The Plot To Steal A Dead President

The assassination of President Lincoln is a famous event in American history but an event that is far less known is the plot that occurred 11 years after his death to steal his body and hold it for ransom. The plan took place on election day, November 6th, 1876 and it involved a bunch of counterfeiters. A man named Ben Boyd had just been arrested, tried, and sentenced to ten years in prison for counterfeiting U.S. currency. His partner in crime Jim Kinelly found himself suddenly without a job so he hatched a plot to steal the former president's body and hold it for ransom. He planned on demanding $200,000 from the U.S. government for the return of Lincoln's remains plus he wanted his partner Ben Boyd pardoned. He and a couple of hired helpers got to the cemetery on election night and managed to file open the lock at the entrance of the tomb chamber and made their way in. Once they got inside they ran into a snag. The sealed coffin in which the President rested was made mostly of lead and weighed about 500 lbs in total and proved impossible for the would be body snatchers to just carry away. Another glitch was that the secret service had been alerted of the plot by an informant and they were already at the scene waiting to pounce. When they made their move somehow the grave robbers managed to escape anyway but not for long. The secret service already knew their names through their informant and caught up to them a few days later and arrested Kinelly and his cohorts and the plot was foiled.