Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1876-11-22
RObbing the Grave of Abraham Lin
coin.


field, H., on the night Of the 7th, to
steal the body of President Lincoln
from the monument near that city.
The following particulars of the at
! tempted robbery are given in a
special from Springfield to the Chicago
| Tribune: f.
! Somehow or other, no one exactly
knows how, j. G. Power, the c,isto-
dian of the Lincoln monument, be-
came impressed with the idea that
there were designs upon the remains,
and he communicated his suspicious
to Leonard SWEET and Robert Lincoln.
Col. SWEET wrote Col. Stewart, of this
city, about two weeks ago, requesting
him to station aguard at the monu-
ment. 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 re-
quested 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 ho-
tells, but he saw no one whom he rec
ognized. This afternoon Mr.. Pow
er came into town in a hurry and
hunted up Tyrrell and informed him
that two very hard-looking cases had
been out to the cemetery looking
around, and he felt assured that
| they were there for no good pur-
pose. One registered Us from RacNe
and the other from Kenosha. Wis.
Their names are suppressed, since
they have had nothing to do with
what occurred later. An effort will,
Of course, be made to find out who
they are should they prove to be in
nocent injustice would be done them
by telling their names now. Mr..
Power, not being used to detective
work, could give but meager descrip-
tons Of them. The result of the in
| teryiew with Tyrrell is unknown, but
he must have concluded that election
night was an excellent one in which to
rob the tomb. I L.E
This evenings train brought from
Chicago eX-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, Tyrrell and
three other men went ont to lakewood
and concealed themselves in Memorial
Hall. inside the monument, To await
developments. One man was posted
in the labyrinth in the rear, so called
because of the walls running i'll differ
ent directions and making numerous
passage ways, these walls supporting
the terrace. His object was To hear
the noise made III the vault. if any
We're made. After patiently wait
ing for nearly three hours, and
when about tired out from stand
ing still. the utmost silence being
imperative. he heard grating noise
which lasted perhaps five minutes.
Then, IN little while, came several
successive thuds. as if some one was
hammerlng. The time having arrived
for action. Washburn and his men
slipped out of the door. with cooked
revolvers in their hands, determined
TO shoot To Kill If any resistance was
made. Just rs they were turning the
corner TO the left one of the men acct
dentally exploded his revolver The
noise WAS very loud, SO still were the
surroundings, and. unfortunately, it
was too loud, for, though there We're
bat l2o feet To 20 over. when the OH
GERS got TO the door of the vault the
dastardly Villains We're gone they must
have had some one watching 10 give
them the signal of danger, or else
had come outside for a brsath of fresh
air. and heard the swapping of the cap
and ran into the woods which sur
round the monument. Ii is but a
short distance. and man could get
within shelter and be undesirable in
a quarter of minute. The men at
once scattered and went in the direC-
tion the thieves had gone. and while
lodging around the trees two of them
exchanged shots, each installing the
other for one of the tugitives. After
shooting AZ each other, they cried,
Wash. Nv ash, indicative of a
friend in such an emergency, and then
they found out their mistake. The
bullets whizzed close 70 both. and il
was miraculous that they escaped In
jury.
No traces of the thieves being dis
covered. the party returned 10 the
CataCumb, and there heheld a sight
which made them sad. The body. rs
is known. perhaps. is enclosed in a
lGti casket. This is surpeunded by a
cedar case, and the receptacle OF these