Lincoln, the unknown

LINCOLN THE UNKNOWN • 123a few minutes later an engine was whirling him away to Philadelphia,and the telegraph wires in Harrisburg were cut at onceso that the information would not be relayed to the would-beassassins.At Philadelphia, his party had to wait for an hour to changetrains and stations. In order to prevent recognition during thattime, Lincoln and Allan Pinkerton, the famous detective, droveabout the streets of the city in a darkened cab.At 10:55, leaning on Pinkerton's arm and stooping so asnot to draw attention to his height, Lincoln entered the stationby a side door. He carried his head bent forward and had his oldtraveling shawl drawn close so that it almost covered his face.In that guise, he crossed the waiting-room and made his wayto the rear section of the last sleeping-car on the train, whichone of Pinkerton's aides, a woman, had had cut off from therest of the car by a heavy curtain and reserved for her "invalidbrother."Lincoln had received scores of threatening letters, declaringthat he would never live to enter the White House, and GeneralWinfield Scott, Commander-in-Chief of the Army, fearedthat Lincoln would be shot during the inaugural address—andso did thousands of others.Many people in Washington were afraid to attend the ceremony.So old General Scott had sixty soldiers stationed under theplatform at the east portico of the Capitol from which Lincolnread his inaugural address; and he had soldiers standing onguard in the Capitol behind the President, and soldiers encirclingthe audience in front of him. And after the ceremony,the new President stepped into a carriage and rode back throughPennsylvania Avenue under the protection of buildings coveredwith sharpshooters in green coats, and between rows of infantrymenwith bristling bayonets.When he finally reached the White House without a bullet inhis heart, many people were surprised.Others were disappointed.For several years prior to 1861 the nation had been strugglingunder a financial depression. Suffering had been so intensethat the Government had been compelled to send troopsto New York City to prevent hungry mobs from breaking intothe sub-Treasury.