Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 April 1887 — THE MARTYR PRESIDENT. [ARTICLE]

THE MARTYR PRESIDENT.

The Secrecy About Abraham Lincoln’s Resting Place Finally Removed. His Body and That of His Wife Placed Side by Side in a Cemented Tomb. [SPRINGFIELD (1LX..1 CORRESPONDENCE.] For some years—m fact, ever since the attempt was made to steal the remain of Abraham Lincoln—there has been a mystery as to the exact place where the ashes of the martyr President are lying. That mystery has at last been removed. On Thursday last, the anniversary of his death, the remains were brought out from the quiet and secrecy which they have so long occupied, and deposited finally and forever by the side of those of Mrs. Lincoln at a point in the monument which can be made known to everybody. The work of removal was in charge of the Lincoln Guard of Honor. This organization was formed soon after the attempt to steal the remains of Lincoln, and the dust of the martyr was turned over to its charge by the Lincoln Monument Association in November of that year, the Guard of Honor binding itself to keep the trust with all care and diligence. There had been much more than the usual air of secrecy about the Lincoln mbnument for a week past, but it was known that some sort of masonry work was going on in the North Hall, though the public was given to understand that this was merely some necessary repairs. It was iu fact the preparations for the reburial—the building of the tomb. There were present at the monument on Thursday morning O. M. Hatch, George N. Black, Lincoln Dubois, John W. Bunn, C. C. Brown, Jacob Bunn, and James C. Conkling, representing the Lincoln Monument Association, and the following representing the Lincoln Guard of Honor: General Jasper N. Reese, J. Carroll Power, J. P. Lindley, Colonel N. B. Wiggins, E. S. Johnson, Horace Copin, and Clinton L. Conkling. The gentlemen mentioned met promptly in the memorial hall of the monument preparatory to the work before them. The trust papers given by the guard to the monument association at the time the former took charge of the remains were spread out on the glass cases in Memorial Hall and examined by all present. While this was going on Wash Irwin, one of the men having the contract for doing the masonry work preparatory to the reburial, came into the hall carrying with him‘a pair of mason’s chisels and a hammer. He was closely followed by half a dozen men carrying workmen’s tools. A brief consultation followed and Custodian Power then announced that it was time to begin the work. The masons opened the entrance leading to the dark crypt in the very center of the monument, immediately under the obelisk, and began to cut acd chisel away at the cement which held in place the stones barring the way to the secret resting-place of the remains of Abraham Lincoln. As one after another of the workmen became tired from working in the cramped and narrow recess they came out and gave place to others, who pressed on with the work. The labor was continued for more than an hour, at the end of which time the coffin, with the sacred remains of Lincoln, was handed out by the workmen and received in the hands of eight men belonging to the two associations, who laid it upon two rests prepared for the purpose a little to the right of the center of the hall, placing the head to the north and the feet toward the door. The casket consisted first of a large pine box inclosing a red cedar box. Within the latter was a walnut coffin lined air tight with lead an eighth of an inch thi k, and this inclosed all that remains to the world but the great name and fame of Abraham Lincoln. The encasements were opened, and here, twenty-two years from the day of his death, was his body clearly recognizable as such by the gentlemen standing about, all of whom, but one or two, had known him intimately in life. The silver plate on the coffin lid was perfectly bright, as was the lettering: ABRAHAM LINCOLN, SIXTEENTH PRESIDENT OP THE UNITED STATES Bom February 12, 1809; died April 15, 1861. The coffin was then sealed np and carried to its final resting-place in the vault in the north hall of the monument. Immediately in front of the entrance to this north hall, and in the very center of its floor a tomb had been sunk five feet deep, six feet wide, and eight feet long. This is lined with 6tone securely laid in cement, and this stone casing similarly lined with brick. Inside of this casing the dimensions are as given above. Into this tomb the coffin containing the dust of Lincoln was lowered, being placed on the west side—that is, to the right as the visitor enters the door of tbe north hall. The head lies toward the door. The coffin with the remains of Mrs. Lincoln was then brought around from the south hall and lowered into the tomb by the side of her husband’s body. Tue masons immediately went to work, and a low brick arch was sprung over the caskets. This was covered with hydraulic cement, and above this rulble and slag mingled with cement were filled in, bringing the surface of the tomb up to the floor. The stones of the floor were then replaced, and the work was ended. At the memorial exercises held by the Lincoln Guard of Honor on Friday, the guard presented in full the history of its relations to the keeping of the President’s remains, detailing the" reasons for its organization and what its entire action in the matter has been. There was very lifctlo in the history, however, beyond what is outlined above, that would be of any special public interest. . The Plot to Steal the Remains. The night of Nov, 7, 1876, Mullins and Hughes, two Chicago thieves, made an' unsuccessful attempt to 6teal the body of the late President Lincoln. The marble sarcophagus in which it was inclosed, and which was exposed to the view of visitors through the iron grating on the north side of the monument, was taken ont; but at this point the robbers were interfered with by certain persons secreted in the monument, who had received information that the jobbery was to be attempted, and abandoned their strange booty. Some weeks afterward Mullins and Hughes were arrested in Chicago, taken to Springfield, tried, convicted, and sentenced to short terms in the penitentiary for larceny, there being in Illinois no law against bodysnatching^