Failed attempt to rob Abraham Lincoln's tomb
- When
- 1876
- Where
- Lincoln Tomb, Oak Ridge Cemetery
- Episodes
- 1
In 1876, two Chicago criminals attempted to steal Abraham Lincoln's corpse from the Lincoln Tomb in Springfield, Illinois, for ransom. The plot failed, prompting the National Lincoln Monument Association to relocate the remains within the memorial's grounds, initially under debris and later underground.
Episodes
Background and detail
Background. The Lincoln Tomb in Oak Ridge Cemetery, Springfield, Illinois, serves as the final resting place for Abraham Lincoln and several family members. Following his 1865 assassination, a monument association formed to construct a memorial. By 1874, Lincoln's remains were interred in a marble sarcophagus within the tomb's central chamber, known as the catacombs.
The Plot. In 1876, two Chicago criminals attempted to steal Lincoln's body from the tomb. Their objective was to hold the corpse for ransom. The attempt failed, and the perpetrators are identified in the source only as criminals from Chicago.
Aftermath. Following the failed robbery, the National Lincoln Monument Association took measures to secure the remains. The body was moved from the sarcophagus to another part of the memorial. It was first hidden under wood and other debris, then buried in the ground within the tomb structure to prevent further theft attempts.
People involved
- Abraham Lincoln · Victim of attempted theft
- National Lincoln Monument Association · Guardians of the tomb
- Chicago Criminals · Perpetrators
Sources
- Lincoln Tomb Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-06
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.