Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1876-11-16

SPRINGFIELD, Ills, November IL
An attempt was made this evening to
prepetrate one of the most infamous
outrage3 which the mind of man can
conceive of-that of stealing the bones
and ashes of Abraham Lincoln. Un-
for unately, the perpetrators escaped,
aviug, however, the evidences of
their crime behind them, and though
the clews are next to nothing, if hu-
man ingenuity can track them, it will
be done. Somehow or other, no one
exactly knows how, j. e. Power, the
custodian of the Lincoln monument,
become impressed with the idea that
there were designs upon the remains,
and he communicated his suspicious
to Leonard SWEET and Robert Lincoln.
They could hardly believe that any one,
even the meanest and lowest scoundrel
in the land, could conceive such a
thing. However, to prevent the horse
from getting out of the stable, they
concluded to lock the dOor-to adopt
precautions even should there be moth
ing in the feeling. Accordingly, SWEET
wrote Colonel Stewart, of this city,
about two weeks ago, requesting him
to station a guard at the monument.
This WAS done, but no one came to
disturb the corpse. Detective Tyrrell,
of the United States Secret Service,
whose headquarters are in Chicago,
having business here, was requested
by SWEET and Lincoln to see Mr.. Power,
and to look around town and watch
for suspicious characters. He arrived
here three or four days ago, and at
once commenced a vigorous shadowing
of several OF the small hotels, but he
saw no one whom he recognized. This
afternoon Mr.. Power came into town
in hurry, and hunted up Tyrrell, and
informed him that two very hard look
ing cases had been out to the cemetery
looking around, and he felt assured
that they were there for no good pur-
pose. One registered as from Racine
and the other from KenoSha, Wiscon-
sin. Their names are suppressed, since
they have had nothing to do with what
Occurre later. An effort will of course
be made 20 find out who they are, an,l
should they prove innocent, injustice
would be done them by telling now
who they are. Mr.. Power, not being
used to detective wOrk, could give but |
meager descriptions of them. The re-
suit of the interview with Tyrrell is
unknown, but he must have conclud-
ed that election night was an excellent
one in which to rob the tomb.
This evenings train brought from
Chicago Chief of the Secret Service
Elmer Washburn, who, it seems, had
been requested by SWEET and Lincoln
to come here and aid Tyrrell. About
half past six Washburn, TyrreIl and
three other men went out to OakWood
and concealed themselves in memorial
Hall inside the monument to await
One nan was posted
in the labyrinth i'm the rear, so-called
because of the walls running in differ
ent directions and making numerous
these walls supporting
the terrace. His object was to hear the
noise made in the vault if any were
made. After patiently waiting for
nearly three hours, and when about
tired out from standing still; the ut
most silence being imperative, he
heard grating noise which lasted per-
maps five minutes. Then, in little
while, came several successive thuds,
As if some one was hammering. The
ime having arrived for action, Wash
Durn and his men slipped out of the
loor, with cooked revOlvers in their
hands, determined to shoot to kill if
my resistance was made. Just as thew
We're turning the corner to the left one
)f the men aucidently exploded his re-
1olver. The noise was very loud, so
till were the surroundings, and unfor-
it was too loud, for, though
here were but about one hundred S
mi twenty feet to 60 over, when the
,fficers got to the door of the vault the
iastardly villains were gone. They {
must have had some one watching to l
rive them the signal of danger, or else
lad come outside for a breath of fresh
lir and heard the swapping of the cap
md ran into the woods which sur
OundHd the monument. 1t is but ,
hort distance, and man could get .
within shelter and unObserved in a
quarter of minute. The men at once :
catered, and went in the direction c
he thieves had gone, and while dodg-,V "
ng behind the trees, two of them ex- t
hanged shots, each mistaking the
'ther for one of the fugilives. After 1
hooting at each other, they cried, c
WASH" "Wash," Indicative of a :
riend in such an emergency. and then
hey found out their mistake. The
'ullets whiZzed close to both, and it
vas miraculous that they escaped in i,
ury. '
No traces of the thieves being dis o
overed, the party returned to the cata.
omb, and there beheld sight which
made them sad. The body, as is krown i
perhaps, is inclosed in lead casket. :
This is surrounded by cedar case, and p
he receptacle of these is a marble v
The latter had double o
id; the uI FER one not being as large
3 The other. Both had been pried Off
With chisel or an ak, and somewhat
hipped in the operation. The under
id was laid crosswise on the casket,
he head piece on the floor, and the
PIPER lid standing against the wall.
he casket itself was pulled out about a
Dot from the body of the sarcophagus,
nd Snail piece had been take off on
he floor, where were an AK, with the
dye full of marble dust, an ordinary
hisel, and a pair of nippers. The
ther tools had evidently been taken n
way since the lock on the iron-grated a.
oOr had been sawed off. 70
1t should perhaps be stated that the G
was in the catacomb and e, q
OF in the crypt, being thus placed in
rder that visitors might see it. The u
amsge done is mparatively little. ST