A Heist Gone Wrong

It is election night 1876 and Rutherford B Hays the Republican nominee for president faces of against Samuel J. Tilden the Democrat.  Although the race, won by Hays, has been controversial, the election was just a distraction for the events that would unfold at Oakridge Cemetery.  You see, this isn’t your average cemetery as Oakridge houses the remains of the slain President Abraham Lincoln.  What does the Presidents body and the election of 1876 have to do with each other? To answer this question, we must travel back in time to a month earlier.  It is October and a prominent Chicago counterfeiter named Benjamin Boyd was arrested in his shop and sentenced to 10 years at the Joliet Penitentiary.  This was bad news for the counterfeiting operations and his accomplices wanted him out of prison.  As a result, a plan was hatched by an Irish crime boss named Jim Kinealy to steal Lincoln’s body and hold it for ransom in exchange for releasing Boyd with a full pardon and $200,000 in cash.     

This elaborate scheme can’t be pulled off by himself, so Kinealy enlisted two of his men a Terrance Mullen and a Jack Hughes.  As the three conspirators was discussing a plan at a local pub, they were overheard by a man named Lewis Swegles.  After a lengthy conversation and a few rounds, Swegles convinced the others to let him in on the action.  What Kinealy and his team did not know was Swegles was an informant to a relatively new agency of the government called the secret service.  As some do not know, long before the Secret Service protected prominent politicians, they protected the currency from the likes of counterfeiters.

Soon after Swegles joined the “heist” he informed the secret service of the plan.  This type of investigation and sting operation is outside the expertise of the Secret Service.  The Secret Service enlisted the help of a private detective agency called the Pinkerton Detective agency led by a man named Allan Pinkerton.  The Pinkerton agency would later become famous for the work on union strikes and outlaws in the old west.  The heist was set for the 7^th of November, election night.  The conspirators assumed there would less change getting caught if they carried out their plan while everyone was at the polls.

The heist starts out promising as Lincolns tomb lacks security and has a single chain lock on the gate.  Kinealy and his team easily break in and access the tomb.  The team proceeds to open the marble sarcophagus and attempted to pull out the casket of Lincolns body, but its stuck.  What Kinealy did not know was the Secret Service and the Pinkertons were waiting for the conspirators to get their hands on the coffin.  Once the sarcophagus broke it was the point of no return. It was at this point Swegles gives the detectives a signal by going outside the tomb and whispering the word “wash”.  Call it intuition of a feeling, Kinealy and his team pulled out of the tomb and aborted the mission without the body.  What happened next was chaos when a Pinkerton agent fired his gun by accident and the Pinkerton’s started firing at each other.  The firing continues for the next few minutes creating confusion and disorientation.  After the smoke had cleared, Lincolns body remained but was part way out of the sarcophagus and in the confusion the conspirators had gotten away.

Fortunately, the conspirators were tracked down and arrested at the same pub they had planned the heist in the first place.  This grave robbing attempt gave serious questions to the security of Lincolns body.  Lincolns tomb was built rather quicky and poorly as it was starting to fall apart sink into the earth.  It was decided a new tomb would be built which would be more stable and secure.  The new tomb was completed in 1901.  By this time Mary and three of the Lincoln children had passed and the decision was made to bury all the Lincolns together under 10 feet of concrete inside the new tomb.  Only Robert Lincoln is not buried in the tomb as he is resting in the Arlington National Cemetery. Millions of people visit the tomb every year.  Some question as the weather Lincons remains are in the tomb itself.  I’m sure it’s safe to say Lincoln safe and resting peacefully in his tomb.             

Sources:

A plot to steal the remains of President Lincoln (U.S. National Park Service). (n.d.). https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/a-plot-to-steal-the-remains-of-president-lincoln.htm