Speaker 1: You're listening to American Shadows, a production of I Heart
Speaker 1: Radio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Minky. His footsteps
Speaker 1: echoed as he walked to the White House hallway. As
Speaker 1: he did, he heard the sound of sobbing from the
Speaker 1: East Room. Inside, among the lace curtains partially covered by
Speaker 1: heavy crimson damask, drapery soldiers stood guard, and there, beneath
Speaker 1: the painted ceilings and massive crystal chandeliers, a crowd of
Speaker 1: mourners gathered around a body, mostly shouted in cloth. The
Speaker 1: soldiers he had expected, after all, the room had frequently
Speaker 1: hosted Union troops and leaders, Ulysses S. Grant among them.
Speaker 1: Grant's reception had been hosted there the year before. No,
Speaker 1: it was the body he found there that was out
Speaker 1: of place. The mourners continued to weep and wail. Who died?
Speaker 1: He asked one of the soldiers, the president, sir. The
Speaker 1: soldier replied, killed by an assassin. He glanced at the corpse,
Speaker 1: a man he did not recognize, and, after determining it
Speaker 1: was not his own body lying in state, Abraham Lincoln awoke.
Speaker 1: It's unclear how much stock Abraham Lincoln took of dreams
Speaker 1: He talked about them, sure, but then don't we all
Speaker 1: His interest seemed more of a curiosity, well, except when
Speaker 1: they were dark dreams regarding his family. He had had
Speaker 1: those dreams before. Once, while traveling, Lincoln wrote a letter
Speaker 1: to his wife Mary, asking her to make sure their
Speaker 1: son Tad's pistol was safely hidden. It had a terrible dream,
Speaker 1: he told her, one regarding guns and their son. He
Speaker 1: had recalled other dreams too, less violent but disturbing in
Speaker 1: their own way. On the morning of April eighteen sixty five,
Speaker 1: he told members of his cabinet about a dream from
Speaker 1: the previous night. It had been a recurring dream. Actually,
Speaker 1: in it, he was crossing a body of water, although
Speaker 1: he was moving so fast he couldn't tell if it
Speaker 1: was an ocean or a lake. Abraham Lincoln was an
Speaker 1: intelligent man, There's no question about that. But there were
Speaker 1: two things. He was unaware of the significance that someone
Speaker 1: later place on his dreams, and that this new one,
Speaker 1: of a funeral in the White House would be his last.
Speaker 1: I'm Lauren Vogelbon, Welcome to American Shadows. It was April nine,
Speaker 1: and Robert E. Lee had just surrendered three thousand Washington
Speaker 1: residents converged on the city in wild celebration parades with
Speaker 1: bands playing the Star Spangled banner marched down the streets.
Speaker 1: Before long, the party moved to the White House lawn.
Speaker 1: They stood beneath one of the balconies and began to
Speaker 1: chant speech speech. Unlike the triumphant crowd outside, Lincoln was
Speaker 1: more sullen. War was war. After all, it had taken
Speaker 1: one to bring about the end of slavery, as well
Speaker 1: as the increasing tension between the North and South over
Speaker 1: states rights and expansion, but all of that had come
Speaker 1: at a tremendous price. Upon hearing their continued boisterous chants,
Speaker 1: President Lincoln stepped onto the balcony and addressed to the crowd.
Speaker 1: He had often gone against suggestions before to not make
Speaker 1: himself so public. It was risky, his friends and family
Speaker 1: had warned it was dangerous. Lincoln believed in making himself available,
Speaker 1: though he had found value in it during his run
Speaker 1: for office. When he couldn't stand in front of a crowd,
Speaker 1: he made sure to sit for photographers so that people
Speaker 1: could put a face to the man aspiring to become
Speaker 1: their president. During his campaign, had even passed out buttons
Speaker 1: with his picture on them. Since then, he had been
Speaker 1: photographed a hundred and thirty times. He hoped it might
Speaker 1: give the public a better look at the presidency and
Speaker 1: helped put a face to the wartime efforts. For those
Speaker 1: who loved him, photos were another form of access, but
Speaker 1: he also enjoyed the conversation, and so on the night
Speaker 1: of April tenth, as he looked out into the sea
Speaker 1: of citizens, he promised them that he would deliver a
Speaker 1: speech the next evening. We want to hear you now,
Speaker 1: someone shouted, and Lincoln smiled politely at their request. He
Speaker 1: wanted to be sure of his words, though, and he
Speaker 1: told the crowd as much. He'd be better prepared. He
Speaker 1: told them to say all he had to say, no mistakes.
Speaker 1: Someone in the crowd called out, you haven't made a
Speaker 1: mistake yet. Tomorrow, he assured them he'd give them a
Speaker 1: proper speech. Then Lincoln remained true to his nickname and
Speaker 1: true to his word. The next evening, the crowds returned,
Speaker 1: despite the misty weather, singing and cheering the White House lawn.
Speaker 1: He stepped out onto the north portico's second floor balcony
Speaker 1: to a standing ovation, though he still felt a bit somber,
Speaker 1: he began his speech more cheerfully. He promised a day
Speaker 1: of national thanksgiving before moving on to the heart of
Speaker 1: the matter. After a moment of applause, the crowd settled
Speaker 1: in to listen to what else the great emancipator had
Speaker 1: to say. The nation had a monumental task before it.
Speaker 1: He told them. The new amendments to the Constitution not
Speaker 1: only outlawed slavery, but they also granted the right for
Speaker 1: black and white citizens to access the same public schools
Speaker 1: and allowed states to enfranchise black men, giving them voting rights.
Speaker 1: Having heard enough, one man stepped forward, a twenty six
Speaker 1: year old actor named John Wilkes Booth. He might have
Speaker 1: lived in the North, but his allegiance had always been
Speaker 1: with the South. Lincoln's talk of granting black men the
Speaker 1: right to vote had been the final straw. Face contorted
Speaker 1: and fists clenched in fury, he shouted racial slurs that
Speaker 1: addressed the crowd. Now, by God, I'll put him through today.
Speaker 1: Those words would get you arrested. Back then, Booth simply
Speaker 1: stormed off, all the while forming a plan in his head.
Speaker 1: He wouldn't take the abolishment of slavery, nor black citizenship
Speaker 1: lying down. Though his words of running the president through
Speaker 1: sounded like a plan unto itself, Booth came up with
Speaker 1: a different idea, albeit not entirely alone. There were initially
Speaker 1: six men as part of the plot. Two friends and
Speaker 1: fellow sympathizers had been aiding Confederate spies. They knew secret
Speaker 1: roots in southern Maryland, and one of them figured he
Speaker 1: was physically strong enough to subdue Lincoln if needed, and
Speaker 1: the plan, it was admittedly a pretty lofty one, abduct
Speaker 1: the President, take him to Richmond, and hold him for ransom.
Speaker 1: Lincoln was to be exchanged for Confederate soldiers being held
Speaker 1: in Union prisons, but when his friends backed out, Booth
Speaker 1: decided on a different approach, the one he infamously carried
Speaker 1: through with on April fourteenth of eighteen sixty five. We're
Speaker 1: all familiar with what happened that night. The Lincolns entered
Speaker 1: the Ford Theater Playhouse and made their way to the
Speaker 1: Presidential Box along with two guests. For the evening. With
Speaker 1: the Lincoln seated in their walnut rocking chairs and with
Speaker 1: the audience engaged in the performance of Our American Cousin,
Speaker 1: Booth snuck in and shot the president in the back
Speaker 1: of the head. While his wife Mary and guests Henry Reid,
Speaker 1: Rathbone and Clara Harris looked on. Rathbone attempted to tackle
Speaker 1: the president's assailant, Booth, who was carrying a knife as
Speaker 1: well as the pistol, cut Rathbone from elbow to shoulder.
Speaker 1: Mary looked down at her dress, now covered in her
Speaker 1: husband's blood. She and Clara screamed. Making a bold escape,
Speaker 1: Booth leaped the stage below. Shouts went out to stop him,
Speaker 1: but Booth fled into the night. As a man hunt emerged,
Speaker 1: an army doctor and other physicians converged on the presidential box.
Speaker 1: Lincoln was bleeding but alive, Barely suspecting the wound would
Speaker 1: be fatal, the decision was made to move Lincoln to
Speaker 1: a more comfortable spot. A man with a room for
Speaker 1: rent across the street from the theater offered it to them,
Speaker 1: and six men carried Lincoln to the house and laid
Speaker 1: him onto a bed. Abraham Lincoln died the following morning.
Speaker 1: Church Bell's toll and people began to mourn further north.
Speaker 1: The fireworks and celebration had barely ceased when word of
Speaker 1: the assassination reached them. A while Lincoln's body lay in state,
Speaker 1: a photographer's flash went off once more. Afterward, doctor's cut
Speaker 1: away part of his scalp and removed his brain. As
Speaker 1: they held it, the bullet fell out. Undertakers worked skillfully,
Speaker 1: doing what they could to preserve the president's appearance despite
Speaker 1: the man's devastating head wound, and arranged his features to
Speaker 1: resemble a man at peace. Then they dressed him and
Speaker 1: the Brooks Brothers suit had worn on his second inauguration,
Speaker 1: along with a pair of white dress gloves. The North
Speaker 1: thought his death might bring the nation closer, but sadly
Speaker 1: it did not. Some in the South believed his death
Speaker 1: might reverse their loss and restore life as it had
Speaker 1: once been. Thankfully, they were just as disappointed, although that
Speaker 1: didn't stop many Southerners from expressing their sentiment that Lincoln
Speaker 1: had got what he deserved. Back in Washington, scavengers took
Speaker 1: whatever they could find after Lincoln's body had been moved
Speaker 1: to a pine casket, scraps of his blood soaked shirt
Speaker 1: a lock of hair. Doctors who had removed his brain
Speaker 1: had taken their own morbid souvenirs as well. Around noon
Speaker 1: on April nineteenth, four days after his death, over six
Speaker 1: hundred distinguished guests from generals to politicians, crammed into the
Speaker 1: East room of the White House, where Lincoln's casket sat.
Speaker 1: Soldiers stood guard as mourners paid their respects. It was
Speaker 1: exactly as Lincoln himself had dreamed not too long before.
Speaker 1: Mary Lincoln and twelve year old Tad stayed upstairs throughout
Speaker 1: the four days of morning. With so many people coming
Speaker 1: and going, and considering how her husband had died, Mary
Speaker 1: took the safer path of grieving in private. Finally, a
Speaker 1: smaller group consisting of Lincoln's cabinet, the Supreme Court, and
Speaker 1: Lincoln's twenty one year old son Robert, paid their last respects.
Speaker 1: But while we've all heard the story of lincoln'ssassination, what
Speaker 1: happened next is much less well known. Our story begins
Speaker 1: ten days after his murder, when Abraham Lincoln's casket was
Speaker 1: loaded onto a funeral train headed for its final resting
Speaker 1: place back in his hometown of Springfield, Illinois. Far from
Speaker 1: a stranger to the public eye, Lincoln would be in
Speaker 1: front of them once more. Back in Springfield, President Lincoln's
Speaker 1: former political friends at the State Capital prepared for his interment.
Speaker 1: They had purchased a site close to the train depot
Speaker 1: downtown where they planned to build him a tomb. There
Speaker 1: was only one problem. They hadn't discussed their plans with
Speaker 1: Mary Lincoln. Her husband and children had been the center
Speaker 1: of her life. Obviously, watching her husband die was devastating,
Speaker 1: but it hadn't broken her. She argued with Illinois politicians
Speaker 1: that her husband's last wishes were to be buried in
Speaker 1: the rural Oak Ridge Cemetery just outside Springfield, and she
Speaker 1: intended to make sure that happened. Though they disagreed, they
Speaker 1: had little choice but to oblige. She was, after all,
Speaker 1: the legal custodian of her husband's body. So on April
Speaker 1: eighteen sixty five, Lincoln's funeral train, dubbed the Lincoln Special,
Speaker 1: to hearted Washington. A large photograph of the president had
Speaker 1: been secured to the front of the engine, just above
Speaker 1: the cattle guard. But before reaching its final destination in Illinois,
Speaker 1: the train was scheduled to make a number of stops
Speaker 1: in major cities so that mourners could pay their respects.
Speaker 1: Nearly three hundred people rode the nine car train on
Speaker 1: any given segment from national and state officials, to military
Speaker 1: and service personnel, as well as the president's oldest son, Robert.
Speaker 1: The ninth car was reserved for two coffins, actually one
Speaker 1: for Abraham Lincoln and one for William Wallace Lincoln. Abraham
Speaker 1: and Mary's third son, Willie, as had been called, had
Speaker 1: tragically died just before Christmas in eighteen sixty two at
Speaker 1: the age of eleven, the victim of typhoid fever. Abraham
Speaker 1: had taken his son's death particularly hard, so Mary thought
Speaker 1: it was best to have Willie reinterred next to his father.
Speaker 1: Aside from cities slated for public services, the train had
Speaker 1: to other scheduled stops as well. Oil lanterns provided light
Speaker 1: at night, and wood stoves kept the guest cars comfortable.
Speaker 1: The train needed to make stops for additional oil and wood,
Speaker 1: as well as water for the trains boilers, and meals
Speaker 1: for passengers, making the journey even more cumbersome. Over eighty
Speaker 1: different passenger cars were used to make the seventred mile journey.
Speaker 1: Back then, train tracks often had different gauges or widths
Speaker 1: that required passenger cars to be switched out at various stations.
Speaker 1: Planners coordinated with newspapers notifying them when the train would
Speaker 1: pull into their town, not an easy task, as time
Speaker 1: zones weren't standardized back then. Major locations where the train
Speaker 1: was scheduled to stop planned ahead. Cities constructed decorative arches
Speaker 1: over the tracks and adorned them with flowers and flags,
Speaker 1: Bells told, cannons were fired, and guns saluted, all to
Speaker 1: mark the train's arrival. People who lived in those less
Speaker 1: publicized locations simply gathered along the track. They came from everywhere,
Speaker 1: traveling by foot, horseback, buggy, and sometimes even other trains,
Speaker 1: all for the chance to watch the President's train passed through.
Speaker 1: Other times, people waited in the dark, holding torches or
Speaker 1: sitting by bonfires, hoping to be at the right place
Speaker 1: at the right time. Some dropped to their knees in prayer.
Speaker 1: Others wept. Parents held children high, hoping they had catch
Speaker 1: a glimpse of a historic site that they remember for
Speaker 1: the rest of their lives. And at each stop, armed
Speaker 1: guards watched over the bodies. Some stayed on the train
Speaker 1: to guard Willie's coffin while the President's was loaded onto
Speaker 1: an extravagant horse drawn hearse. Long processions followed the Hearse
Speaker 1: from the train station to State Capitals for services in Philadelphia,
Speaker 1: his body lay in state inside Independence Halls, East Wing,
Speaker 1: where the Declaration of Independence had been signed. Newspapers reported
Speaker 1: that people waited upwards of five hours just for the
Speaker 1: chance to quit. We walked past his open coffin, Many
Speaker 1: of those who got the chance to pay their respects
Speaker 1: walked away, shocked. The corpse before them bore little resemblance
Speaker 1: to the pictures of the man they had seen. The
Speaker 1: thinning chin, the sunken face, the dark pallor that had
Speaker 1: settled on his skin that morticians could no longer disguise.
Speaker 1: The dead President didn't look how they'd expected to some
Speaker 1: he did not resemble what they'd call a great man.
Speaker 1: The problem, of course, was decay. Embalming back then wasn't
Speaker 1: what it is today, and by the time the train
Speaker 1: pulled into Springfield on a particularly hot and May fourth,
Speaker 1: he had been dead and on the move for nineteen days,
Speaker 1: all without refrigeration. The mortician on board did his best,
Speaker 1: but no amount of powder could hide the blotches on
Speaker 1: the president's face. Those public services had been intended as
Speaker 1: a way to honor him, but now those involved began
Speaker 1: to see it differently. Were they respecting the President or
Speaker 1: had they disgraced him by parading his corpse across the coast.
Speaker 1: It's no wonder that Mary Lincoln stayed behind in Washington.
Speaker 1: Just because we can do something doesn't mean we always should.
Speaker 1: The two coffins were removed from the train for the
Speaker 1: last time that Thursday afternoon. An Illinois regiment made their
Speaker 1: way along the procession route with gunfire salutes behind them.
Speaker 1: Drummers marched in a choir saying six horses drew the Hearse,
Speaker 1: followed by Robert Lincoln and a group of black Americans.
Speaker 1: The procession marched past Lincoln's home at the corner of
Speaker 1: Ethan Jackson, and then finally toward the Oak Ridge Cemetery. There,
Speaker 1: Abraham Lincoln and his son would be laid to rest
Speaker 1: next to one another alongside a clear running stream. The
Speaker 1: afternoon sun shone down bright and hot. Robert and no
Speaker 1: less than a thousand mourners solemnly stood by as the
Speaker 1: two coffins were carried from the hearse to a fifteen
Speaker 1: by fifteen foot public vault. Inside, the walls were draped
Speaker 1: in black velvet and embellished with evergreen branches. After everything
Speaker 1: had been through his assassination, the embalming countless days of
Speaker 1: travel and public viewings, Lincoln's body would finally rest in peace.
Speaker 1: Souvenir hunters, though, had a different plan. Within days, an
Speaker 1: entire company of soldiers had to be stationed at the vault.
Speaker 1: The hunters took everything near the tomb that they could
Speaker 1: carry away. Some weren't satisfied with trifles and mementos, though, no,
Speaker 1: they wanted something bigger, something more personal. But the thing
Speaker 1: they wanted was beyond priceless. Some might even call it
Speaker 1: a sacred national treasure. They wanted the body of Abraham Lincoln.
Speaker 1: Jim Kennelly had a problem. Big Jim, as he was
Speaker 1: known to his friends, had been running a profit of
Speaker 1: all counterfeit business until a recent setback shut him down.
Speaker 1: His best engraver, a man named Boyd, had been thrown
Speaker 1: into a prison cell, and to spring him, Kennelly needed
Speaker 1: some serious leverage. In the spring of eighteen seventy six,
Speaker 1: Kennelly went to the town of Lincoln, which is about
Speaker 1: thirty miles north of Springfield in Logan County. And yes,
Speaker 1: the town was named after the sixteenth president, but before
Speaker 1: he became president. Twelve of Kennelly's men called the town
Speaker 1: their home, including gang leader Thomas Sharp. Other members included
Speaker 1: Robert Splain, James Fox, James Fox Jr. Benjamin Sheridan, and
Speaker 1: Vine Williams. Collectively, they were known as the Logan County
Speaker 1: Gang and were notorious for using counterfeit money. Now the
Speaker 1: gang all wanted their engraver boyd out of prison, and
Speaker 1: Kennelly had a plan to make it happen. They were
Speaker 1: going to steal President Lincoln's body and then hold it
Speaker 1: for ransom in exchange for Voyd's release. But while that
Speaker 1: idea probably sounded ridiculous on paper, recent events had suddenly
Speaker 1: turned it into a very attainable goal. Oak Ridge Cemetery,
Speaker 1: where Lincoln's body had been taken at the end of
Speaker 1: his funeral train journey, dates back to eighteen sixty five
Speaker 1: years before the president's death. The site had been chosen
Speaker 1: for the beautiful topography and a large number of oak trees.
Speaker 1: Not much had been done in the way of care
Speaker 1: and landscaping after its creation, though, nor had the planned
Speaker 1: stone entry or iron gates yet been added. The burial
Speaker 1: of President Lincoln and his son had changed all that.
Speaker 1: Three years after their caskets arrived in eighteen sixty five,
Speaker 1: construction of the Lincoln Monument began. Then six years later,
Speaker 1: on September nineteenth of eighteen seventy one, Lincoln and his
Speaker 1: son were moved from their hillside crips to a more
Speaker 1: secure location in the cemetery's catacombs. Three years after that,
Speaker 1: and with lingering concern about the safety of their remains,
Speaker 1: the bodies of Lin and his son were moved yet again,
Speaker 1: this time to a marble sarcophagus inside the newly completed monument.
Speaker 1: It was a historic occasion, and President Ulysses S. Grant
Speaker 1: attended the dedication ceremony. At last, Lincoln's remains were safe,
Speaker 1: and now that the President's body had been moved from
Speaker 1: its secret, inaccessible hiding place, the gang's outlandish plot was possible.
Speaker 1: But Kennelly had already made some changes to the plan.
Speaker 1: Not only would they ask for Boyd's release, that also
Speaker 1: demand that the governor pardoned him of all charges and
Speaker 1: fork over a hefty sum of cash to sweeten the deal.
Speaker 1: Little by little, each of the men took a guided
Speaker 1: tour of the cemetery from tomb custodian John Carrol Power
Speaker 1: Power liked his job and was happy to answer the
Speaker 1: guests questions. The men couldn't believe their luck. Not only
Speaker 1: was Lincoln's coffin inside and above ground sarcophagus, but a
Speaker 1: single padlocked door between the tomb and the burial chamber
Speaker 1: was all that stood in their way, no digging required.
Speaker 1: Even better, they learned that no one guarded the tomb
Speaker 1: at night that June. They finalized the plan on July three.
Speaker 1: They would break into the tomb, then move the coffin
Speaker 1: to a bridge about two miles north. There, they planned
Speaker 1: to rebury the president until Boyd walked free and they
Speaker 1: had their cash in hand. The gang leader Sharp was
Speaker 1: the most excited about the plan and decided to treat
Speaker 1: himself to a pre victory celebration at a local brothel.
Speaker 1: He drank heavily and spent time with Bell Bruce, who
Speaker 1: knew many of the other gang members as well, and
Speaker 1: during their time together, Sharp couldn't help but share the
Speaker 1: news with Bell. Soon, he bragged he and the gang
Speaker 1: would be rich. Maybe afterward, he said, Belle and the
Speaker 1: girls would help them celebrate in style. Belle held down
Speaker 1: a profession viewed increasingly as immoral by much of society,
Speaker 1: but grave robbery stealing the president's body. Told another friend
Speaker 1: of hers, Abner Wilkinson, who just happened to be Springfield's
Speaker 1: chief of police, and wouldn't you know it, Chief Wilkinson
Speaker 1: met tomb Custodian Power the very next day and informed
Speaker 1: him of the plot. Of course, Sharp awoke from his
Speaker 1: drunken stupor and realized the mistake had made. With their
Speaker 1: chances diminished and cover blown, he and his gang loaded
Speaker 1: everything up and skipped town, leaving all their debts unpaid.
Speaker 1: Kennely was annoyed, but he still believed there was a
Speaker 1: way to get the job done, so he headed to
Speaker 1: Chicago for more professional accomplices, which he found at a
Speaker 1: shady saloon and pool hall called the Hub. Before long,
Speaker 1: Kennelly had recruited a man named Jack Hughes who had
Speaker 1: a long rap sheet for counterfeiting, as well as Jack's
Speaker 1: friends Terrence Mullen and Herbert Nelson. This time, Kennelly's plan
Speaker 1: involved stealing Lincoln's coffin and loading it onto a freight
Speaker 1: wagon headed to the Indiana shores of Lake Michigan. There
Speaker 1: they would bury it in the sand for safe. Keyping
Speaker 1: BOYD would then contact the governor and make the deal
Speaker 1: his release plus twenty thousand dollars in exchange for the
Speaker 1: safer turn of Lincoln's body. Kennelly believed the plan was solid,
Speaker 1: except that the shores of Lake Michigan were two hundred
Speaker 1: and twenty miles from the cemetery and the trip would
Speaker 1: take roughly ten days. Kennelly left the men to sort
Speaker 1: out those details on their own, but as soon as
Speaker 1: had left the saloon, things went downhill and what might
Speaker 1: be best described as a bumbling comedy of errors. One
Speaker 1: of them, Herbert Nelson, had second thoughts about stealing the
Speaker 1: president's body and left the group. Mullen and Hughes knew
Speaker 1: they needed another hand, so they brought in a wise,
Speaker 1: cracking horse thief named Lewis Swiggles, who was also a
Speaker 1: regular of the Hub. Little did the two know that
Speaker 1: Swiggles had been moonlighting as a government informant to the
Speaker 1: tune of five bucks a day. The entire idea stunned Swiggles,
Speaker 1: but he convinced them he was indeed their man, and
Speaker 1: told the men he had worked as a body snatcher before.
Speaker 1: The gang decided that November seventh, election night was perfect
Speaker 1: people would be in town and busy with more important matters.
Speaker 1: All they needed to do was slip into the cemetery
Speaker 1: and break the padlock. But like Bell, Swuggles wasted no
Speaker 1: time telling the authorities, who in turn informed custodian power,
Speaker 1: local law enforcement, and even Robert Lincoln, and with that
Speaker 1: the trap was set. On the night of the heist,
Speaker 1: the hack saw, Mullen and Hughes brought with them snapped
Speaker 1: while cutting the padlock, so they spent the next thirty
Speaker 1: minutes using a file. Once the lock was freed, they
Speaker 1: stepped inside the tomb. After breaking the seal on the sarcophagus,
Speaker 1: they set to work removing the marble. They ran into
Speaker 1: another snag when they discovered that the lead coffin inside
Speaker 1: was too heavy to carry, so Swuggles was sent to
Speaker 1: retrieve their lookout, a man named William Neelie to provide
Speaker 1: some extra muscle. Neelie, though had been recruited by Swuggles
Speaker 1: himself and was all so an informant, so when Swiggles
Speaker 1: stepped outside the tomb, he gave the signal. As the
Speaker 1: officers rushed over, one man's gun misfired, warning the gang
Speaker 1: inside by the time officers entered the tomb, Mullen and
Speaker 1: Hughes were gone, but the fiasco didn't stop there. Police
Speaker 1: ended up in a shootout with one of their own detectives,
Speaker 1: giving the would be thieves ample time to flee. Each
Speaker 1: of them, though, were later arrested in Chicago. Mullen, Hughes,
Speaker 1: and Kennely were all eventually charged with various crimes, and
Speaker 1: the gang was broken up for good. They'd come within
Speaker 1: a few heartbeats of making their own misguided mark on
Speaker 1: the pages of history, but thanks to their own incompetence
Speaker 1: and a good helping of covert intelligence, Abraham Lincoln was
Speaker 1: allowed to rest in peace, and after all had been through,
Speaker 1: that's the least he deserved. Fearing future heists, Lincoln's body
Speaker 1: was moved several times more over the years before coming
Speaker 1: to its final resting place in seventeen times to be exact.
Speaker 1: The first move took place just days after the failed
Speaker 1: attempt by Kennelly and his gang. No one notified the
Speaker 1: higher authorities, though, and that new location a moldy basement
Speaker 1: right beneath the tomb. From there it was moved to
Speaker 1: a shallow, unmarked grave in a different basement, where he
Speaker 1: remained for another decade. When Mary Lincoln passed away in
Speaker 1: two she was also buried in the basement. For a
Speaker 1: good long while, tourists never knew that the sarcophagus they
Speaker 1: paid tribute too was empty, and very few people knew
Speaker 1: the real location. In seven, the coffins were hauled from
Speaker 1: the dingy basement and reburied yet again in a different
Speaker 1: below ground site within the memorial. Lincoln's three sons, who
Speaker 1: had also died, removed there too and buried alongside their parents.
Speaker 1: In nineteen o one, the bodies were moved yet again
Speaker 1: when the memorial had to be reconstructed. Then, on September
Speaker 1: twenty six one, before in turning Lincoln and his wife
Speaker 1: for the final time, the president's coffin was opened to
Speaker 1: ensure that the remains inside were indeed his. It was
Speaker 1: something that had happened four other times to ensure Lincoln
Speaker 1: was present and accounted for, on December twenty one, eighteen sixty,
Speaker 1: September nineteenth of eighteen seventy one, October nine of eighteen
Speaker 1: seventy four, and April seven. But despite this, theories have
Speaker 1: evolved over the years that suggests the president's body doesn't
Speaker 1: lie in the tomb at all. With such a weird
Speaker 1: and twisted journey to the grave, it's easy to see
Speaker 1: why some people would have their doubts. Some suspected that
Speaker 1: Robert Lincoln's visit in eighteen seventy one was part of
Speaker 1: an elaborate ruse to throw off further attempts at stealing
Speaker 1: the president's body. The rumors state he had made a
Speaker 1: arrangements with the Guard of Honor to have his father's
Speaker 1: body hidden elsewhere. Yet by all accounts, twenty three people
Speaker 1: were present when the tomb was last opened in n one.
Speaker 1: Witnesses stated that even after thirty years, President Abraham Lincoln
Speaker 1: was instantly recognizable. His hair and beard had been perfectly preserved,
Speaker 1: and it's no wonder when you think about it, to
Speaker 1: keep him presentable during all those stops on the funeral train.
Speaker 1: He had been embalmed enough times that he had become mummified.
Speaker 1: The fabric of his suit and the gloves on his
Speaker 1: hands had molded, and across his chest there were still
Speaker 1: fragments of the American flag that had been buried with him.
Speaker 1: When all the moving and rebottles were done, Lincoln's body
Speaker 1: was safe beneath ten feet of concrete. That didn't stop
Speaker 1: souvenir hunters, though, when the tomb needed reconstruction. In one
Speaker 1: they chipped away pieces of the original marble sarcophagus while
Speaker 1: it sat outside. The tune m They say, you are
Speaker 1: in death as you were in life. Abraham Lincoln had
Speaker 1: made himself widely available to the public during his presidency,
Speaker 1: and in odd ways he probably never dreamed of. It
Speaker 1: seems he continued to do so even in death. There's
Speaker 1: more to this story. Stick around after this brief sponsor
Speaker 1: break to hear all about it. Abraham and Mary Lincoln
Speaker 1: had four sons together, Robert, Edward, Willie, and Tad. The
Speaker 1: Lincoln's were very fond of children, and it was said
Speaker 1: they weren't overly strict with their sons. Sadly, Robert was
Speaker 1: the only one to survive into adulthood. His younger brother
Speaker 1: Eddie died of tuberculosis, Willie died of typhoid, and although
Speaker 1: Tad survived his father, he passed away when he was
Speaker 1: just eighteen. Reports vary on the cause of his death, tuberculosis, pneumonia,
Speaker 1: even heart disease. Robert resigned his post in the U.
Speaker 1: S Army a month after his father's funeral, and moved
Speaker 1: to Chicago to care for his distraught mother. Eventually, Robert
Speaker 1: married and had children of his own. Following in his
Speaker 1: father's footsteps, he practiced law and even started his own
Speaker 1: successful firm. He remained active in politics too. Although he
Speaker 1: never ran for office, he did take the post of
Speaker 1: Secretary of War President James Garfield in one Despite the
Speaker 1: family's tragedies, it all sounds as though the rest of
Speaker 1: Robert Lincoln's life was charmed. Robert, however, believed something different.
Speaker 1: To him. It was cursed. Ec In July, Robert was
Speaker 1: traveling with President Garfield, who had barely been in office
Speaker 1: for two months. As they waited at the Washington train station,
Speaker 1: a lone gunman shot the president. Garfield never fully recovered
Speaker 1: and died a couple of months later. Then, in nineteen
Speaker 1: o one, Robert Lincoln accepted President William mc kinley's invitation
Speaker 1: to join him in Buffalo, New York for the Pan
Speaker 1: American Exposition. While they were there, a gunman shot McKinley
Speaker 1: in the abdomen and chest, killing him in front of
Speaker 1: a group of well wishers. Many years later, Roberts said
Speaker 1: that there was a certain fatality about the presidential function
Speaker 1: whenever he was present. Sometimes real life is stranger than fiction,
Speaker 1: and sometimes it gets even stranger. One day in late
Speaker 1: eighteen sixty four, Robert Lincoln stood on a train platform
Speaker 1: in New Jersey with a crowd of other travelers making
Speaker 1: their own connections. He had been away on a trip
Speaker 1: to New York, and he was ready to head back
Speaker 1: home to Washington. Standing at the edge of the busy platform,
Speaker 1: he leaned his back against a train car to let
Speaker 1: other passengers squeeze by, and that's when the train lurched forward.
Speaker 1: Unable to regain his back, he pitched backward. At the
Speaker 1: last moment, another passenger reached out and grabbed Lincoln's collar,
Speaker 1: pulling him to safety. The stranger didn't recognize the president's son,
Speaker 1: but Robert Lincoln recognized him, even if he couldn't put
Speaker 1: a name to the face. The older man had been
Speaker 1: a devoted Union supporter during the war and was a
Speaker 1: staunch admirer of Robert's father. Lincoln thanked the man for
Speaker 1: saving his life, and then the two went on their way.
Speaker 1: It was only later that Robert Lincoln's savior was identified
Speaker 1: thanks to a mutual friend who worked for the Union Army.
Speaker 1: The stranger had been an actor who came from a
Speaker 1: whole family of famous stage performers, including his brother John Wilkes.
Speaker 1: His name was Edwin Edwin Booth. American Shadows is hosted
Speaker 1: by Lauren Vogelbaum. This episode, it was written by Michelle
Speaker 1: Muto with researcher Robin Miniter, and produced by Miranda Hawkins
Speaker 1: and Trevor Young, with executive producers Aaron Minky, Alex Williams,
Speaker 1: and Matt Frederick. To learn more about the show, visit
Speaker 1: Grim and Mild dot com. For more podcasts from my
Speaker 1: Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts.