Bill of Rights Stolen During the Civil War Is Recovered. 33DEGREE

One of the original 13 copies of the Bill of Rights, which was stolen from from the North Carolina State House in Raleigh during the Civil War, has recently been recovered in an FBI sting opertion. Historians believe that the handwritten document was taken by a Union soldier on April 14, 1865, when General William T. Sherman's army marched through the city. The soldier took it home with him to Ohio where he sold it a year later in the last known transfer of the document until recently. At least 5 of the original 13 states have lost their original copies of the Bill of Rights since its ratification in 1791.North Carolina was one of the few states that refused to ratify the the Constitution until the Bill of Rights was added. A broker for the seller(whose name has not yet been released) has twice previously(most recently in 1995), offered to sell the document to North Carolina officials,for $4 million dollars.State officials refused to negotiate because they considered it ransom money. According to the FBI, the seller then threatened to harm the document if his name was made pblic. In March, an FBI undercover agent posing as a buyer, met with the broker and recovered the document, which is estimated to worth $20-$30 millin dollars. Possible criminal charges are pending, but proving criminality in the sale of of governments documents is difficult, espeially if they are take in wartime. It must be proven that the seller knew knew the document was stolen, and it can be argued that the Ohio soldier's taking the document could be considered spoils of war. If filed, the case will likely be heard in a Federal couty in North Carolina where the seizure warrant was filed.Blue&Gray Magazine,Summer 2003.p.39. 33DEGREE

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