In
the mid-19th century, Alexander Stewart ran a vast business of
factories and stores selling clothing and dry goods in New York City.
When he died, he left a fortune worth $46 billion dollars in today's
money. He died in 1876, and was buried (but not embalmed) in the
graveyard at Saint-Mark’s-Church-In-The-Bowery. Two years later, the
grave was unearthed by unknown persons, and Stewart's corpse was
missing.
Alexander Stewart made headlines in life
as an entrepreneur and shrewd businessman, but his “resurrection” caused
a media sensation unparalleled by anything he had experienced in life.
Grave robbing was a reality of 19th-century life, but it usually
involved the theft of fresh bodies from the poor and disenfranchised for
medical experiments. The successful body-snatching of one of the New
York’s biggest names, in a bad economy—two years after a failed attempt
to rob Lincoln’s Tomb, no less—captured the zeitgeist. (The Lincoln
Case, Bess Lovejoy, author of Rest in Pieces: The Curious Fates of
Famous Corpses, suggested in an interview, may actually have served as
direct inspiration for the Stewart robbers.)
Police
found some gruesome evidence of the crime, but no body was ever
recovered. Or was it? Two men confessed, but produced no body or
evidence. Stewart's widow did some private negotiating with someone who
demanded a ransom. Stories were told of Stewart's bones being returned
to the family, but accounts vary. Read about
Alexander Stewart's disappearance at Atlas Obscura.
In
the mid-19th century, Alexander Stewart ran a vast business of
factories and stores selling clothing and dry goods in New York City.
When he died, he left a fortune worth $46 billion dollars in today's
money. He died in 1876, and was buried (but not embalmed) in the
graveyard at Saint-Mark’s-Church-In-The-Bowery. Two years later, the
grave was unearthed by unknown persons, and Stewart's corpse was
missing. 
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