ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, November 13, 1996 TAG: 9611130066
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: QUINCY, MASS.
SOURCE: Associated Press
Thieves who used a power saw to breach the oak front door of the nation's first presidential library took more than just an armful of old books. They stole a piece of history.
Among the items taken was a Bible given to John Quincy Adams by a group of Africans whose freedom he helped secure after a bloody rebellion aboard the slave ship Amistad in 1839.
``That Bible is so precious,'' Clifton Johnson, founder of the Amistad Research Center in New Orleans, said Tuesday. ``They can't sell it. I hope they don't destroy it.''
The Amistad case, argued by Adams before the U.S. Supreme Court, galvanized abolitionists. Spain wanted the slaves returned as property, but Adams succeeded in getting the slaves freed and allowed to return to Africa.
The case led to the foundation of five black colleges and continues to inspire storytellers, including Steven Spielberg, who is directing a movie on the rebellion.
``It was the first attempt to use the legal system to free the captives,'' said Al Marter of the Amistad Committee Inc. in New Haven, Conn. ``People began to understand that these were not pirates and murderers but people struggling for their freedom.''
The Bible was the only one of about a half-dozen missing books to be publicly identified by investigators Tuesday. An inventory of the 14,000-volume collection at the small stone library was under way.
The historical site had closed for the winter Sunday, and there was no guard on duty when the thieves sawed through the thick door Monday night. They tripped an alarm, but were gone before police arrived.
``They got in and got out really quickly, and they knew what they were getting,'' said Caroline Keinath, deputy superintendent of the Adams National Historical Site. ``They picked a few of the things that are very significant.''
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