Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-06-18

sire for the release of Ben Boyd. which
knew to be consideration of the utmost
Importance to the men whose operations
had been SO abruptly curtailed by the plate
cutters Incarceration.
Inc moment was one for action. even at
the risk OF finding later that the secret
service had been led into unnecessary &C
tiv7ty by misinformation. My informant
had learned thatkeertain ST. Louis men,
whose names he did not know, were parties
to the plot Previously similar plot, en-
anating from the. same sources, had been
revealed to. Chief of Police Wilkinson OF
Springfield. In this plan James Kinealy
had evidently been the promoter, and had
decided to use the Lincoln counterfeiting
contingent as his agents. Thomas J. Sharp,
ecitor OF the Statesman; Nathan l.. Curtis,
| his assistant. and Viye G. Williams a bar
tender of Lincoln. as the first step. opened
a saloon In Springfield, which they made
their counterfeiting headquarters as well as
the place from which they could gather.
| without exciting suspicion, such informa-
! ton as they needed to aid them in their
work of stealing the body of Lincoln.
From the facts that the sum of ransom
money proposed in this plot and the later
sum were the same and that the interests
of all the men in both plots were closely al
lied. there was little doubt that one man
had conceived the scheme to release Boyd,
and there was also little doubt that the one
man was James Kineaiy. He was capable
of coneocting and trying TO carry out such
plot.
The dream of the easy acquisition of
100000 led the counterfeiters who had
opened the saloon in Springfield into the
lavish expenditure of money and dissipation.
In one of these bouts Thomas Sharp con-
fded to a woman of the town In Springfield
that he expected soon TO become one of the
benef1ciarfes of the 100000 ransom fund
and intimated to her the plan by which the
money was to be secured. This woman in
formed Chief Wilkinson of the drunken
e.
diately took steps to place additional guards
over the Lincoln tomb and took such other
precautions as indicated to the conspirators
that their plan could not be carried out. 1t
was in this first plot that the leaden casket
containing the body of Lincoln was to be
sunk in the Sangamon river till its hiding
place should be revealed by Ben Boyd.
After coming into possession of the fnfor-
nation concerning the second plot l sent
Swegles back to Hughes to keep in touch
with the movements OF the c0nSpiratorS as
closely as possible. He succeeded so well
IN this that he was chosen to be one OF the
men to engage actively in the work, and
the details of the plan were intrusted to
him without reservation. He was to fur
nish the light spring wagon in which the
casket was to be conveyed from Spring
field. The plan to sink the casket In the
Sangamon river. proposed in the first plot,
had been. abandoned, and instead the body
was to be hauled swiftly from Springfield
by relays of horses into the sand dunes Of
northern Indiana and buried. The con-
spirators calculated that the shifting of
these dunes due to the action Of the wind
would soon obliterate all trace of wagon
tracks and signs Of burial and make a hid
ing place absolutely past the power OF any
man to find
The ghouls were to keep track Of the
place Of burial by taking measurements
from some natural object, such as a tree,
transmitting the key to the burial spot to
Ben Boyd In Joliet. The negotiations for
the return Of the body, in exchange for his
rQIa nd thn nav n
ransom. were to be conducted by Boyd on
behalf Of the counterfeiters. In order to
render the opening Of these negotiations the
easier, the conspirators calculated, plan
would have to be devised by which the
federal authorities could be easily con-
WINGED that Boyd could actually furnish the
information concerning the location of the
body-in short, they foresaw that Boyd
would have to be in position to prove to the
authorities that he had accurate knowledge
of its whereabouts.
In order to overcome this obstacle 1t was
decided that copy of an English or some
other foreign newspaper should be secured
a foreign paper being decided upon SO that
Boyd could convince the government repre-
sentatives that the copy of the paper of
which he had part was not one that could
have been obtained in any other way than
the one claimed by him. This newspaper
was to be torn into two pieces, in an frregu-
lar fashion One piece was to be left In the
Lincoln tomb. where ii was certain to be
found when the discovery of the loss of the
body was made, and the other piece was to
be sent to Boyd in prison. After the dis
covery of the work of the ghouls Boyd was
to let it be known that he could solve the
mystery, and, to prove he told the truth.
could produce the missing part of the for
eign paper which, of course, would demon
strate to the authorities that the tomb rob
bers had sent Boyd the paper and with 1t
the key to the location of the body.
* *.
of,,lf,
worked out So far had Swegles wormed
himself into the confidence of the conspira-
tors that on the night of the first of No
vember they met In his room to complete
the details of the plot. Five days later
learned that Tuesday, November Z. had
been chosen as the night to commit the
crime, this date being chosen on account
of its being presidential election day, on
the night of which, the criminals judged,
the excitement incident to the receiving of
the returns would serve to shield them
from any attention they might attract un-
Ger ordinary circumstances. Hughes, Null
len and Swegles were to open the tomb, ex-
tract the casket and load it into the waiting
| wagon. Swegles' part of the preliminaries
was to secure the wagon and driver, which
he assured his co-conspirators had been
DONE and after the work at the tomb mad
been done he was to accompany the con-
tractor furnishing the conveyance into In
diana. 1t had also been decided that the
Of November 6, in order to be able to make
such preliminary surveys and arrangements
as might be found necessary.
On the theory that. with the information
in hand, there could be no difficulty in pre-
venting the conspirators from carrying ouss
their plan, there had been no dissent among
the government employees to the wisdom
of going further and permitting the tomb
robbers to progress far enough with their
work to enable the law officers to capture
the criminals redhanded. Robert T. Lin
coin. son of the martyr President, and
Leonard SWEET had been kept fully in
formed of the conception and development
of the plot and had agreed that the cap
ture of the counterfeiters in their initial
grave-robbing effort would be preferable
merely to frightening them out Of the at
tempt, a course that had been pursued In
the Instance Of the plot Of eight months be-
fore. At a conference at which Mr.. Lin
coin was present the services of Elmer
Washburn. who had In the meantime been
superseded In the chiefship of the secret
service: John Mcdonald. who had assisted
In the capture Of Ben Boyd and John Nc
CHM and George Hay. PinkertOn men. were