North Carolina regains copy of original Bill of Rights

By Emery P. Dalesio, Associated Press

Raleigh, N.C. - An original copy of the Bill of Rights that was given to North Carolina by George Washington back in 1789 was returned to the state yesterday, culminating a bitter legal tug-of-war with Connecticut investors over the historic document.

Gov. Mike Easley accepted the document at a brief ceremony in the capitol after a judge ordered federal marshals to turn it over to the state — the first time North Carolina has owned the document since the end of the Civil War.

“I am pleased to accept this document on behalf of the state and look forward to having a grand celebration when we make it available to citizens and school children across North Carolina,” Easley said. “North Carolina’s stolen Bill of Rights may have been out of state for nearly 140 years, but never out of mind.”

Easley signed a receipt accepting possession of the document from U.S. marshals during a brief, quickly announced ceremony inside the antebellum state Capitol from which the document was stolen by an invading Union soldier in 1865.

Easley and other politicians celebrated victory as a diagonal beam of afternoon sunlight splayed across the weathered parchment in its ivory-colored frame. The document is one of the original 13 delivered to the colonies for review before the final document was approved in 1789.

Only hours before, U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle signed an order directing the U.S. Marshal’s Office to immediately hand over the document to Easley. The document has been in possession of the court during the legal battle.

The stolen document was sold by the Union soldier in 1866 to a Troy, Ohio, buyer, whose family sold it to Connecticut antiques dealer Wayne Pratt in 2000 for $200,000.

In March 2003, an FBI agent posing as a museum buyer at a meeting in Philadelphia pretended to purchase the paper from Pratt and his investor, Robert V. Matthews of Washington Depot, Conn., for $5 million. Instead, the agent presented a seizure warrant signed by Boyle.

Pratt, who owns antiques shops in Woodbury, Conn., and Nantucket, Mass., relinquished his ownership claim to the document. Matthews continues to claim partial ownership of the paper, which has been valued at up to $40 million.

Boyle last year awarded it to North Carolina. But in January, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., told Boyle to reconsider.

Boyle determined the document should return to the possession of the person or entity who owned it before the government’s sting operation.

Boyle ruled yesterday that Pratt, his company and his agent in the proposed sale, attorney John L. Richardson, had the clearest right to possession. But they had relinquished their claim to North Carolina, Boyle said.

Matthews had said in court depositions that he was a passive investor in the document’s purchase. That meant he could not claim ownership, Boyle ruled.

“It’s just thievery; it’s absolute thievery,” said Matthews’ attorney, Mike Stratton of New Haven, Conn. “Bob Matthews paid real money, $200,000, to buy a document that’s been in private hands for 140 years.”

Stratton said Boyle’s decision ignores an earlier 4th Circuit order that mandated the rights of all parties staking a claim to the document be respected — including those of his client.

A North Carolina legislative leader praised the decision.

“Justice is finally being done, and we’re delighted to have it returned,” Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand said on the Senate floor.

Easley said the Bill of Rights will be displayed in the state Museum of History.

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