Sources and Footnotes
On the Trail of a Killer: Sources
• A bulk of this section was constructed from the Jan. 13 through Jan. 29, 1924, editions of the both The Beacon News and Chicago Tribune. Both papers carried exhaustive coverage of Lincoln's confession on their front pages.
• There are different numbers on how many confessions Lincoln gave. A Jan. 24, 1924, Beacon says he gave at least six. On Feb. 1, 1925, the chief says Lincoln told him "101 childish stories." Other reports put the confessions at three. Five was the most commonly given and most credible number of confessions mentioned in newspapers.
• One of the few consistencies in Lincoln's confessions is that he killed Byron and Lina in his house on Indian Trail. This was later confirmed when Lincoln told Michels about a large blood spot on the basement wall, which he had covered with a fruit jar shelf. The stain had been overlooked by police during the initial investigation because Lincoln had also covered it with boards. However, establishing when exactly Lina and Byron were killed -- or what happened to the rest of their bodies -- is apparently not possible.
• It was reported that Michels actually conducted a test of Lincoln's confession that he burned Lina and Byron's bodies in the furnace. According to the Tribune, Michels had 300 pounds of meat burned to see how long it would take to accomplish such a gruesome task. However, this story might be another psychological tactic by Michels. It is mentioned several times that Lincoln was acutely aware of his press coverage. Several of the fake letters, like the sighting of his suicide, were apparently directed toward controlling his media image. Michels may have wanted Lincoln to believe he was burning the meat to encourage a real confession.
• The details about the public and officers questioning Michel's style came from the June 30, 1927, Beacon News.
• The quotes, "I have told the truth" and the dialog between Lincoln and Michels comes from the Jan. 26, 1924, Beacon. It is not clear whether the reporter heard this conversation, or it was later related by Michels. The Tribune quotes the conversation in a significantly different manner.
• All details about opening the cement blocks come from the Jan. 26, 1924, Beacon.
• Johansen's name comes from the Jan. 29, 1925, Beacon.
• Again, the July 1929 edition of True Detective Stories portrays the scene at the city dump significantly differently. In that story, Lincoln is laughing and goading on police. But none of the reporters who were on the scene at the dump mentioned this in the daily newspaper reports.
• One other unconfirmed story that both the Tribune and the Beacon allude to is the story that Lincoln caught his wife and her brother "in bed," which supposedly motivated his crime. However, there was no indication that this confession was any more truthful than Lincoln's other fanciful stories, including a story that Lina visited him in jail.
