Stealing Lincoln's Body

by Thomas J. Craughwell

Book Overview

On the night of the presidential election in 1876, a gang of counterfeiters out of Chicago attempted to steal the entombed embalmed body of Abraham Lincoln and hold it for ransom. This text returns to this bizarre, and largely forgotten, event and places the grave robbery in historical context.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0674024583
• ISBN13: 9780674024588
• Release Date: April 2007
• Publisher: Belknap Press
• Length: 250 Pages
• Weight: 1.06 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.8" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

history that reads like a novel

If history is a mighty river, this book is about one of the smaller eddies. Books of this type can be great fun and provide a view that you seldom see. We all know the story of Lincoln's murder, state funeral and the train to Springfield. What we do not know is the story of Lincoln's body, how Springfield tried to capitalize on it and how it came to a final resting place. Along the way, the author treats us to a short history of the Secret Service, Counterfeiting, Lincoln's wife and son. This is included in a look at the underworld in Illinois, manners and morals. These little side trips place the main story in the larger picture providing a more complete story. The main story is what happened to Lincoln's body from 1865 to 1901. The attempt to steal the body, while important, is only part of the story. Springfield's attempts to make a tourist attraction and Mary Lincoln's plans collide at once. Robert Lincoln is detached but involved making him a question mark for history. Lincoln's associates, Springfield's leading citizens, members of the underworld, fear, greed and respect all combine in history that reads like a novel. This is an easy and fun read. The author has a very readable style that can move from subject to subject with few problems. He has the ability to produce word portraits of the people that make them understandable. This is well worth reading for Civil War buffs, Lincoln admirers and those that enjoy history.

Lots of History Surrounding a Macabre Crime

Bungling thieves who fail in an attempted heist, and bungling cops who eventually catch them, might seem to be improbable subjects for a detailed book on the whole botched affair. There is no lack of interesting detail, however, in _Stealing Lincoln's Body_ (Belknap / Harvard). Thomas J. Craughwell has illuminated a bizarre crime, and has also cast light on many subjects that would seem unconnected to it but all of which are brought in to play their parts. The crime itself was a petty affair, not just a failure; it was hardly even begun before it was halted. Craughwell's spirited story, however, takes in the history of counterfeiting and embalming in America, grave robbing, the founding of the Secret Service, the rural cemetery movement, the Pullman strikes, and much more. It is a tribute to Craughwell's narrative skill that this story of a small, ghoulish, thwarted crime can hold all the digressions and show how the diverse themes are all connected. Craughwell's story starts with Lincoln's death. Even if there had been no grave-robbing, Lincoln's was among the best travelled and most fussed-over of cadavers, so there is a description of the history of embalming here, and of the body's travels to Springfield, Illinois. Then Craughwell gives us the history of American counterfeiting, an activity that was busily pursued long before we had our own currency. The reason that this is a justifiable digression in the story is that it was counterfeiters that plotted the theft of Lincoln's corpse, and the Secret Service that took charge of bringing them in. A big crook hired minor crooks for the job of getting Lincoln's corpse for ransom, and they took on a small-time crook to help them in their effort, only he was a stool-pigeon for the Secret Service which had been put on alert after the first conspirators fled. Thus, on election day in 1876, the conspirators took the tour of the Lincoln mausoleum, with the custodian fully aware of who they were and why they were there. They returned that night, ill-equipped to saw through the one padlock that secured the place, and when they finally got in and broke into the sarcophagus, they found the lead and cedar coffin too heavy to carry. They were relieved from having to do so by the Secret Service which was lying in wait for them in stocking feet so that their footsteps didn't echo in the tomb chamber. Unfortunately, one of the detectives accidentally fired his pistol, alerting the would-be grave robbers who got away. This left the lawmen nothing to do but engage in a futile hunt within the cemetery, and along the way mistakenly shoot at each other, with aim fortunately as bad as the rest of their night's doings. No one was hurt. The perpetrators were eventually caught and imprisoned in Joliet prison. The wild story of the attempted theft in the graveyard was buried beneath the bigger story of the attempted theft (by both Republicans and Democrats) of the Tilden / Hayes election. Also, the sto

Love This Book!

I had just finished American Brutus and was hungry for more on the subject when I came across this charming and extremely well told narrative of the plot to steal Lincoln's body. Mr. Craughwell has a pitch perfect ear, capturing both the tragedy of the assassination and the rollicking comedy of a young country where enterprise and illegality often overlapped. Counterfeit wampum, the tricks of the embalming trade, the excesses of tabloid journalism...this is the kind of book that gets you hooked on history for life and delights those of us who got hooked so many years ago.

A Wild Ride through the Dark Side of Late 19th Century America

American history is literally packed with oddball characters and bizarre storylines so strange that no one would ever believe them -- if it weren't for the documentary proof. "Stealing Lincoln's Body" is another excellent example of this genre we might call "Stranger than Fictionistory." If you enjoyed books like "The Devil in the White City" and "The Shakespeare Riots," you won't want to miss this little gem. On one level, it's about a gang of criminal misfits who tried to steal Abraham Lincoln's body from his tomb in Springfield, Illinois, in order to set free an imprisoned comrade. On a higher level, it's about the vast criminal underworld that circulated around America during the mid- to late-19th century. We're talking counterfeiters, murderers, con men, thieves, roughnecks, prostitutes and grave robbers. In some areas, like the immigrant neighborhoods of west Chicago, the boundary line between "respectable citizen" and conniving rogue was often non-existent. Tavern owners frequently collaborated with felons when they weren't collaborating with the cops or corrupt local politicians. You've heard of "The Wild West." This book could be subtitled "The Wild Midwest." Along the way, we learn fascinating details about 19th century burial practices, the birth of the Secret Service and rapid advances in counterfeiting technology, not to mention the grizzly details of grave robbing for profit. If you have the patience to get through Craughwell's long "set up" (about 90 pages), the payoff is definitely worth it as the story progresses from the marbled halls of Washington to the dank hovels of working-class life in 1870s Illinois. No, Craughwell isn't the greatest popular historian on Earth and he does sometimes stumble, but for the most part this is one incredibly fun read and it certainly would make a fantastic movie. I nominate Jack Nicholson for the lead role. Enjoy!

A peripatetic corpse.....

Many people do not know the historical story of the burial of Abraham Lincoln. The body itself was moved numerous times. In 1876 the body was almost abducted to be held for ransom. As fascinating as the assassination of Lincoln, the body and its whereabouts is an even more amazing story. I learned a lot from this book and the tragic retelling of these events. (Ultimately the body was buried in a cage and covered with thousands of pounds of cement--23 people viewed the corpse's head to ensure it was Lincoln) Its said that a million visitors go to see the Lincoln burial site. This is a must read!!!