Thieves stole A. T. Stewart's body from his New York vault, and his widow paid $20,000 for a satchel of bones

Alexander Turney Stewart opened his first dry goods store on lower Broadway in 1823 and became the largest retailer in the world. He died at his Fifth Avenue marble mansion on 10 April 1876, worth up to $50 million. His will left the estate to his widow, Cornelia. His lawyer, Judge Henry Hilton, was co-executor. Cornelia transferred virtually all her business interests to Hilton for $1 million. Within six years Hilton had driven the business into receivership. On 7 November 1878 the assistant sexton of St. Mark's-in-the-Bowery found the Stewart vault broken open and the body gone. The next day Hilton offered a $25,000 reward and said the estate would never pay a ransom. In early 1879 the thieves demanded $250,000 and sent a coffin fitting as proof. Hilton offered $25,000 and they refused. About 1881 Mrs. Stewart offered $20,000, and they accepted. Her grandnephew handed over the money at 3 a.m. on a road in Westchester County and received a satchel of remains. The only source for the exchange is police chief George Walling. According to the verger of the Cathedral of the Incarnation in Garden City, the remains were hidden at Stewart's store at 280 Broadway until 1884, then placed in the cathedral tomb. The thieves were never caught. Cornelia died in 1886. In 1887 her executors, Hilton and Charles Clinch, auctioned the Stewart art collection. The mansion was demolished in 1901. The Empire State Building stands on the site.