Among those who were formed in line were the following: James E. Pettit, C. Fred Loomis, Hamilton Young, Ed P. Whitford, Thomas T. Eckert, Samuel Bruch, Jesse H. Bunnell, W. K. Applebaugh, C. D. Hammond, J. C. Van Duzer, Dennis Doren, Anson Stager, G. M. Brush, Eli Cole, H. W. Cowan, J. E. Gamble, Patrick Mullarkey, Douglass Kent, G. D. Sheldon and many others.
“I would like to be among those to escort my young friend to our Tabernacle,” remarked President Lincoln, who could not think of Mr. Tinker in any other light than being “young,” forgetting for the time being that he had not seen the gentleman for more than a half century. But time does not count in eternity. “I remember him so well, and I used to be greatly pleased to call him and his immediate colleagues ‘The Sacred Three.’”
“See, what is that in the sky that looks like a comet?” was asked on all sides. “If this is the Thunderbolt Express it is twelve hours ahead of its record,” and everybody hastened down to the spacious plaza where the big air machine from Earth made her landing.
There was no screeching of whistles or ringing of bells, or cries from the omnipresent hack and cabmen. Instead of such distracting noises came the sound of many voices in patriotic melody, and in the midst of tuneful airs of “Hail Columbia” Charles A. Tinker was welcomed to a temporary abiding place on the planet Mars.
The meeting between President Lincoln and his former confidential operator was joyous, but not affecting, for there is only joy in this haven.
Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Tinker locked arms for a stroll, for both had much to talk about concerning past events. Mr. Tinker verified many of the reports already inscribed on the bulletin board and his patriotic words and spirit evoked a tumult of applause.
The evening was given over to a social demonstration, many of Mr. Tinker’s contemporaries and former employes being in line to say some welcoming words to their old friend.
A committee of Confederate telegraphers during the Civil War, composed of George Ellsworth, David S. Ryan, J. C. Hueston, C. C. Chute, Barney Hughes, David Flanery, J. B. Tree, M. W. Barr, J. W. Kates and others, came around to pay their respects to Mr. Tinker and all distinctions and differences were forgotten.
General Grant, minus his once ever-present cigar, and the noted Sherman brothers, William Tecumseh and John, and many others of note, made an informal call on Mr. Tinker and bid him welcome.
Fred B. Moxon, whom Mr. Tinker recognized as having once been a page in the White House, shook hands with the great cipher operator, Mr. Moxon presenting Mr. Tinker with a deadhead pass over his telepathic wires to Earth.