A Woodbury antiques dealer was embroiled in a legal battle over a copy of the North Carolina Bill of Rights captured by General Sherman’s troops in the Civil War. Antiques dealer Wayne Pratt who died in 2007 purchased the valuable document in 1999 and attempted to sell it over the next four years, a dangerous undertaking that led to public humiliation and nearly cost him his freedom, according to this article in the Litchfield County Times.
A new book by David Howard, “Lost Rights, The Misadventures of a Stolen American Relic, tracks down the story of the valuable document and how North Carolina, Pratt, and his former partner fought over it. Howard describes many instances of theft and misrepresentation of historic documents in his book. Read full article.
