Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 February 1910 — How Lincoln Played Watchman. [ARTICLE]

How Lincoln Played Watchman.

James Etter, a doorkeeper in the War Department, frequently occupies a chair from which he could not be induced to part, because it was once occupied by Abraham Lincoln when he was President of the United States, although at the tnre he acted as watchman with a badge pinned on the lapel of his coat. Mr. Etter explains the incident by saying: “One day during the war I was sitting here, when a tall, angular gentleman entered the main door and asked if the secretary was in. I told him that it was too early for the - secretary to be in his office. “ ‘At what hour can I depend on finding him here?’ he aske’d. I told him, and with a pleasant ‘Thank you’ he walked away. “Promptly on the hour the tall gentleman ascended the steps, walked in the door, and I was almost struck dumb when he asked me if I would not go into the secretary’s room and ttell him to step out in the hall. I could not leave my post of duty, and even if I could I did not think the secretary would come out to see him. “He replied: *O, I guess he,will, and as for leaving your post, I Will be personally responsible for that. I am Mr. Lincoln, and I will simply take your badge and keep door while you step in for me.’ “Well, I couldn’t doubt him, and he pulled off my badge, pinned it on his coat, and took my chair, just like an old-time watchman. ” 1 , “A smile played over his face as I left him, Sind you can rest assured it was not long before he and the secretary were holding a quiet talk in an out-of-the-way corner in the hall.”—Washington Special.