ATTEMPTED STEALING OF PRE

Clutha Leader, Volume III, Issue 135, 9 February 1877, Page 6

ATTEMPTED STEALING OF PRE-

SIDENx LT2SrCOLISPS REMAINS.

A letter dated Springfield; Illinois, says : — The later developments in regard to the attempted desecration of the tomb of Lincoln and the stealing of his remains show that it. was the consummation of a. -most' determined and. deep-laid, conspiracy, in which no novices in the criminal .art were engaged: The community were at first so horrified ! by the discovery of the midnight attempt that they hastily jumped to a conclusion that something of either political or sectional significance attached to the crime, but it is now definitely'known that 'the sole motive or object was the obtaining of a great .ransom for restitution of the remains. The Lincoln Monument ; .Association, composed of leading citizens of ' the State, have raised a large amount of money and erected a large monument, which with its fine surroundings is the point of interest to ail visitors here, and it was conjectured by the would-be robbers that the Association, the citizens of Springfield, and the people of Illinois, as of the Union, would pay an immense sum to recover the body of the President they loved so well. It was to be another Charlie Ross outrage, with much larger possibilities in the way of rewards. The conspirators are known to the detectives, who will have no difficulty, it is thought, in capturing them when the proof is in satisfactory shape. The fact is, that Captain P. D. Tyrrell, of the United States secret service, to whom the working-up of the case had beeu confided by Robert Lincoln and immediate personal friends of the late President, had traced, out the entire plot beforehand. He knew the hour tbe attempt was to be made, and the night previous he came . from Chicago to Springfield in the same car with the conspirators, shadowing them constantly np to the evening of the outrage. Ex-chief Elmer Washburn was called in to aid in the capture, which would have been complete, with conclusive evidence, while all were in the crypt, but for an unfortunate accident. As the detectives emerged from their hiding place 100 ft. from the vault entrance, one of them, in examining his pistol, accidentally discharged it. The robbers immediately fled and disappeared in the wood, which is but a i'ew rods distant. The names ot the parties engaged are all withheld by the officers, who say they can be had when wanted, but they are allowed to be among the shrewdest managers of gigantic crimes on this side of. the water. The first inkling of the affair was known in June last, the details having been overheard in a house in a northern city, and were soon reported to parties interested here. Since that time. Robert Lincoln and the Hon. Leonard Swott, ofA Chicago, have constantly been on the, alert, and by means of several fortuitous circumstances were able to prevent what would certainly have been a most horrible sacrilege. The monument has since been closely guarded.