Shortly after nine o'clock Saturday morning the remains were placed in a temporary coffin, under the direction of Mr. Frank Sands, and removed to the White House, six young men of the Quartermaster's department carrying the body to the house...Immediately on the guard being removed, a rush was made toward the house occupied during the night by the President. (WASHINGTON CHRONICLE April 16, 1865 )

Coins allegedly placed over Lincoln's eyes after his death at the Petersen's house (CHS X.94).

President Lincoln's deathbed. Photograph by Petersen's boarder Julius Ulke, April 15, 1865 (ICHi-11209).
Petersen angrily threw one of the bloody pillows out the window and then decided to charge admission to the uninvited visitors.

Julius Ulke, an upstairs boarder at the Petersen house, had photographed Lincoln's deathbed a few minutes after the president's body was removed. Shortly thereafter, pandemonium broke loose.

Landlord William Petersen, absent while the president lay dying, returned to find souvenir hunters pushing their way through the doors. Blood, mud, and mustard plasters littered his house.

An Evening at Ford's Theatre
Vigil at the Petersen's House
The Earthly Remains
His son Fred cut up the president's shirt, bloody sheets, and towels to distribute among the relic seekers. (KUNHARDT AND KUNHARDT, Twenty Days 97)

I was engaged nearly all Sunday with one of Frank Leslie's special artists, aiding him in making a complete drawing of the last moments of Mr. Lincoln... Everybody has a great desire to obtain some memento from my room, so that whoever comes in has to be closely watched for fear they will steal something. I have a lock of Mr. Lincoln's hair, which I have had neatly framed; also a piece of linen with a portion of his brain. (OLDROYD 37)

Silver half-dollars were placed over the president's eyes, and government undertaker Frank Sands arrived to prepare Lincoln's body for the journey home to the White House.
Relics attributed to the Petersen's house including wallpaper removed by a newspaper artist (CHS 148-1H) and a floorboard souvenir.
Hundreds called daily to visit tenant William Clark's room where Lincoln died. Clark wrote:
Relics attributed to the Petersen's house, including pillow and towel fragments (CHS XA-1204,1481-4H), and a bolster pillow (CHS 1925.10).