Did Robert Lincoln Ride the Funeral Train to Baltimore?

[loetar44]

(01-25-2015 04:13 PM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  

(01-25-2015 02:43 PM)loetar44 Wrote:  Thanks Eva for your remark, but grave robbery, maybe it’s better to speak here of vault robbing was not an uncommon practise in the 19th century. Not in the first place to steal Lincoln’s or Willie’s corpse but to steal artifacts, personal effects or other objects. Body snatching (by "resurrectionists" or "resurrection-men”) was even common purpose, to sell the corpse for dissection or anatomy lectures in medical schools. Remember that the body of Ohio congressman John Scott Harrison, son of president William Henry Harrison, was snatched in 1878 and sold to the Ohio Medical College, where it was discovered by his son president Benjamin Harrison. I know that Lincoln’s vault was guarded, but not all the time and not for years. So, I think it is not unrealistic to think that “certain men” could steal something out of the vault and sell it, simply by unlocking the door with a false key or so, and locking it again after stealing some objects. Or they could break the lock. So, I thought that “locking alone” was not sufficient, that more protection was necessary, because it was Abraham Lincoln, who rested in the vault. Just a thought.

Kees, I agree protection was necessary. I'm afraid I think my concept of a seal needs further education. I know a seal as an official, rather symbolic decaration and sign that a place/an item is not accessible to anyone, and its intactness serves as proof, while a lock provides real protection against violence and robbery. E.g. the police seals crime sites like this:

Or water flow readers and electricity meter readers are sealed to prevent the houseowner from manipulating and cheating about his usage:

As I've always understood a seal is rather a symbol, an order, and not designed to physically resist forced action - unlike a lock?!?

I ment a security seal, a mechanism, in this case used to seal the vault in a way that provides tamper evidence and some level of security to detect e.g. theft. Think for example of metal seals, such as bolt seals, ball seals or cable seals.