Grave Robbery of the Famous

Grave Robbers

Ransom Note

Grave robbing, also known as tomb raiding, is when a grave or tomb is opened for the purpose of stealing artifacts or personal objects buried with the deceased.  And, there are times, when the grave is robbed for the actual remains, usually to demand and collect a ransom with.

Alexander T Stewart

St. Mark's

In April 1876, the body of one of the richest men in New York was stolen.  Multi-millionaire Alexander Turney Stewart’s body was stolen from his crypt, just three weeks after his interment at St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery in New York City.

Personal Ads

For two years, the grave robber, who went by the name Romaine, communicated with the Stewart family’s liaison though obscure personal ads placed in the New York Herald.

Ransom

Terms were finally agreed upon and the ransom amount was set at $20,000.  At an undisclosed location, the body was exchanged for the specified ransom amount.  No one was ever apprehended for the grave robbery.   

Episcopal Cathedral of the Incarnation

A positive identification of the body was never made, but the returned remains were entombed in a new vault in the Episcopal Cathedral of the Incarnation in Garden City, Long Island.

President Lincoln in his Coffin

There was an attempt to steal President Abraham Lincoln’s body in 1876 and hold it for ransom.  Members of a counterfeiter's gang attempted to steal Lincoln’s body from his tomb at Oak Ridge Cemetery on November 7, 1876.  The plan was to take Lincoln’s remains and hide them in the sand dunes of northern Indiana until a ransom of $200,000 was paid.  The gang was also going to demand the release of one of their members from prison.

State Prison at Joliet, Illinois

Lincoln's Tomb

However, a police informant who had infiltrated the gang let the secret service know of the plan. Eight detectives rushed the tomb that night, but the grave robbers got away.  All were arrested within a few days and convicted of attempted grave robbing.  All were given a sentence of one year in the Illinois State Prison at Joliet.

Inside Lincoln's Tomb

Lincoln was reburied in his mausoleum, but reportedly not in the casket.  In 1901, Robert Todd Lincoln had his father’s remains disinterred and placed inside a steel cage that was buried 10 feet beneath the floor of his tomb.  The cage was then encased in 4,000 pounds of concrete so that it could not be opened again.

 

Charlie Chaplin

Chaplin's Grave

Two grave robbers took the coffin of silent film star, Charlie Chaplin, just months after his death.  Chaplin had died on Christmas day, 1977, and was buried in the Vevey Cemetery in the village of Corsier, Switzerland. 

Robbing a Grave

The grave robbers dug up his casket in March 1978, and sent a photo of the coffin to Chaplin’s widow along with a demand for £400,000 ($650,000 US.)  Oona Chaplin refused to pay.  The robbers then threatened Chaplin’s youngest children.

Officials caught the two men after an intense surveillance operation in May. Roman Wardas was sentenced to 4 and a half years in prison. Accomplice Gantcho Ganev received a suspended sentence.

Chaplin's Coffin

Police located Chaplin’s coffin buried in a nearby cornfield.  Chaplin was reburied in his grave– under several feet of reinforced concrete.

Presley's Funeral

Elvis Presley

Just days after the death of Elvis Presley, there were rumors that a group of men planned to steal his body, and hold it for a ransom of $10-million.  Presley had been buried next to his mother in a mausoleum at Forest Hill Cemetery in Memphis, Tennessee.

Graceland

Presley's Grave

Police confronted three men they found hanging around the Presley Mausoleum after dark. Since they had no tools with them, officials let them go. Elvis’s grave, along with his mothers, was moved to the Meditation Garden at Graceland, Presley’s home.  The graves are now monitored by security 24-hours a day.

Whitney Houston

Houston's Casket

After the death of Whitney Houston in February 2012, round-the-clock armed security guards were placed at her grave.  Houston was reportedly buried wearing over half-a-million dollars worth of jewelry and clothing.  Her casket was said to be gold-lined and worth tens of thousands of dollars.

Fairview Cemetery

The Fairview Cemetery, in Westfield, New Jersey was closed to all but lot owners after Houston’s burial. Officials attempted to limit the crowds and keep security in place.  One year later, Houston's grave is guarded 24 hours a day by foot patrol, and there is talk of encasing her casket in concrete.

Johann Strauss

Johannes Brahms

And the latest case of grave robbing involves a Slovak man, who claimed last summer that he had robbed the graves of classical composers Johann Strauss and Johannes Brahms – of their teeth. Ondrej Jajcaj supposedly dug up both graves in the Viennese Central Cemetery to get teeth from each of the composers in order to start a museum. He claims to have robbed other hundreds of other graves of skulls and personal effects to also put in his museum.

Strauss' Grave

Brahms' Grave

Austrian police began investigating the claims last May and discovered that indeed, the teeth had been removed from the musicians. If convicted, Jajcaj could face 6 months to ten years in prison.

Although you might assume that grave robbing doesn't happen much anymore, it appears that it is still something to be concerned about - even in the highly electronic world of the 21^st Century.

~ Joy

Cemeteries Worth the Visit – Oak Ridge Cemetery, Springfield, Illinois

1872 Map of Cemetery

Oak Ridge Cemetery is located in the Illinois capitol city of Springfield.  Founded in 1855, the name was suggested by Mayor John C.Cook because of the large standoff oaks on the original property. Several of those trees remain standing today.  The cemetery was dedicated on May 24, 1860.

 Oak Ridge was landscaped and designed in Classical Revival and Romanesque styles.  Primarily known for President Abraham Lincoln’s tomb, Oak Ridge is so much more.  The hilly land consists of bluffs and valleys, with 12 miles of paved roads that meander throughout over 300 acres.   Oak Ridge is on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. 

Lincoln's Tomb

Rubbing Lincoln's Nose

Abraham Lincoln, the 16^th President of the United States, is the most famous person buried here.  Because of this, Oak Ridge is the second most visited cemetery in the U.S.  (Arlington National Cemetery is first.)  Lincoln’s 117-foot Tomb was designed by sculptor Larkin Mead.  It was built of brick covered with granite. Four bronze sculptures surround the tomb.  Each sculpture represents one of the four armed services in the Civil War; infantry, cavalry, navy and artillery.  At the entrance of the tomb is a bronze head of Abraham Lincoln.  The nose is shiny due to tourists rubbing it for good luck.

Lincoln's Funeral held at Receiving Vault

Tomb Rotunda

Once inside the tomb, a marble rotunda contains statues of Lincoln, along with plaques that contain excerpts from his most famous speeches.  There are two doorways in the rotunda – one to enter the tomb by, and the other to exit by.  In the tomb itself, a granite monument marks the gravesite.  Lincoln, his wife and sons are in crypts located in the south wall.  The receiving vault, where Lincoln’s body was held until the monument was built is located at the bottom of the hill, behind the monument.

 Vachel Lindsey's Stone
(Courtesy Connie Nisinger)

Nicholas Vachel Lindssey

Others buried in Oak Ridge include Illinois poet Nicholas Vachel Lindsey, considered the originator of poetry as performance art.  Lindsey was one of the best-known poets of the 1920’s and 1930’s in the U.S.  Lindsey apparently committed suicide by drinking a bottle of lye. He was well known for his poems ‘The Congo’ and ‘Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight.’

Shelby M. Cullom's Grave
(Courtesy of Connie Nisinger)

Governor Shelby M. Cullom

Many Illinois politicians, congressmen, senators and governors, including Governor Shelby Moore Cullom, known as ‘Mr. Republican.’  Cullom held almost every elective office including two terms in the Illinois House of Representatives three in the U.S. House of Representatives and five terms in the U.S. Senate.

Governor John Riley Tanner

Tanner's Mausoleum

The 21^st Governor of Illinois, John Riley Tanner, is also buried here, along with numerous Civil War generals.  Lincoln’s first law partner, John T. Stuart is also buried in Oak Ridge. 

Roy Bertelli's Controversial Grave

And, not to be missed is the controversial grave of Roy Bertelli, known as Mr. Accordion.

G.A.R. Memorial

There are several war monuments in Oak Ridge.  Memorials exist for the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.), World War Two, the Korean War, and Illinois Vietnam Veterans.

If you go to Springfield, don’t miss Oak Ridge Cemetery.  A visit to Lincoln’s Tomb is a must, but don’t stop there.  Plan half a day and enjoy the beautiful rolling hills, amazing sculpture and pleasantly designed grounds.  Stop by the cemetery office, at the front gate, for a map.  You can also purchase a CD that will guide you on an audio tour of the cemetery and many of its fascinating stones. 

Oak Ridge Cemetery is located at 1441 Monument Avenue in Springfield.  You may contact them by phone at (217) 789-2340.  Or visit the cemetery's web sit at http://www.oakridgecemetery.org.

~ Joy

Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight by Vachel Lindsay

In Springfield, Illinois

IT is portentious, and a thing of state

That here at midnight, in our little town

A mourning figure walks, and will not rest,

Near the old court-house, pacing up and down.

Or by his homestead, or by shadowed yards

He lingers where his children used to play,

Or through the market, on the well-worn stones

He stalks until the dawn-stars burn away.

A bronzed, lank man! His suit of ancient black,

A famous high top-hat, and plain worn shawl

Make him the quaint, great figure that men love,

The prairie-lawyer, master of us all.

He cannot sleep upon his hillside now.

He is among us:--as in times before!

And we who toss or lie awake for long

Breathe deep, and start, to see him pass the door.

His head is bowed. He thinks on men and kings.

Yea, when the sick world cries, how can he sleep?

Too many peasants fight, they know not why,

Too many homesteads in black terror weep.

The sins of all the war-lords burn his heart.

He sees the dreadnaughts scouring every main.

He carries on his shawl-wrapped shoulders now

The bitterness, the folly and the pain.

 

He cannot rest until a spirit-dawn

Shall come:--the shining hope of Europe free:

The league of sober folk, the Workers' Earth,

Bringing long peace to Cornland, Alp and Sea.

It breaks his heart that kings must murder still,

That all his hours of travail here for men

Seem yet in vain. And who will bring white peace

That he may sleep upon his hill again?

The Making of The National Cemetery System

Crown Hill National Cemetery

Abraham Lincoln

The National Cemetery System was developed as a way to provide a respectable and honored burial location for Civil War soldiers killed defending the Union.  In the Act of July 17, 1862, Congress authorized President Abraham Lincoln "to purchase cemetery grounds ... to be used as a national cemetery for soldiers who shall have died in the service of the country."  This was the first U.S. legislation to set in motion the concept of a national cemetery.

Before the national cemeteries were developed, soldiers were buried where they fell, at military posts, or the body was sent back to the family for a private burial.  A headboard was usually placed at the grave with the soldier’s name and information either painted on or written on in chalk.  Since the wooden markers could not with stand the elements, the boards deteriorated rapidly and burial sites were lost.

Nashville National Cemetery

In July of 1862, the Army’s Quartermaster Department was assigned the task of establishing and maintaining the national cemeteries. After the end of the Civil War in 1865, the program began in earnest – to search for, locate, recover, and identify the remains of all Union soldiers, before re-interment in a national cemetery.  By June 1866, over 1 million dollars had been spent re-interring the war dead.  The Quartermaster General estimated that over $2.6 million would be the ''total cost of national cemeteries, and collection, transfer and re-interment of remains of loyal soldiers.'' The average cost of re-interment for each body was $9.75.

The first National Cemetery Act was passed on February 22, 1867.  It provided funding in the amount of $750-thousand for the construction of national cemeteries, including the purchase of land, fencing and headstones.  The act also set some rules into place regarding conduct in a national cemetery stating, “any person who shall willfully destroy, mutilate, deface, injure, or remove any monument, gravestone . . . or shrub within the limits of any said national cemetery” would be arrested and found guilty of a misdemeanor.

U.S. Colored Troops Burial Grounds

Union Head Stone

The headstone design was subject to several years of debates.  Many materials were suggested, including cast iron.  Final approval and the appropriation of 1-million dollars was given by Congress, in March 1873 for the erection of a marble or granite headstone, measuring 12 inches high by 10 inches wide by 4 inches thick, with a slightly rounded top.  Name, rank or affiliation was placed in a federal shield carved into the stone.  Headstones for the regular Army soldiers were marked as “USA.”  Stones for the U.S. Colored Troops were marked as “USCT.”  Due to interpretation of the act, stones for ‘contrabands’ and civilians were not allowed.

Marble or granite headstones for those whose remains were unidentified measured 6 inches high by 6 inches wide and 30 inches deep.  They were marked only with a number and/or by the words “Unknown U.S. Soldier.” Forty-two percent of the bodies and remains recovered were never identified.

 

It took eight years for the interment of nearly almost 300,000 Union remains into designated national cemetery grounds.  Of those, over one hundred thousand were not identifiable. In 1870, General Montgomery Meigs declared the reburial project to be completed with a total of seventy-three national cemeteries created.  However, more would need to be created in the West where fallen soldiers had been abandoned at their frontier posts.

During the 1870’s several amendments were added to the National Cemetery Act of 1867 to allow the burial of Union veterans in national cemeteries.  In 1872, an amendment was passed to allow “all soldiers and sailors honorably discharged from the service of the United States who may die in a destitute condition, shall be allowed burial in the national cemeteries of the United States.”

As a result of the amendments, many national cemeteries began to be located throughout the country – not just at the site of Civil War battles.   National cemeteries were set up in New Mexico, Nevada, California, and Mexico City, Mexico for those slain in the Mexican War.

Fredrick L Olmsted

Landscape architect, Fredrick Law Olmsted was called in to offer his opinion on the appearance of the national cemeteries.  Olmsted advised, “the main object should be to establish permanent dignity and tranquility ... sacredness being expressed in the enclosing wall and in the perfect tranquility of the trees within.”   As a result, trees and shrubs were added to the national cemeteries, flowers were planted, and stone, brick or iron fences enclosed the grounds.  Many times cannons and other artillery were added as cemetery monuments.

Courtesy of
Arlington National Cemetery

Gen. Montgomery Meigs

In June of 1881, General Meigs issued a recommendation that “Arlington cemetery, … be declared and constituted by law the official national cemetery of the government, and that its space, not needed for the interment of soldiers, be used for the burial of officers of the United States legislative, judicial, civil, and military, who may die at the seat of government or whose friends may desire their interment in a public national cemetery.”

Confederate stones

In 1906, over forty years after the war, legislation passed that allowed the re-interment of Confederate soldiers in national cemeteries.

There are now 131 national cemeteries located throughout the United States and Puerto Rico.  Many are located on or near Civil War battlefields or troop concentration points such as military hospitals and campsites.  The original fourteen national cemeteries, created in 1862 are –

Alexandria National Cemetery, Alexandria, Virginia

Annapolis National Cemetery, Annapolis, Maryland

Antietam National Cemetery, Sharpsburg, Maryland

Camp Butler National Cemetery, Springfield, Illinois

Cypress Hills National Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York

Danville National Cemetery, Danville, Kentucky

Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery, Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas 

Fort Scott National Cemetery, Fort Scott, Kansas

Keokuk National Cemetery, Keokuk, Iowa

Loudon Park National Cemetery, Baltimore, Maryland

Mill Springs National Cemetery, Nancy, Kentucky

New Albany National Cemetery, New Albany, Indiana

Philadelphia National Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Soldier’s Home National Cemetery, Washington, D.C.

Since 1862, more than 3-million burials have occurred in national cemeteries.  The purpose of the National Cemetery System remains the same as it did 149 years ago; to provide a proper burial service, headstone, and interment in hallowed ground for veterans, those on active duty, reservists and National Guard members who serve and defend our country.

~ Joy