ~
The important thing is that he made
it safely to Washington.]
Continued Ml
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