Show t mm A Washington t zy J I By Dr RODNEY BUTCHER DUTCHER WASHINGTON June 13 The 13 The old Ford theater where Abraham Lincoln Lincoln Lin Lin- coln coin was shot Is being painted and prettied up Its days as a catch-all catch storehouse for the government are over By fall it will wUl have become a federal mu museum eum receiving the re remarkable remarkable re- re collection of relics from the old f firetrap across the street in III which Lincoln died The building hasn't resembled a theater for for many years ears Things were done to it when the government acquired it shortly after the assaSsination assassination nation and about abouL 40 years ago while It was wa-s being used by the adjutant generals general's office I its floors caved in killing kUling a a. score of and in inJuring injuring in- in juring scores more After reconstruction tion it was u used cd to store stare and issue the war departments department's publications and printed matter until about three years ago when hen it came to b be used wed for or general temporary storage by various v bureaus J. and departments MUSEUM l ON GROUND FLOOR Nothing more 1 is heard of or the proposal proposal proposal pro pro- to restore the theater so that it would look as it did on the evening of April 14 1865 Prejudice against rebuilding and perpetuating the setting set set setting ting of or an assassination killed that The ground floor Ioor to be used as the museum is now only one big bare room its ceiling supported by many eq equally ally spaced iron pillars The former former former for for- mer front entrances are arc now large windows except for one Over In a corner at the rear is a n small door corresponding somewhat to the tile exit John Wilkes Wilke Booth took as he fled into what l is now flOW an alle alley to mount the horse horre held for him by Peanuts I Burrows Burrow The whole place is approxImately approximately fireproof and the work on onIt onit onit It has been confined to general re repairs repairs repairs re- re pairs and plenty of painting inside I and out The Th old dirty gray paint ou outside ide was sandblasted and the bricks painted so that they look like new I Present operations are being carried carried car car- ried ned out through the Initiative of Colonel U. U S. S Grant III Ill director of public buildings and grounds Grant was worried about the fire hazard which has hns always threatened collection and POints poj that it can now be successfully t to only eight or nine people at atti a You cant can't watch more than than- many in the present souvenir hunters are always a A quarters quarter's admission will 1111 b be c cat at first in the old theater l congress has not appropriated appropriate money to operate it as a a. mu museum Three years a ago o the gOve governs bought the collect collection ion It contains about t d who died recently nc Civil war veteran and Lincoln Linco who devoted his Ws life and m to the collection He refu refused cral private offers for It The prizes of the collection ar are arc to b be the last thing v Lincoln a wrote brief a a. couple of or applicants f fo far J pass that they needed none to lea the District of Columbia t war was over the Bible which Lh coin read as a boy and which affect affe his literary style importantly various pieces of or furniture from an th tb Lincoln home In Springfield B IlL CONTAINS MANY ITEMS The assortment also contains cont Items as a piece of the fringe th hung over Lincoln's head in inthe the theater the the- the ater that night a small pI piece or of towel used at the deathbed a d rose taken t from the dead m man besom as he lay Jay In death sh sheet et m mui devoted de to Lincoln Lincoln including Including a DO 90 different funeral marches marche a of white ribbon left after dS 0 of the Catafalque about GOO coo which include a hundred ori photographs of the he president f fro froS pages from many newspapers cam carry in ing news of the assassination cor con conof I of mourning badges autographs of ot S members of the military commission I which tried and convicted th the Con ran con a library of hundreds of books of the old WOOd cooking stove from the Lincoln ho and a wheel from the Lincoln carriage Lincoln's own books letters written by Lincoln many political cartoons of the period many mall personal belongings and both life and aM death masks Various additions to the collection have been donated since the govern 1 ment bought it and Colonel Grant says there will be he many good thi things that the tile government I itself el can add ad The house where here Lincoln died now lOW housing the collection probably win will be preserved and restored as n nearly as possible to its appearance 65 years ago o. o |