Show The Tampering of LINCOLN'S TOMB TO I Iny By ny MADOC OWENS THE winter of 1876 the IN chief of police of Spring Spring- Springfield Springfield field III was told by a woman that she had overheard certain criminal plots to open the tomb of Abraham Lincoln steal s al his coffin sink it in the Sangamon river and offer its return for ransom Additional guards were immedi immediately immedi- immedi immediately I placed around the mausoleum of the tIle President martyr-President and the plot I was thus frustrated for the time tune being I Eight months later Patrick D. D Tyrrell of the United States secret service learned of a similar plot from Lewis C. C then being used by the government detectives as a stoolpigeon or roper The ransom according to was to be the same as before Certain St. St Louis men whose real realI I names could not be determined were said to be parties to the plot Selected as Accomplice detailed to keep in touch with the conspirators later reported that he had been chosen to help carry out the ghoulish work In fact he stated that the details had been to him that him that he had been instructed to obtain a wagon in which the leaden casket was to be smuggled out of Springfield by re relays re- re relays lays of horses to the sand dunes of northern Indiana Here the mar mar- tyr-President's tyr remains were to be buried that the shifting sands might at ot once obliterate the wagon tracks and other surface indications of the crime reported that the ghouls planned to take careful measurements measure measure- measurements measurements ments of the distance between the place of burial and the nearest tree in order that there should be no difficulty in disinterment after the ransom should be paid r a d. d Date of Crime Choson Continuous reports from indicated that he was in close confidence confidence confidence dence with the tIle conspirators Early in November he warned the secret service men that the night of Tuesday Tues Tues- Tuesday Tuesday day November 7 1876 had been chosen for the crime this date dale be be- being being being ing that of the Tilden Hayes-Tilden elec elec- tion That particular time was se se- selected selected se- se selected because it was believed that the excitement incident to the re re- receiving receiving re- re receiving of election returns would shield the ghouls from any possible attention The secret service men planned to hide in the tomb and al al- allow allow al- al allow low the ghouls to actually steal the body before pouncing upon them but the dead Presidents President's son Rob Rob- Robert Robert Robert ert T. T Lincoln who had been taken into the confidence of the detectives protested against their allowing the plot to proceed to the point where profane hands might actually be laid upon his fathers father's coffin So it it was agreed that the criminals should be caught in the tomb while endeavoring to open the grave The detectives' detectives accomplice les reported that he and two of the conspirators would leave Chi Chi- Chicago Chicago Chicago cago and Tyrrell the secret service service service ice ice operative who had unearthed the case saw his stoolpigeon with two looking determined-looking men jump aboard the Alton AIton train leaving Chi Chi- Chicago ChiI Chicago I cago ago at 9 p. p m. m With With two detectives same express and the six men at opposite ends of the train arrived at Springfield that night Election day that year was dark and gloomy and by 6 o'clock the blackness of night had fallen over the cemetery The sarcophagus con con- containing containing containing the body of the President lay in a catacomb at the north end of a monumental structure at whose southern extremity feet I distant lay Memorial hall The de de- detectives selected the hall as their hiding place They had the promise of that at the proper psychological psychological psychological moment he was to leave I the catacomb presumably to fetch the horse and wagon but on his way around the base of the hall was wasi i to come to the door of Memorial hall halland halland I and give the detectives a counter counter- sign I Ghouls Examine Hall 1 After hiding in Memorial hall for fori i two hours the th detectives saw the I flare of J P a eye bulls lantern flash through the grating of the iron door leading into the outer world orId The ghouls were making an examination of the interior of the hall but sat sat- satisfied satisfied with their superficial examina examina- tion lion did not I attempt to enter The next moment they hurried around the base of the monument to the catacomb and again the detectives were left in darkness After what seemed an interminable able wait the countersign was whis- whis whispered I I o perro through the bars The de de- deo detectives opened the grated door and went cautiously around the hill drawing their revolvers as they ad ad- adI Going to the door of the I catacomb they found that the sta sta- staple staple staple containing the lock had been filed off and that the iron door stood ajar Tyrrell leading lending the detectives detec ves called on on whomsoever was within to surrender but there was no an an- Finally Tyrrell led the way into the tomb Groping about he found no one Lighting a match he battered to saw the sarcophagus pieces and the leaden casket all aU ready for tor removal Tools were scat scat- scattered scattered over the floor but the ghouls had fled Identifies Two Men had reported that the two men who had accompanied him to the tomb were counterfeiters known as Hughes and Mullen m. m After ten days Tyrrell ran these men down own and had them sent to the penitentiary penitentiary of for a year on the charge robbery and larceny Their coun coun- counsel counsel sel charged that the secret secret service servicemen s servicemen ce cemen men had up framed a job Job on them in order to break up a coun coun- counterfeiting counterfeiting conspiracy in which they were implicated The whole affair was fraught with mysteries which no one to this day has been able to solve S e The Tice Strange Case of o f fBARBARA BARBARA FRIETCHIE Up Dp rose old Barbara Frietchie then Bowed with her score four-score years and ten Bravest of all in Frederick town She took up the flag the man hauled down 0 RUNS Whittier's ballad SO S according to whose lines this ancient dame of Frederick Md hid set the Union flag in her window sill in defiance of the army of Stonewall Jackson who after having it shot down threatened with a dogs dog's death any anyone one of his soldiers who would dare to touch a hair of the loyal old ladys lady's gray head Although every American school school- schoolboy schoolboy schoolboy boy of a generation ago believed in Barbara Frietchie as implicitly as ns he believed in George Washing Washing- Washington ton several authorities now aver that while such a person did really exist at Frederick town torn during the Civil war tradition gave to her her her-as as asit it did to Betsy Ross Ross honor honor and glory that she did not deserve And Andas as a result of this challenge a spir spir- spirited spirited controversy was waged by the press Barbaras Barbara's Identity Perhaps the most prolific fiction writer of the last century was Mrs E. E D. D E. E E N. N Southworth whose pic pic- picturesque picturesque Georgetown cottage over over- overhung hung the north bank of the th Poto Poto- mac Having said heard of Dame Barbaras Barbara's exploits from a relative of the latter Mrs South South- Southworth's Southworth's worth's vivid imagination saw aw in it probabilities of a throbbing story and she passed it along to Whittier in a n letter Research proves that one Barbara Hauer daughter of a German im immigrant im- im immigrant migrant to Pennsylvania was born in Lancaster Pa December and later moved with her family to t Frederick On May 6 1806 when nearly forty years of age she mar mar- married married ried John Caspar Frietchie four four- fourteen fourteen teen years her junior the son of a aTory aTory aTory Tory who had by the laws of Mary Mary- Maryland Maryland land been hung drawn and tc red t Barbara bara Frietchie not having any children of her own reared her law in and sister in Her husband after serving as a prosper prosper- prosperous ous died November 10 1849 1349 when he was in his seventieth year and his widow in her eighty eighty- fourth year She survived him 13 years dying on December 18 1862 ged ninety The alleged flag episode had occurred only three months previous Occurrence Doubted According to one Engelbrecht a Unionist who became mayor of Frederick the incident described by the Quaker poet never n ver took place He lived directly across the street str et from the Frietchie cottage and from froni his window saw Jacksons Jackson's army pass There is also a published de de- denial denial de- de denial I nial of the story tory by Samuel S muel Tyler a wrote the biography of Justice Taney Various other au au- authors authors au- au authors thors have published denials based upon information alleged to have been obtained from Barbara B Friet Friet- Frietchie's Frietchie's chies chie's family and neighbors An unnamed member of Jacksons Jackson's staff residing at nt Hagerstown has been quoted as ns repudiating the al al- alleged aJ circumstance According to one participant in hi hithe inthe inthe the controversy the real re l heroine of Fredericks Frederick's flag incident was a Mrs l Quantrell who later lived Jived in Wash Wash- ington The widow of Stonewall Jackson in her memoirs of the gen gen- general geni eral denies that there i was any foundation for the ballad I Before his death Whittier refer refer- referring referring ring to the controversy that his l s I poem had caused stated that he much regretted having written it it C e Service |