After Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1861 he took a long, circuitous train trip from his home in Springfield, Illinois to Washington, D.C. for his inauguration. Along the way Lincoln made frequent stops. He got off the train and made speeches. Meanwhile, further down the line, in Baltimore, Maryland, plotters were hoping to do great harm to Mr. Lincoln when his train passed through the city.
Rumors of these plots against Lincoln had reached the ears of Allan Pinkerton of the Pinkerton Detective Agency. Pinkerton and his informants did everything they could to prevent the possibility of tragedy in Baltimore. Of course any student of history knows that Lincoln made it to Washington for his swearing in to become president. But you probably didn't know about this perilous journey and how the plots by Lincoln's potential assassins were ultimately foiled. This is quite a story as told by Daniel Stashower.