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Rustic Inn 412 Pulaski
Street |
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The Rustic Inn marker reads. "In the Spring of 1876 a gang of counterfeiters plotted to steal the body of Abraham Lincoln from the Tomb in Springfield, Illinois. Hoping to be paid a ransom of $200,000.00 and the release of one of their gang, Ben Boyd, their engraver, who was in the penitentiary. This was the location of their headquarters in Central Illinois. Here a part of the conspiracy was plotted. Through the efforts of a man named W. D. Longnecker, a detective, the plot was uncovered and for awhile the plot was foiled here in Mr. Lincoln's namesake city. In the Fall of 1876 an unsuccessful attempt was made to steal the body of the Martyred President and later the counterfeiters were prosecuted." The
following excerpt is taken from Paul Beaver's: Two known bizarre plots to steal Abraham Lincoln's corpse were hatched in 1876. A local attempt—one of “the most notorious crimes of the century”—was attempted in November, 1876. In early 1876, this wacky scheme was planned by a group of Logan County pushers of counterfeit currency. This plot
:…was
actually set in motion by the conviction and imprisonment of a
counterfeiter named |
