"A gentleman that had this property back in the late 50's, early 60's, he called this the civil war cave," says Smallin Cave owner Kevin Bright.
In the early 1960's, Joseph Bulger bought the property, and shared his love of history.
"He was obviously a civil war fan," says Bright.
He included a museum and a train car. Bulger said the train car is the same car that carried President Abraham Lincoln's body in a funeral procession across the country.
"It is an actual 1860's train car. The ends have been verified by train collectors. The top is part of the 1860's train car," says Bright.
The problem is, the actual car burned in a brush fire, in 1911. Newspaper reports say "it was a mass of charred wood and iron."
"It was pretty well destroyed," says Illinois train enthusiast David Kloke.
But, the papers also say members of the public took the charred remains as memento's.
"One day [Bulger] heard about the Lincoln burial car was for sale. He went up to Illinois, searched this out, and found a pile of pieces," says Bright.
In that pile, Bulger found two ends, and a roof. The rest, he reconstructed.
"It's definitely the right period, the right kind of car, everything's correct," says Bright.
"As far as trying to guarantee to anyone that's actually the Lincoln funeral car, I can't. There's probably a 98% probability that it's not the Lincoln car, but there are some remains of an original car," says John Suscheck, a train broker and owner of Ozark Mountain Railcar.
Now, the car's listed for sale. Kloke, who plans to buy it, is building his own reproduction of the Lincoln car.
"It'll live on anyway," laughs Suscheck.
"They're period car ends, and that's why I want them," says Kloke.
Kloke has some bad news for lovers of local lore.
"They would have been built in the same time-frame, but they're not the Lincoln car. I'm positive about that. It's not, I'm sure it's not. It's just a myth," says Kloke.
He says the windows don't match up.
"The trim is not right," says Kloke.
"It started out as a legend, or a gimmick to get people to Smallin cave," says Suscheck.
Gimmick or not, it is a story that lives on.
"What's true, we don't know, but it's a neat story and it is an 1860's train car," says Bright.
Contact: dmagditch@kspr.com
