From the New York Times, November 10, 1876:
MR. LINCOLN'S TOMB.
THE DASTARDLY ATTEMPT TO DESPOIL IT--
THE ROBBERS INTERRUPTED BY ACCIDENT
Springfield, Ill. Nov 7. An attempt was made this evening to perpetrate one of the most infamous outrages which the mind of man can conceive of--that of stealing the bones and ashes of Abraham Lincoln. Unfortunately the perpetrators escaped, leaving however, the evidence of their crime behind them, and though the clues are next to nothing, if human ingenuity can track them it will be done. Somehow or other--no one exactly knows how--J.C. Power, the custodian of the Lincoln monument, became impressed with the idea that there were designs upon the remains, and he communicated his suspicions to Leonard Swett and Robert Lincoln. They could hardly believe that any one, even the meanest and lowest scoundrel in the land, could conceive such a thing. However, they concluded to adopt precautions, even should there be nothing in the feeling. Accordingly, Mr. Sweet wrote Col Stewart of this city, about two weeks ago, requesting him to station a guard at the monument. This was done, but no one came to disturb the corpse. Detective Tyrrell, of the United States Secret Service, whose headquarters are in Chicago, having business here, was requested by Swett and Lincoln to see Mr. Power, and to look around town for suspicious characters. He arrived here three or four days ago and commenced a vigorous shadowing of several small hotels, but he saw no one whom he recognized. This afternoon Mr. Power came into town in a hurry and hunted up Tyrrell and informed him that two very hard-looking cases had been out to the cemetery looking around; and he felt assured that they were there for no good purpose. One registered as from Racine, and the other from Kenosha, Wis. Their names are suppressed, since they have had nothing to do with what occurred later. An effort will of course, be made to find out who they are. Mr. Power, not being used to detective work could give but meager descriptions of them. The result of the interview with Tyrrell is unknown, but he must have concluded that election night was an excellent one in which to rob the tomb.
This evening's train brought from Chicago ex-Chief of the Secret Service Elmer Washburn, who, it seems, had been requested by Messrs. Swett and Lincoln to come here and aid Tyrrell. About 6:30 Washburn, Tyrrell, and three other men went out to Oakwood and concealed themselve in Memorial Hall, inside the monument, to await developments. One man was posted in the labyrinth in the rear, so called because of the walls running in different directions and making numerous passage ways, these walls supporting the terrace. His object was to hear the noise made in the vault, if any were made. After patiently waiting for nearly three hours and when about tired out from standing still, the utmost silence being imperative, he heard a grating noise, which lasted perhaps five minutes. Then, in a little while, came several successive thuds, as if some one was hammering. The time having arrived for action, Washburn and his men slipped out of the door, with cocked revolvers in their hands, determined to shoot to kill if any resistance was made. Just as they were turning the corner to the left one of the men accidentally exploded his revolver. The noise was very loud, so still were the surroundings, and though there were but about 120 to go over, when the officers got to the door of the vault the dastardly villains were gone. They must have had some one watching to give them the signal of danger or else had come outside for a breath of fresh air and heard the snapping of the cap and ran into the woods which surrounded the monument. It is but a short distance, and a man could get within shelter and be unobservable in quarter of a minute. The men at once scattered, and went in the direction the thieves had gone, and, while dodging behind the trees, two of them exchanged shots, each mistaking the other for one of the fugitives. After shooting at each other they cried "Wash," "Wash," indicative of a friend in such an emergency, and then they found out their mistake. The bullets whizzed close to both, and it was miraculous that they escaped injury.
No traces of the thieves being discovered, the party returned to the catacomb. The body is inclosed in a lead casket. This is surrounded by a cedar case, and the receptacle of these is a marble sarcophagus. The latter had a double lid, the upper one not being as large as the other. Both had been pried of with a chisel or an ax, and somewhat chipped in the operation. The under lid was laid crosswise on the casket, the head-piece on the floor, and the upper lid standing against the wall. The casket itself was pulled about a foot from the body of the sarcophagus, and a small piece had been take off the floor, where an ax with the edge full of marble-dust, and ordinary chisel, and a pair of nippers were. The other tools had evidently ben taken away since the lock on the iron-grated door had been sawed off. It should be stated that the sarcophagus was in the catacomb and not in the crypt, being thus placed in order that visitors might see it. The damage done is comparatively little.
Only one motive can be attributed to these despoilers of the grave, and that is the hope of reward for the restoration of the remains. If they had succeeded in carrying them off, it certainly could not have been their intention to take away the casket, for it must weigh from five hundred to six hundred pounds, and half a dozen men could not have carried it to the fence to transfer to a wagon on the road. It is more than likely that they intended to cut open the casket, and gather up the bones and dust of the martyred President and carry them away.
Now for the rest of the story:
"Eleven years after Lincoln's death a fantastic attempt was made here to steal his body. Ben Boyd, engraver for "Big Jim" Kenealy's gang of counterfeiters, had been caught and sentenced to Joliet for ten years. Unable to replace Boyd, an excellent craftsman, the gang decided to "kidnap" Lincoln's body, bury it n the Indiana dunes, and then secretly inform Boyd of the burial place. With this knowledge Boyd was to force the Governor to "ransom" the body by granting him a pardon. The Secret Service learned of the plot and decided to catch the ghouls actually desecrating the tomb. The attempt as made the night of November 7, 1876, and was permitted to progress to the point where the gang had removed the casket from its stone covering. Then one of the service men accidentally discharged his gun; in the confusion the officers began shooting at each other, and the gang escaped. Two of them, John Hughes and Terence Mullen, were later caught and given the maximum sentence for [attempted larceny and conspiracy. No more serious charge could be placed against them since, at that time there was no state law making grave robbing a felony]--one year in the penitentiary. Kenealy was subsequently sentenced for counterfeiting." - Illinois: A Descriptive and Historical Guide pgs 395-396
As an aftermath of this incident Robert Lincoln, the President's sole surviving son insisted that the casket be placed in a steel vault and encased in concrete 10 feet below the floor of the tomb which was done in 1901 and remains so today.