Lincoln's Corpse
/“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
— John 10:10
“In the fall of 1876, just 11 years after his assassination, there was a plot to steal President Lincoln’s remains from Oak Ridge Cemetery and hold them ransom in the Indiana Dunes.” — National Park Service, Department of the Interior, United States of America
Election Day, November 7, 1876. Three men (Jack Hughes, Terrence Mullen and Lewis Swegles) enter Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois under the cover of election chaos to steal President Abraham Lincoln’s body. Little did the others know that Lewis Swegles was an confidential informant of the Secret Service. However, the Secret Service was not there because of Presidential security. They were tasked, at this point in history, with the security of the Treasury Department and were on the trail of a counterfeit plot undermining currency in the United States.
In October 1876, a prominent engraver for Chicago counterfeiters named Benjamin Boyd was jailed at the nearby Joliet penitentiary. This threatened the operations of Irish-American crime boss Jame "Big Jim" Kinealy. In turn, he recruited Jack and Terrence for a plot to steal the body of Abraham Lincoln. They were to steal it, transport it 200 miles to the Indiana Dunes and hide it. At which point, a ransom call would be made for $200,000 and the pardon of Benjamin Boyd.
Jack and Terrence couldn’t keep their mouths shut at the saloon. Swegles joined the team shortly after and alerted the Secret Service who were working with the Pinkerton’s Detective Agency to stake out the tomb. The criminals successfully broke into the tomb, moved the coffin and then sent Swegles out to get the wagon. Spooked in the downtime, Jack and Terrence fled the scene. They were arrested 10 days later in the same saloon where they spilled the beans in the beginning.
The authorities were unable to prosecute Jack and Terrence on charges of stealing a corpse, as there was no 1876 law against it in Illinois. Instead, they prosecuted them on the crime of stealing a casket valued at $75. Jack and Terrence were sentenced to 1 year in jail for their crime.
My point to the story, besides I love history, is the low opinion most people will feel towards Jack and Terrence (I used their first names to keep it more personal). The appalling idea of stealing a national hero’s corpse for ransom towards furthering nefarious acts. What were they thinking? Often times, we are no better.
How many times do we try to negotiate, barter, trade with and attempt to hold God at ransom through the death of His Son? We understand the forgiveness that comes through the cross. We appreciate all our sins were in Him on the cross. So, we are tempted to wager with God. I will do “X”, if you will do “Z”. I will give up “A”, if you will give me “B”. Just let this happen and I promise… Look at the good I’ve done, isn’t that worth… Help me, and I will be good. I promise, I’ll never ask for anything else again!
Negotiating with God in this way is no better than stealing Lincoln’s body. You won’t be charged with desecrating His corpse, for no corpse exists. At best, you are wagering on an empty tomb, i.e. a hole in the ground and nothing more.
Jesus said in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” His death was for the world, but it did not save the world. It is only His life that saves those who believe in Him.
If a man dies of cancer, he has two problems. Cancer and Death. If you cure the cancer, he is still dead. If you bring him back to life, he will just die of cancer again. To save him, you have to cure the cancer AND give him life. The same is true for all of us. We are dead in our sin. We needed a cure for sin: the cross. But we also need LIFE.
You cannot negotiate with God to be “good enough.” You cannot trade with God to find an acceptable path to heaven on your own. Forgiveness is there for all. But, you need life. Not yours. His life.
Jesus said in John 10:10, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” There is only one trade you can make to receive that gift; you must trade your life for His. No other trade is acceptable.
Everything else is an attempt at theft; no different than the crime boss’s attempt to steal Lincoln’s corpse. It’s just an attempt to keep your own world with God’s forgiveness. It doesn’t work that way. However, God will not condemn you for stealing a meaningless coffin. Neither will He accept anything less than the perfect life of His Son. Forgiveness is essential, but life was the purpose. It is only found in Christ.
My challenge for this week is to evaluate where I’m trying to negotiate with God, rather than doing a divine trade of my complete life for His. He came that we might have life! I pray that I would seek the path of His life over creating a life of my own stealing coffins from the graves of dead men (no matter how great they might be). Salvation is not primarily a sin issue; it is a life issue. I’m not just asking if you believe God forgives. I’m asking: have you found life in Jesus Christ?
If not, I would love to connect with you. Please reach out!
Postscript: Following this incident, Robert Todd Lincoln had Lincoln's body moved multiple times before being permanently interred in an iron cage under 10 feet of concrete below the burial floor of the Lincoln gravesite at Oak Ridge Cemetery, Springfield, Illinois.
© 2025 Warren Martin. All rights Reserved.
