Lincoln, the unknown

33I n 1876, a gang of counterfeiters tried to steal Lincoln's body.It is an astonishing story, which few books on Lincoln say anythingabout."Big Jim" Kinealy's gang, one of the cleverest counterfeitingcrews that ever vexed and perplexed the United States SecretService, had its headquarters, during the seventies, in the guilelesscorn-and-hog town of Lincoln, Illinois.For years Big Jim's suave and mild-mannered "shovers," asthey were called, had been sneaking out across the country andshoving bogus five-dollar bills across the counters of credulousmerchants. The profits had been fantastic. But by the springof 1876, a deadly paralysis was creeping over the gang, fortheir supply of counterfeit currency was almost exhausted, andBen Boyd, the master engraver who made their bogus greenbacks,was in prison.For months Big Jim sniffed vainly about St. Louis and Chicago,trying to get another engraver to make counterfeit bills.Finally he resolved that somehow the invaluable Ben Boyd mustbe set free.Big Jim conceived the unholy idea of stealing the body ofAbraham Lincoln, and hiding it away. Then, while the wholeNorth was in an uproar, Big Jim would calmly drive a hardand fabulous bargain: he would agree to return the sacredcorpse in exchange for Ben Boyd's pardon and a huge pile ofgold.249