from: the chroncicle of crime. 1876


Counterfeiter Jim Kenealy and his gang dreamed up an extraordianry plot to secure tthe release of their master engraver, Ben Boyd, from prison. They set out to steal Abraham Lincoln's body from his mausoleum outside Springfeild, Illinois, determined to hide until Boyd was released and money turned over to them.

Fortunately and informer warned the Secret Service, and agents intercepted the gang just as they were extracting the coffin.

All escaped fro ten days, but when they were arrested, Kenealy revealed his discovery that there is no law against stealing a body. The law rapidly used the loophole that had earlier been applied against British body snatchers, and convicted the men of attempting to steal a coffin!

I have heard that Lincoln's body is no longer in the mausoleum, due to a spring that flowed through it. The body was 'washed' away, so to speak. No one knew that the spring was there, apparently. I don't have any source for this information, it was told to me by someone (who was in a position to know the truth), can't remember who, though.

The grave robbers almost got away, though.
One of the Secret Service agents still carried a cap and ball revolver, though large-caliber cartridge guns had been around since the early 1870s.
This type of revolver has no fixed cartridges. Instead, a powder charge is added to each chamber, a ball or bullet rammed down on top of the charge, and a metallic cap is placed at the back of the chamber for ignition.
His revolver went off, firing the cap on a chamber but not the main charge --- a not unheard-of occurence with cap and ball revolvers.
The pop of the cap alerted the gravediggers, who were chased down and caught by the Secret Service agents.
What do you want to bet that the Secret Service agent had one of those newfangled cartridge guns after that night?
I read quite an article on this incident years ago, in an old True magazine.
After this graverobbing attempt, Lincoln's coffin was returned to the grave and a massive amount of concrete was poured around it, to discourage any more attempts. I've never heard of the spring washing it away. It would take one hefty spring to wear away all that concrete. I'm certain his coffin remains where it is.
Perhaps someday we'll have a very sophisticated ground-searching radar, now used by archaeologists, that can give us a CAT scan of the coffin's contents, so to speak. Lincoln was embalmed and his remains may not have decomposed much if they've been sealed in concrete, away from exterior moisture and air.
Who knows?