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| Posted: Sat Jun 30th, 2007 11:09 am |
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1st Post |
susansweet
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I just finished reading the latest US News and World Report Magazine. Robert E. Lee is on the cover. There are about ten pages on the Civil War in this weeks magazine. I did catch some mistakes in the Hunley article It says a blue "flare " was sent instead a blue light but on the whole I thought it was an interesting read. I was especially interested in the articles on Civil War in the West and I am not talking Tennessee or Mississippi west. One is on California and another on New Mexico Territory
Get an issue if you can find it .
Susan
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| Posted: Sat Jun 30th, 2007 10:12 pm |
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2nd Post |
CleburneFan
Member
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Thanks for the heads up on this issue of US News and World Report. I don't usaully read the magazine, but I may try to get a hold of one if I can. Just curious why they chose Lee for the cover and not Grant and Lee or just Grant. Or a four quarters of Lincoln. Davis, Grant, Lee.
(Forgive me. I worked for ten years for a monthly magazine. I know all the serious thought processes that go into a cover choice. That USN&WP chose Lee says something. I just don't know what.)
Last edited on Sat Jun 30th, 2007 10:12 pm by CleburneFan
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| Posted: Sun Jul 1st, 2007 12:31 am |
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3rd Post |
CleburneFan
Member
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Guess what! I found all those articles at usnews.com. I even figured out why Lee is on the cover of the magazine. It is most likely because he is featured in an article about recently discovered letters he wrote that seem to demostrate how much he struggled with the decision to fight for the South. What a fascinating topic!
The web site also has a wonderful photograph of General Sherman and his staff.
I may print off all those articles because I'm afraid the web site will change the articles. They are really interesting. I never knew there was a plot to steal Lincoln's body!
Again, thanks Susan for telling us about these articles.
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| Posted: Sun Jul 1st, 2007 05:47 am |
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4th Post |
ole
Member
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Fan:
Did the article go into the "plot to steal Lincoln's body"? If not, it occurred a few years after the war and was not WTBS related. The scenario belongs in The Hall of Famous Stupid Criminals. Even so, they almost pulled it off. They were planning to ransom the body for the release of the ringleader -- yes, he planned it as an inmate of the State Prison.
If you're ever anywhere near Springfield, Illinois, do stop by the Museum and Library where there is (or was) a very large room with photos, articles, descriptions and artifacts dealing with the attempted theft. And there is a book out on the affair. Sorry. I forgot the title.
Ole
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| Posted: Sun Jul 1st, 2007 05:48 am |
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5th Post |
ole
Member
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Fan:
Did the article go into the "plot to steal Lincoln's body"? If not, it occurred a few years after the war and was not WTBS related. The scenario belongs in The Hall of Famous Stupid Criminals. Even so, they almost pulled it off. They were planning to ransom the body for the release of the ringleader -- yes, he planned it as an inmate of the State Prison.
If you're ever anywhere near Springfield, Illinois, do stop by the Museum and Library where there is (or was) a very large room with photos, articles, descriptions and artifacts dealing with the attempted theft. And there is a book out on the affair. Sorry. I forgot the title.
Ole
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| Posted: Tue Jul 3rd, 2007 02:17 am |
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6th Post |
booklover
Member
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Ole,
The book is "Stealing Lincoln's Body" by Thomas J. Craughwell.
The rest is from the Associated Press.
The plan, hatched in a Chicago tavern, was to take the coffin from its tomb, put it in a wagon, haul it 200 miles north to the Indiana Dunes and hold it until the state of Illinois paid $200,000 ransom to get it back.
The ringleader was James "Big Jim" Kennally, a convicted counterfeiter and co-owner of a Chicago tavern called The Hub. The Secret Service, established precisely because counterfeiting was a huge problem at the time, knew that The Hub was a favorite watering hole for counterfeiters.
Enter Lewis Swegles, a small-time crook -- and not such a good one at that -- who by this time was working as a Secret Service informant.
Kennally and his cohorts asked Swegles if he wanted in on the heist of Lincoln's body, to which Swegles reportedly replied: "I'm the boss body snatcher of Chicago."
Today, a line like that might raise questions. At the time, though, there were plenty of medical schools eager to get their hands on cadavers. And they didn't ask a lot of questions about where their suppliers got them.
So Swegles had himself a job. He tipped off the feds and the two groups -- crooks and cops -- boarded the same train bound for Springfield on Nov. 6, 1876.
A comedy of errors ensued until the crooks were caught a few days later.
None of this made much of a splash, Craughwell explains, because it took place on the night voters cast their ballots in the presidential race between Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel Tilden -- a hotly contested race that wasn't decided until the next year.
"In some cities the Lincoln break-in didn't get any coverage," says Craughwell. "And in some cases [newspapers] printed the story, but they told their readers it wasn't true."
The attempt to steal Lincoln's body has been covered before. The first time was in 1890, when the custodian of the tomb wrote a book, and most recently in 1990, with Bonnie Stahlman Speer's book, The Great Abraham Lincoln Hijack.
Best
Rob
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| Posted: Wed Jul 4th, 2007 12:34 am |
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7th Post |
CleburneFan
Member
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I believe this story has potential for a movie. It could be played one of two ways. One way would be to do it in the comical way the "Ocean's Eleven (Twelve, Thirteen) movies were done as a cool heist story with suave actors such as Clooney and Pitt or as a comedy in the style of the 1980s film "Disorganized Crime," a movie with a plot surprisingly similar to the failed Lincoln heist.
Or the movie could be done as a serious story of a true crime that almost happened, but the comedy of errors that took place in the unfolding and blundering failure of the crime would make it hard to take a serious look at what happened.
Colorfuls characters such as Irish mob boss Kennally just lend themselves to Holly wood depictions.
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| Posted: Wed Jul 4th, 2007 02:14 am |
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8th Post |
ole
Member
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It would seem that, in the 19th century, there existed a naive chutzpah that defies comprehension today. Or, maybe not. We still have stupid criminals from the guy that writes a "This is a robbery" note on the back of a deposit slip with his name on it, to the kids that ransack a house, tape the activity, and leave the camera. May Darwin's curse visit them before they reproduce.
Ole
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