Thieves once tried to steal Abraham Lincoln's body ...and they almost got away with it.
It began in 1876. A Chicago mob of conterfeiters, headed by "Big Jim Kinealy," needed a master engraver for their operation. The only master engraver available was Ben Boyd. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), Boyd was in prison.
Big Jim came up with the idea of kidnapping the body of the president from the Lincoln Tomob in Springfield, Illinois and holding it for ransom. He planned to exchange the body for the Ben Boyd's release from prison.
Big Jim chose the night of November 7, 1876. He picked that night deliberately as it was national election day. The thieves bbelieved there would be so much hoopla that there would be little time to worry about the theft of the president's body.
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