In 1865, during the waning days of the Civil War, a Union Soldier was rummaging around in the upper levels of the state capitol in Raleigh when he came upon an old document sitting unceremoniously in a cabinet. He swiped it.
And thus began one of the strangest stories in North Carolina history. The thing the soldier took was North Carolina’s official copy of the Bill of Rights.
This month, our country is celebrating its 250th birthday, which makes this the perfect time to re-share one of my favorite episodes from Away Message, the podcast I produced during my time at Our State magazine. I talked to archivists, attorneys, a former undercover FBI agent, a CEO, and a former governor. I got into a vault underneath the state archives that few people get to see. The result was a story that spans more than a century, a true-crime caper that involves an FBI sting operation, the Antiques Roadshow, and vanilla milkshakes from Cook Out. It ends with, of all things, a court case that hinged upon a pivotal piece of evidence: a typo.
You can listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube.
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Also! Here are some pictures from both the recovery…
Governor Mike Easley (left) after the return of North Carolina’s copy of the Bill of Rights. (Photo via NC State Archives)
…and from my time in the vault. Did you know that the state also has the original Carolina Charter from 1663? It’s the actual document that formed the first government in the colony of Carolina. Archivists call the Bill of Rights “Bill.” They call the charter “Chuck.”
Two of the people featured in this episode wrote books about the theft and the recovery of North Carolina’s Bill of Rights:
Lost Rights: The Misadventures of a Stolen American Relic, by David Howard
Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Treasures, by Robert K. Wittman and John Shiffman
One last note: I did all of the reporting for this story in 2018, and it was also adapted into an oral history-style article about the FBI raid for Our State. Many thanks to everyone who helped me back then, including former Governor Easley, who spent half of our interview talking about woodworking.