Lincoln's Grave Robbers (review)

It's not too much of a stretch to surmise that an audacious 1876 plot to steal the mortal remains of President Abraham Lincoln would have its roots in the Civil War, but the connection is far from intuitive—fortunately, Sheinkin lays it all out for the reader in this lively true-crime story. The Civil War necessitated the issuance of paper money in lieu of gold, making the work of counterfeiting more difficult but also more lucrative. Larcenous master engravers were suddenly much in demand, and forger Ben Boyd's arrest and incarceration sent the earnings of high-stakes scammers such as Joe Kennally into a tailspin. Joe hatches a plan to steal Lincoln's corpse (vulnerable in its crumbling, lightly guarded Springfield, Illinois mausoleum) and demand a ransom of $200,000 and the release of Ben Boyd. The plan's first iteration fails due to the loose lips of a drunken conspirator, and the second plan, in which Lincoln's coffin is actually pried partly out of its sarcophagus, goes awry due to the bungled attempt by the Secret Service to catch the culprits red-handed. While not exactly presenting the crime as a comedy of errors, Sheinkin nonetheless revels in its absurdities and delights in employing the jargon of the nineteenth-century criminal class (glossary provided). The result is a flamboyantly fun read, spun with gusto and supplemented with an introductory cast of characters to help sort the good guys from bad guys at a glance. An illustration or two is included in each short chapter, and an index and source notes are forthcoming in the final volume. This will be a first choice for all Lincoln enthusiasts and required reading for school groups and tourists making their pilgrimage to Lincoln's tomb.