Why is it when some people see something beautiful, their first thought is to destroy it? The Houmas House and Gardens posted the following message on social media on September 7:
Sad news to report. This 64 pound, solid silver statue of Abraham Lincoln was stolen last night from Houmas House. It was one of the most cherished pieces of the collection. Most guests seemed to think it was their favorite item on the tour. It is extremely rare and was created by Gustav Borghum, of Mount Rushmore fame. Borghum created Mount Rushmore and the stolen statue was a model of the next president to be carved into the mountain at Mount Rushmore. We would like to have this piece returned.
The perps were caught but as most things in life, there was good news and bad news, as told by the Ascension Parish Sheriff's Office:
Detectives with the APSO Property Crimes Unit have arrested the following subjects in connection to a stolen statue from Houmas House on September 6:• Steve Coronado, 28, of Raceland• Alma Fontenot, 20, of New Iberia• Bruce Shelvin, 49, of AvondaleThey are charged with Simple Burglary and Felony Theft Over $25,000.
Synopsis: On Sunday, September 7, detectives responded to an overnight burglary that occurred at Houmas House and Gardens in Darrow. Upon arrival, detectives located a broken window where the suspects forced entry and stole a statue of Abraham Lincoln made entirely of solid silver, with a historic value estimated at $166,000.During their investigation, detectives learned the suspects sold parts of the statue at a pawn shop and a gold and silver shop located in Metairie, after cutting it down into several pieces. Detectives identified the suspects and executed arrest warrants with the assistance of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office. Fontenot and Shelvin were transported and booked into the Ascension Parish Jail. Coronado remains booked in the Jefferson Parish Jail on related charges and will be transported to Ascension Parish at a later date.
Kingfish note: If you want a wee bit of history and wonder why there is a Lincoln statue at the home, the Houmas House and Gardens posted this on its Facebook page:
With all the talk and questions of why there was a statue of Abraham Lincoln at Houmas House Plantation… Here is a brief reason why there is a connection to the plantations along River Road and Louisiana.Abraham Lincoln visited New Orleans twice as a young man, in 1828 and 1831, when he worked as a flatboat pilot on the Mississippi River. These voyages exposed the future president to the large-scale slave trade in the city, which he was "appalled" to witness on both trips. The journey also included a dangerous nighttime attack by bandits on Lincoln and his partner, Gentry, during the 1828 trip, near present-day Convent, Louisiana. (Hampton Landing)Lincoln's first experience with the bustling, culturally diverse city of New Orleans and the sight of its massive slave marketplace was deeply impactful. The two voyages were Lincoln's only visits to the Deep South and his primary exposure to the institution of slavery in large-scale operation.1811 – Wade Hampton begins purchasing the lands of the Houmas Plantation. Now the site of the Houmas House Estate and Gardens.April 1825 – Wade Hampton acquires the White Hall Plantation from the Bringier Estate. This plantation was located just south of Houmas Plantation along the Mississippi River. (He sold the estate in 1829 and returned to Houmas Plantation)1825 – St. Michael’s Convent was founded by the Religious of the Sacred Heart. There were many enslaved families at the convent. The Convent was located just downriver from the “Hampton Landing” of White Hall Plantation.1828 – Abraham Lincoln, at the age of 19, took a job building a flatboat at Rockport, Indiana. He glided down towards New Orleans with a neighbor, Allen Gentry, and others to sell farm produce, intending to return by steamboat. They launched into the Ohio River in late April 1828 and sailed into the Mississippi River four days later. They entered the “Sugar Coast” of Louisiana, where they lingered for roughly a week selling and trading produce. Approximately 60 miles above New Orleans, Gentry and Lincoln tied up at the place called “Mdme Bushams Plantation”, for the nights of May 12th and 13th. The melee was likely more violent than Lincoln, a man of few words prone to understatement, indicated in that 1860 passage.Biographer William Dean Howells’s account is worth quoting because Lincoln personally approved its wording: “One night, having tied up their ‘cumbrous boat,’ near a solitary plantation on the sugar coast, they were attacked and boarded by seven stalwart negroes; but Lincoln and his comrade, after a severe contest in which both were hurt, succeeded in beating their assailants and driving them from the boat. After which they weighed what anchor they had, as speedily as possible, and gave themselves to the middle current again.” They arrived in New Orleans the next day.It is said the Lincoln received a lasting scar above his right eye from the fight. Lincoln came close to being murdered along the Mississippi River in Louisiana in 1828.April 1831 - Lincoln made a second raft trip down to New Orleans.Lincoln went on to become the 16th President of the United States on 1861, until his assassination on April 15th, 1865.
These savages deserve a public flogging.
17 comments:
They look like drug addicts.
Some people live a cow in a pasture - what they don't eat, they $#!+ on.
Please tell me which one is the brains of the outfit.
Egg on a face or two for not securing a 60 pound solid silver statue. Melted down, that would be a nice trade for two kilos of meth.
The price of silver is $ 42.5 per oz. The statue weighted 64 pounds. That equals out to $ 39,652.50 . Why would Houmas House and Gardens leave such a valuable object out to be stolened? Lock valuable stuff down.
The pawn dealers who bought those parts should be charged as well. Someone brings in a solid silver head of Lincoln... that would have me asking questions.
Talk about a meth'd up thing to do...
Cut them into the same number of pieces as the statue
"The pawn dealers who bought those parts should be charged as well. Someone brings in a solid silver head of Lincoln... that would have me asking questions."
Yep ... kind of like a random pawn shop on Hwy 80 buying copper wire,
I sincerely hope the statue can be repaired. Perhaps they could make it heavier somehow. Maybe a base firmly affixed.
Roughest looking 28 year old I’ve ever seen
How did the suspects transport the stolen statue? In a borrowed Kroger's shopping cart?
If it'd been a silver statue of Jefferson Davis, they'd be lauded in the media as bold
trailblazers in courage.
It's only 65 pounds and if you look at the picture, it is rather small.
I thought they said it was solid silver.....looks hollow to me
The statue was butt-ugly. And the finish was grotesque. Was it cleaned with some acid process, and then lacquered? Silver isn't supposed to look so COLD.
I looked-up 'Houmas House', and it's OAK ALLEY - the very same one that was in Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte. And that tacky statue was visitors' fave thing? Midwestern tourists, virtue-signalling - saying what they were supposed to say, I suppose.
But thanks for the history, Kingfish. It sheds light on Lincoln, and his convoluted thinking on certain subjects.
Removed the Lincoln comment. Once that went up, here came a bunch more about whether Lincoln was a tyrant. This post is about a theft of magnificent art, not refighting the Civil War.
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