Limited showing planned for Lincoln coat

WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- The coat Abraham Lincoln wore the night he was assassinated in 1865 was too fragile for permanent display, Ford Theater officials in Washington say.

The historic theater, undergoing a $50 million renovation, was to have showcased the embroidered blood-stained coat 24 hours a day in observance of the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth next month.

Officials, on second thought, agreed with some textile conservators that the coat was too old, too fragile and too famous for long-term display, The Washington Post said.

Paul Tetreault, the theater's producing director, said the coat would be on display only from the Feb. 11 reopening until April 15. The original then goes back into storage and a replica will replace it.