Dark History Files
The Plot to Steal Lincoln’s Body Case File coverPages from the Case File

Case File No. 032 · PDF ebook · 29 pages

The Plot to Steal Lincoln’s Body

Springfield, Election Night 1876

Counterfeiters, an informant, a $75 coffin charge and 11 years of hiding Lincoln inside his own tomb.

$5 · PDF ebook · instant download · large-print edition included

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Why it's worth it

🔎
10 evidence exhibits
Real photographs, engravings and 1876 newspapers, shown large, with what to look for in each.
🗺
2 maps drawn for this file
Lincoln's funeral train route, and the 1876 plot from Chicago to the Indiana Dunes.
📜
6 stories the video skipped
The first failed plot, the 500-pound coffin, the 1878 secret burial and more.
🖋
The original words
The custodian's 1890 account, the indictment and sentence, and the secret burial memo.
✂
Printable mourning replicas
Four real 1865 Lincoln mourning ribbons and badges, ready to print and cut out.
🔠
Large-print edition included
Two PDFs, plus every source and image credit listed.

Inside this file

  • The case in one page, and a timeline from the 1865 funeral train to the last look at Lincoln's face in 1901
  • Exhibits: Gardner's 1865 portrait, the receiving vault, the monument, the custodian's ground plan, the sarcophagus as the thieves left it, the Tribune and Herald of Nov 1876, the 1901 opening
  • Original words: the custodian on the night, the court record, the secret 1878 burial memo and the warning postcard
  • Persons of interest: Robert Lincoln, custodian Power, Tyrrell, the informant Swegles, Big Jim Kinealy, Mullen and Hughes
  • Myth vs. record: grave robbing, the Secret Service, 'Lincoln was moved 17 times'
  • Printable 1865 mourning ribbons and badges
  • Visit it today: Lincoln's tomb, the Old State Capitol, the Indiana Dunes, Old Joliet Prison
  • Case closed? Our verdict, and every source with links

$5

Questions

How do I get it? Right after you pay, your download page opens with both PDFs. Bookmark it: it keeps working for 30 days.

Can I print it? Yes. It's made for US letter paper, and the large-print edition is included.

Is this the same as the video? No. The video tells the story; the file holds the evidence, the replicas and the stories we had no time for.

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