THE THEFT THAT ALMOST WAS

For the next two years following the dedication of the memorial in October 1874, Lincoln rested peacefully in his marble sarcophagus on the cold, crypt floor of his newly minted memorial. The only barrier that separated him from the outside world was a simple iron gated door. Visitors who looked through the intricate iron work of the door saw Lincoln’s beautiful marble sarcophagus resting in the middle of the crypt. On the face of it it seemed like an ideal arrangement for the remains of the 16th President, but it did raise an interesting question: Would there have been any benefit to having a more secure crypt entrance? Well, yes, but no. The remains were accessible for some ghoulish body snatcher but who would dare journey to the memorial to vandalize and desecrate Lincoln’s sarcophagus and attempt to steal his remains? Concern for such a horrendous, venal act was practically nil as there had been no indication, suspicion, or a scintilla of evidence to support it. In short, there simply was not a need for a more secure room. At the time of the memorial’s construction, who could have predicted the nefarious plot that was nearly successful in stealing Lincoln’s remains in the fall of 1876? But prior to this attempt there were two failed attempts and one revealed plot that was more of an fleeting idea.

The first attempt, more like idea, originated in Springfield and was hatched by a lawyer. He devised a scheme to steal Lincoln’s body, “conveying it to the South” or beyond, and hoping for a ransoptm to return the body. The lawyer attempted to involve two local men, one a mechanic, the other a telegraph operator, but the men backed out and the lawyer along with his plot faded into obscurity. How it came to be known is not entirely certain but likely the two men he attempted to recruit for his plan were the source.

The second plot involved a man by the name of James B. Kinealy, a counterfeiter known by some as “Big Jim Kinelly,” who served time for his illegal trade at Joliet Penitentiary just outside Chicago. After his release, he moved to St. Louis where he joined a livery shop, partnering with counterfeiters and engravers. It was during this period Kinealy came up with an idea to come into a hefty monetary sum by scheming to steal Lincoln's remains by breaking into the crypt room of the memorial, remove his coffin from the sarcophagus through damage and desire, ferry it across the countryside in a wagon to the Sangamon River bottoms, and “bury it in a gravel bar undr a bridge.” The small band of counterfeiters turned grave robbers would then split up and wait for a monetary reward to be offered, or, if necessary, negotiate its return to the memorial.

Kinealy was quite intent on securing Lincoln’s remains. To that end, he devised quite the scheme to facilitate his plan by extending his counterfeiting operation into Springfield, which, in turn, would serve as cover to put into action his plot to steal Lincoln’s remains. In March 1876, five of Kinelly’s associates from his counterfeit gang in Lincoln arrived in Springfield. The men rented a room located on Jefferson Street in the proximity of downtown Springfield and turned it into a saloon with the top room serving as a dance parlor. Of the five men, one would act as the owner and serve as bartender. The saloon would serve as a useful front for Kinealy’s counterfeiting operation but would also serve as a useful base of operations to plot the theft of Lincoln’s remains without arousing suspicion. In the weeks that followed, the five men, and its possible there were others involved, made several trips to Oak Ridge Cemetery to canvass Lincoln’s gravesite, inquire with the custodian about its layout, and glean whatever useful information they could from whatever sources they could access. Come early June 1876, the plan was solidified and Monday, July 3 was selected as the date to act. After removing the coffin from the sarcophagus and securing it in a wagon, it would be taken to the Sangamon River two miles north of town, bury it in a shallow grave under a bridge, and then await the reward to be made by the authorities. Why July 3? The thinking was that when news broke of the theft on July 4 the outcry would be tremendous and elicit a thunderous response and with it, an ample reward for the return of Lincoln’s remains.

A few weeks before they carried out the plan, one of the members of the gang of five, excited at the prospect of scoring a huge ransom, drank to the point of excess. In one of those fortunate twists of fate mixed with the less than salubrious effects of alcohol he recited the plan to a local brothel madam. Word of the plan made it to the editor of a Lincoln, Illinois newspaper who relayed the information to Springfield's Chief of Police, Abner Wilkinson. The chief reported the plot to the memorial custodian, John Carroll Power, who in turn relayed it to the executive members of the NLMA (National Lincoln Monument Association), a group of men responsible for overseeing the memorial. They dismissed the claim on grounds of it being simply too unbelievable to take seriously. Reluctance of the NLMA aside, the jig was up, the saloon was emptied, and Kinealy dropped his plans and left town. According to the first Lincoln memorial custodian J.C. Power, the gang of five hatched another plan to steal the remains of the Lincoln.

In the fall of 1876, another attempt to steal Lincoln’s remains was hatched by a group of eight to nine men and women thought to be from Kinealy’s counterfeit gang from Mt. Pulaski, Logan County, a hotbed of counterfeit activity, thirty miles northeast of Springfield. The Lincoln memorial crypt would be accessed, the sarcophagus opened, and the coffin removed. The coffin would be carried down the hill leading away from the crypt and loaded into a wagon. Then, using three relay teams, the coffin was to be taken north to a cave located in the Salt Creek hills known as “a wild, weird place, where many murders had been committed,” eight or nine miles outside of Mt. Pulaski. Fortunately, this plot never materialized, but its failure was not the end of the attempts to steal Lincoln’s remains.

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The nearly successful plot to steal Lincoln’s remains and the efforts to prevent it can be connected to the undercover work of Lewis Swegles, an informant of U.S. Secret Service agent Patrick D. Tyrrell. In August 1876, Swegles informed Tyrrell of the location of known counterfeiter Jack Hughes. Two days after receiving the information, Tyrrell, acting on Swegles information, arrested Hughes at Chicago’s Hub saloon; however, one month later he was released on bond and, despite being arrested, returned to the Hub saloon. Swegles followed, and at the Hub saloon he spoke with Hughes and Hub operator Terrence Mullens. Through their conversations, Swegles hinted to the men that he was involved in horse theft and had served time in a western state prison but felt that counterfeiting was a more viable and lucrative enterprise. For whatever reason and emanating from an unknown source of confidence and trust, the two men told Swegles that they too were involved in counterfeiting but that they had devised a plot to steal a body from a Wisconsin cemetery in exchange for money from a wealthy family and their friends and had Swegles check into the possible consequences of their crime. He told them their plan was not worth the effort and eventually it was dropped.

Swegles must have been a master manipulator and/or a consummate undercover professional because in a short period of time, Hughes and Mullens felt comfortable enough with Swegles to inform him of their intention to steal Lincoln’s remains. Hughes and Mullens explained that their intent for stealing Lincoln’s remains was to give them a massive bargaining chip to force the release of their associate and master money engraver, Benjamin Boyd, who was serving time at Joliet Penitentiary; as an added bonus a ransom of $200,000 to $300,000 would be demanded in exchange for the remains. Once secured, the coffin would be taken by carriage and driven by Billy Brown who was also a paid informant, to the Indiana sand-hills along the shores of Lake Michigan where it would be hidden until Boyd was released and the ransom received.1 Boyd would be made aware of the plot and talk to the Illinois governor to negotiate his release. In late October 1876, Swegles relayed the plot to Tyrrell, who then relayed the plot to James Brooks, head of the Secret Service. After divulging the plot, Tyrrell had Swegles return to the Hub Saloon and agree to join the men in their plot.

On Thursday, October 26, 1876, Tyrrell, Swegles, and attorney C.W. Dean discussed additional details of the plot. Swegles informed them that one of the gang members travellewd to St. Louis to work on arrangements while two other men travelled to Springfield to survey the memorial and gather intelligence on the exact location of Lincoln’s remains and the layout of the memorial grounds. Tyrrell later spoke with Leonard Sweet, friend of the former president, and the former president’s son, Robert Lincoln. One of the two men sent a telegram to John Stuart, chair of the NLMA’s executive committee, detailing the plot to steal Lincoln’s coffin and remains and recommended that the memorial be guarded. Stuart, in turn, had memorial custodian Power station watchmen at the memorial. Meanwhile, Hughes and his men settled on the night of Tuesday, November 7, the presidential election, to carry out the plot to steal the remains with the idea the national election might serve as a distraction to draw attention away from them. Later, on Thursday night, October 26, Tyrell met with Robert Lincoln, Dean, and ex-secret service agent Elmer Washburn to secure their assistance to foil the plot. Tyrrell later hired John McDonald, a detective from the Illinois Humane Society, and John McGinn and George Hay of Pinkerton detectives. On Monday morning, November 6, Hughes, Mullens, and Swegles, along with another associate, took a train from Chicago to Springfield. Little did Hughes and Mullens know that Tyrrell and two of his men were riding on the same train, sitting in the last car; McDonald and Washburn left the next morning.

In Springfield, the Hughes gang took up residence at the St. Charles Hotel (since been razed) while Tyrrell and his men stayed at the nearby St. Nicholas Hotel (it’s still in use but now serves as an apartment building). Stuart and Tyrell then went to the Lincoln memorial and informed Power to assist Tyrell by answering any questions brought up by Hughes’ men in their quest to find out the particulars of the memorial. For Hughes, the plan was simple. Break in the crypt room, open the sarcophagus, take out the coffin, load it onto a carriage, and disappear into the night. Swegles’ role involved bringing additional help and a carriage to the memorial.

On Monday afternoon, Hughes and one of his assistants visited the memorial while Mullens gathered tools (he procured an ax from a German saloon) needed to break open the marble sarcophagus. Later that day, Washburn, his secretary, John English, and John McDonald arrived in Springfield. Tyrrell's team, along with Swegles, met at the St. Nicholas Hotel to discuss plans for later that night and how they were to foil Hughes and his men. The plan would be as follows: Tyrrell's team would be stationed at the memorial inside the front hall, waiting for Hughes’ team to arrive. Once Hughes and his assistants entered the crypt room and began their work on extricating the coffin from the sarcophagus, Swegles would then walk to the memorial hall door and give the code word “wash,” signaling to Tyrrell that Hughes and Mullens were working on the sarcophagus. Then, at a select time, Tyrell and his men would exit the hall, walk around the memorial to the crypt room, and subdue Hughes and Mullens. As an added degree of security, Washburn's secretary, English, would be positioned within the memorial’s inner halls, under the terrace, next to the crypt room, to alert the rest of the party to any noise coming from Hughes’ team while they attempted to break into the sarcophagus. For all intent and purposes, it was a solid plan.

By 6:00 PM, Tuesday night, November 7, Oak Ridge Cemetery, located on the northern outskirts of town was falling under a blanket of darkness, the myriad white marble headstones and obelisks fading from view, like a ship slipping under the water’s surface, only to be cast in soft moonlight as the night progressed. Back in Springfield, Tyrrell had already sent Swegles to meet up with Hughes and Mullens. At 7:00 PM, Hay and Powers arrived at the memorial, joining English who was already stationed in the memorial’s interior service area under the terrace. Shortly thereafter, Tyrrell and the rest of the team entered the memorial mall, cast in dark but warm and comfortable from the steam coming through the grates. Once the men were inside Powers fastened the doors, composed of two shutters, one of iron rods the other of wood and glass, covered with a “white cloth screen” to lessen their chances of being discovered. They then formed a human chain of sorts and walked through the memorial’s inner hallways under the terrace and found English sitting against a two-foot-thick wall of brick and concrete, his role being to notify Tyrell when the Hughes and Mullens began their work on Lincoln’s sarcophagus. After the men examined the area around English, they returned to the memorial mall, leaving the lit lamps behind to light the way for English, and took their positions on the floor and waited, with Tyrrell waiting by the front doors, careful to remain shielded from detection but still able to look outside.

Nearly three hours later, the soft light of a lantern could be seen swinging back and forth through the white cloth over the glass portion of the memorial mall doors. It was one of Hughes’ men checking to see if anyone was inside. Then, just as soon as the light appeared, it vanished, the sound of footsteps heard walking to the north side of the memorial. Once the Hughes gang entered the crypt, they wasted no time in beginning their devilish work. Swegles stood off to the side of the crypt entrance holding a lantern, while Mullens and Hughes worked on the sarcophagus, the air soon filled with the hard, sharp sound of metal striking marble. When the dust settled, Mullens had broken off the foot of the sarcophagus, exposing the coffin. Its removal would not be easy (a bag was made ready in case the coffin proved too heavy and the remains had to be removed). The coffin was slowly jerked back and forth, right to left, inching out of its marble case. When the coffin was half-way out, Swegles left to retrieve the wagon and the team of men he supposedly had waiting nearby. Once out of site Swegles ran down the north side of memorial hill, rounded his way back towards the south side of the memorial and headed towards the memorial hall doors. By this time the front doors had been unlocked. Swegles appeared at the door, gave the password “wash,” and told Tyrrell that Hughes and Mullens were hard at work. Minutes later, English appeared in the hall and confirmed that Hughes and Mullens were indeed working on the sarcophagus.

The men poured out of the memorial hall (except for Powers who remained inside unaware they had left) and quickly made their way down the side of the memorial with guns drawn. All was going swimmingly well, and the element of surprise was theirs to lose. Well, it so happened they lost the all-important element of surprise when, all of a sudden and quite unexpectedly, one of the guns carried by the furtive men was accidentally fired causing Hughes and Mullens to drop their tools, run out of the crypt, down the hill, and into the night. When Tyrell reached the crypt, he slowly, and cautiously, peered inside. He drew his gun, cocked the hammer, and called out for Hughes and Mullens to surrender. There was no response. He called out again but there was no response. He lit a match and walked inside to find the sarcophagus lid resting against the wall. The foot end of the sarcophagus, having been hacked off, was resting on the floor. Near the entrance were an ax, chisel, pincers, and a broken lock from the gate that guarded the crypt. Incredibly, the coffin was hanging out of the sarcophagus. Once Tyrell discovered that Hughes and Mullens were gone, he headed outside and told Hay and McGinn to search the grounds on the north side of the memorial. Tyrrell then ran back to the memorial hall entrance, put on his boots, told Powers to bring some lanterns, and both men headed out into the cold fall night to help with the search.

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Standing out front of the memorial, Tyrrell ran up one of the staircases to the terrace and made his way to the southwest corner thinking that perhaps Hughes and Mullens were hiding on the terrace. Aided by moonlight, Tyrrell spotted the outlines of two men on the northwest corner of the terrace. He drew his gun and fired, instantly shattering the stillness of the cemetery air. The two men on the opposite side fired back. Then they ran to the northeast corner and Tyrrell followed to the southeast. The two parties then raised their guns, fired, and ran back to the other side. It must have been an impressive and dramatic scene-plumes of orange flame roaring out of gun barrels, illuminating face and body for a split second, followed a split second later by the loud, hard crack of gun powder, all which played out under moonlight over the remains of President Lincoln.

Tyrrell yelled down to Washburn that Hughes and Mullens were trapped on the terrace, hiding by a pedestal, perhaps readying for another round of gunfire. McDonald joined Tyrrell on the terrace, who, thinking the rest of the party had joined, told his men to surround Hughes and Mullens. A voice then came from the pedestal, “Tyrrell, is that you?” No answer. The voice spoke up again, “Tyrrell, for God's sake, answer, is that you shooting us?” The two men who engaged Tyrrell in gunfire were George Hay and John McGinn. As it turns out, when Tyrrell ran back to the memorial hall to retrieve Powers and his boots, McGinn, and Hay, unsuccessful in their search of the grounds, felt the terrace would provide a better vantage point now greatly aided by moonlight. After the gun battle, Tyrell and his men conducted a two-hour search but came up empty. At this point, there was little Tyrell and his men could do but they were successful in foiling the attempt to steal Lincoln's body.

What happened to Hughes and Mullens? According to Powers, when Swegles left to get the non-existent wagon, the two men left the crypt and headed down the hill to an oak tree some thirty yards northwest of the memorial. From that spot, the two men saw an outline of what they thought were two men moving against the memorial wall. Hughes and Mullens, thinking this was the team Swegles had assembled to load the coffin onto the wagon, approached the memorial. As they drew closer, they realized the outline of two men was that of several men. Having no other recourse, Hughes and Mullens retreated into the cemetery, made their way down to a ravine at the base of memorial, headed off into the night and made their way to Chicago. They were home bound, but Tyrell was not far behind.

Just how did Hughes and Mullens manage to remove the heavy sarcophagus lid, break off the end, and pull the coffin halfway out? According to Swegles, the decorative marble topper on the lid was first removed, and placed against the wall; however, despite removing this heavy piece, the lid could not be slid off or turned around because of six rods, three per side, which fit in holes underneath the lid along the top of the coffin that held it in place even though the cement used to secure the lid had crumbled and cracked. To solve the problem Hughes, Mullens, and Swegles lifted the lid over the rods, and turned it crosswise. Mullens then attempted to break off the end of the sarcophagus using an ax, but Swegles told him the cemetery sexton might hear the noise. Using other means, Mullens eventually broke off the end. Two days after the attempt on Lincoln's coffin the marble sarcophagus was fixed and resealed.

Ten days after the attempt, a warrant was issued for the arrest of Hughes and Mullens who were apprehended at their Hub Saloon hangout by Tyrrell and his men. They were sentenced to one year each of hard labor at Joliet Penitentiary. Swegles, though not implicated in the attempted theft, came under a cloud suspicion that he was the mastermind of the plot and Mullens and Hughes were a ruse.

On Wednesday, November 15, the coffin was removed, and the empty sarcophagus was then sealed and left in place in the middle of the crypt. Later that night the coffin was carried from the crypt to the memorial hall and into the fusty inner realm of the memorial. It was placed into a wood box and set into a shallow grave, covered with boards to protect it from water that leaked through the terrace floor (Springfield has a high-water table). Three years later the state of Illinois passed a law formerly penalizing the act of grave robbing. At the time of the theft, grave robbing was a misdemeanor, punishable by a one thousand dollar fine and one-year incarceration.

1 Mullens offered to sink the Lincoln’s coffin in the Sangamon River or bury it in sand on the riverbank.

-Power, John Carroll, ed. History of an Attempt to Steal the Body of Abraham Lincoln. Springfield, Illinois: H.W. Rokker Printing and Publishing House, 1890.

Hughes and Mullens.