Everyone's heard sayings
like these--most of us understand them as figurative
parts of speech. Here's the story of a man who took
these ideas quite literally--and then did his best
to disprove them. He was able to "afford living
in the past"...because the past came at a bargain
price.
The past is
gone...and it's missing, too!
In
November, 1997, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania
(HSP), a museum in Philadelphia, began computerizing
its 12,000-piece artifact collection. Founded in
1824, the HSP is known for its collection of military-edged
weapons and firearms from the Revolutionary and
Civil War eras.
Almost immediately,
staff members discovered artifacts missing--three
presentation swords and one Lancaster County long
rifle. The swords had been presented by the citizens
of Philadelphia to Civil War General George G. Meade,
David Bell Birney, and Andrew A. Humphreys. The
rifle dated back to 1785 and was handcrafted by
one of Pennsylvania's finest gunsmiths. Total value
of the four pieces? $750,000.
Assuming the artifacts
had been stolen, HSP staff members contacted the
FBI. Under the auspices of the 1994 Theft of Major
Art Work statute (18 U.S.C. 668), the Bureau initiated
an investigation.
Searching
for the past
Since there
was a very good possibility that the thief or thieves
would be collectors of historical artifacts or memorabilia,
the Agent, an art theft specialist, knew a good
place to begin would be a noted Civil War artifact
exhibition.
As luck would have
it, one of the largest Civil War weapons shows on
the East Coast, the Great Southern Weapons Fair,
was being held in Richmond, Virginia. Two Special
Agents (SAs) traveled to the exhibition and began
interviewing participants.
Deeper into
the past
A break came
when the Agents talked to Bruce Bazelon, an expert
on presentation swords. Mr. Bazelon didn't have
any specific information on the location of the
stolen artifacts, but he did remember hearing about
a Poconos flea market dealer who, back in 1994,
had been shown a picture of about 10 swords being
offered for sale by a possible dealer.
According to what Bazelon
heard, one of the swords was a presentation sword
that had been given to Civil War General George
A. McCall. As a presentation sword expert, Bazelon
knew from his research that this sword had been
a part of the HSP collection.
With
the information from Bazelon, one of the Agents
contacted the Poconos flea market dealer about the
identity of the person who tried to sell him the
swords. The dealer told him it was George Csizmazia,
an electrical contractor from Rutledge, Pennsylvania,
who was also a history buff.
On December 23, 1997,
the FBI Agents caught up with Csizmazia, an electrical
contractor, at his place of business and questioned
him about the missing swords. At first, Csizmazia
denied any knowledge of the missing swords, but
then finally admitted he did, indeed, have the swords
in his "collection." And he took the SAs
to his home.
Uncovering
the past
There, at Csizmazia's
home in a second floor bedroom, the SAs found not
only the missing swords, but more than 200 other
historic artifacts, all stolen from HSP. Among the
treasures found was a ring containing a lock of
George Washington's hair; the telescope used by
Elisha Kent Kane to locate the Polar Sea, other
presentation swords, rifles and handguns, medals
from various United States wars, silver trophies
belonging to the actor Edward Forrest, eyeglasses
and cigar holders. Each item had a place in the
history of Pennsylvania. The investigation determined
that Csizmazia used a sword from the 1600s to trim
his hedges.
Also discovered in
Csizmazia's home was a silver snuff box that had
been given to Andrew Hamilton by New York officials
in 1735 as payment for his successful defense of
John Peter Zenger, a New York printer and editor
charged with libeling the Colonial governor of New
York. This landmark case helped establish freedom
of the press as an endowed right in the New Republic.
The final
connection
Csizmazia
admitted buying the historic artifacts from Earnest
Medford, a long-time HSP janitor. The two had first
met 10 years earlier when Csizmazia, who was doing
some electrical work for the HSP at the time, began
talking with Medford about his interest in military
antiques. Csizmazia had been receiving artifacts
stolen by Medford from the Society ever since.
When the investigators
interviewed Medford the next day, December 24th,
he admitted stealing the historical pieces and selling
them to Csizmazia for approximately $8,000 over
the 10-year period. (Medford probably hadn't realized
he was being vastly underpaid for his services.
The total value of Csizmazia's collection was between
two and three million dollars!)
From the past...to
the future
Both Csizmazia
and Medford were charged with violations of Title
18, USC, Sections 668 and 371-theft of culturally
significant historic artifacts. Both have been convicted
and are serving four-year prison sentences.
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