From the Feb. 19th Pocono (Pa) Record "Famed Lincoln flag takes a commemorative trip" by Jessica Cohen.
The flag at Ford's Theater which was used to cushion Abraham Lincoln's head after the shooting hung for years on a shower rod on the second floor of the Milford Library where the Pike County Historical Society housed their relics.
Presently, it is at The Columns, a 1904 neo-classical mansion on Broad Street, but now it is encased and protected from sunlight.
Last week, police escorted to Jersey City, NJ for the Lincoln Association's annual dinner.
HOW THEY CAME TO GET IT
It was donated to the historical society in 1954 by V. Paul Struthers, whose mother, Jeannie Gourlay Struthers, had acted in the play "Our American Cousin" that night in 1865. Her father Thomas was also in the play and had accompanied when Lincoln was moved across the street to the Peterson House. "According to accounts of the event, to avoid putting Lincoln's head on the floor, someone had taken a flag from the railing near Lincoln's seat and rested his head on it."
Experts have verified the authenticity of it. There are also blood stains as one might expect.
Jeanine Gourley lived most of her life in Milford. Her sons also gave three of her costumes, two of which she likely wore on the night of the assassination. One of them was when she was a poor milk maid, which Lincoln would have seen. She did not have the chance to wear the second one, when she became rich after inheritance.
Both are in bad shape as they were props and made to be altered. A $10,000 figure is thought to be the cost of repairing the dresses.
I Never Heard of This Flag Before. --Old B-Runner
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