Show J wAsE Historic Hotel tOj to End Existence I 1 Once Presidents Presidents' Home Clay Died There I Plot Born Bom in It j By RODNEY DUTCHER WASHINGTON N NKA NA A lh ancient National hotel hotti on Penny vanla yanla avenue n which probably ha more historicity l In It than any other hotel in thi th the countr country has hums been been bought by the time government o nt and win 1 bo be torn down sooner or later f for fo 1 tho the sake ko of tho the federal bun building ln ram program J JAll All lI tho thc presidents from Jacic Jackson to Lincoln sl slept pt there thero at one time or another John Wilkes likes Booth thero there plott plotted d tho time assassination of ot Lincoln Henry Clay spent nt his ji last Wt days das and died there antI and In ia th the same samo place James Buchanan was Wall nearly killed b by sewer fewer gas gaa Jenny Jeany JennyLind Lind Dickens Thackeray Anthony and many others stayed at the National and its Is bar ballroom and banquet rooms were familiar r to tg Calhoun Webster and Hayne JUST A ANOTHER OTHER HOTEL NOW For years ears now the tho National has ha been just ono one of or tho time old and decrepit decrepit de dl hoteN on the avenue though tho limo government will pay for it H. Tho Timo District of at Columbia national guard will u use o tIme tho pl ce aa headquarters for tor awhile and then It will b be razee razed and the time site tte used for a a. now municipal l center for Washington John Gadsby who often oCten ale an and drank with George Georgo Washington at et his famous tavern In near nearly nearby Alexandria J Alex andria andrla Va Ya came here hele and tho tIme National in 1827 i Andrew Jackson moved moed in he camo came to 0 be he inaugurated In 1829 9 receiving hundreds of or visitors and nij devising his cabinet there In the evening g after his inauguration h hI ho dined in his rooms rooms with J hn C C. C Calhoun who was to become hi 11 his bitter blUel enemy p. p It must havo been a picturesque scene for candles supplied sup sup- plied pUM tho the light t From m timo to time timo the time hotel was lII enlarged An annex was built for tor per personal onal slaves President-elect President and Mrs Polk were there before tho the inauguration of oC 18 15 and bo so was George 31 M. Dal i las elected vice president who while lillo staying In tho ho hotel acc accepted pled a m. m challenges challenge tl to a L duel dud uel which waa only averted b by Polk's Intervention At the tIme outset o of the time Zachar Zachary Tai Ta- Ta lot lor administration beginning g in 18 1849 I Henry Clay then In his imla seventies sev enties came to con congress re s for th the last time as senator Ho lived in Itt suite mite 3 32 at tho the National a parlor and bedroom Tho The parlor became fa famous fa- fa famous mou in tho the old mans man's last days for many visited him ther there Time The winter of or 5 1851 was wu a 3 bid Md on one ona and amI day Clay d developed a a. hard c cold ld being confined indoors nearly aUth all til th time tho time Late In April he wired his son who ho was as at his M bedside sl e ewhen when he ho died on the tho tw twenty nt His Ills la last t. t words word after fler hi he h had d lied called for water and gr grasped ped hl his hi sons son's hand were verc I 1 believe my son I am going oln A MURDER IN 1851 John m Wilkes Booth the actor described dC de scribed b 1 by Benjamin Poor Poors j jas as convivial in iii his lila habits sprightly spright ly Iy and nd genial In conversation and a a. favorite among tho tue ladles ladies at the National lived lIed in room 28 during durin- April 1865 1365 lIe He shot hot Lincoln In Fords Ford's theatre a fc few blocks a away ay ayon i on the tho night of oC tho ho fourt fourteenth of ot that month and there thero is 18 no doubt that details of or tIme the plot were worked 1 out in room 8 Somo Some of or the th conspirators con con- con visited him there there- thereIn In fri the days s preceding tho the a assassination 1 Time The hotel had a a. sensational murder mur mur- 1 i der in derIn In 1851 when hen Edward H. H Fuller I proprietor or of the Willard hotel v wa wa-s. wa shot eliot in the time lobby by Lieutenant j James W. W S whom wham he had whipped and publicly denounced de tie because of or n mm unpaid board bill In tho time ladies ladies' salon S Senator Zach Zach- Chandler of Michigan and nd Daniel DanielS' DanielS W. W of oC Indiana denied df 1 nied a L seat in congress for tor alleged disloyalty all during tho the Civil war var met In a combat which set ct arlo various andl d distinguished ladles ladle heel fleeing mig t shriek shriek- In lug Ing and amid fainting crashed down dorm on Chandlers Chandler's head with a hea heavy glass d decanter anter and Chandler smashed a chair on tho time head of ef r After Arter th-jt th It was a a. fiStfight fiSt fight ending In iii a n draw drais' Chandler Dickens described tho the hotel and Its life liCe in il-i the tIme MOs In his American Notes J |