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RALEIGH, N.C., Sep 21, 2006 (UPI via COMTEX) -- An 18th-century legal tome has been returned to the North Carolina state Supreme Court 150 years after it was stolen by a Union soldier after the Civil War.
"Report of Divers Cases in Pleas of the Crown Adjudged and Determined; in the Reign of King Charles II" is inscribed by Quentin Busbee, who served as the Supreme Court reporter in 1853, the Raleigh News & Observer reported. The book was published in 1708.
The work was donated anonymously to the library of Indiana University. The only clue to its travels from North Carolina to Indiana is an unsigned inscription -- "Obtained in July 1865 at Raleigh, North Carolina."
Recently, Danny Moody, the Supreme Court historian, got an e-mail from a librarian in Indiana saying that the library there appeared to have a book that belonged to the court. The book, valued at about $1,500, was returned last week and is now in a climate-controlled vault.
"The book itself is almost 300 years old. It's been missing for 150 years," Moody said. "I think it's phenomenal that it found its way back."
URL: www.upi.com Copyright 2006 by United Press International
