Marion’s Lady Justice statue atop the Marion County Courthouse has a mysterious past. The statue, erected in 1885, vanished in 1952. Her disappearance was unsolved until a public search began decades later.
Lady Justice Taken Down in 1952 and Vanished
In the 1950s, Lady Justice was deteriorating from the ravages of time, according to an article in The Marion Star in 1980. She was also scarred by bullets from people scaring blackbirds from nearby trees and revelers celebrating each New Year with gunfire. She was removed and stored inside the courthouse entrance while county commissioners debated whether to repair or replace her. In mid-July 1952, the statue vanished.
Mystery surrounded her theft. Local residents wondered if it was the work of pranksters, vandals, or thieves looking for scrap metal.
WMRN Reignites Search
Twenty-five years later, a caller to WMRN radio host Charlie Evers’ show reignited interest in the statue’s disappearance. Without the call, Evers told The Star in 2010, she would probably still be hidden.
Maxine Neff offered a reward for her return, according to historian Trella Romine.
After the public attention, a red-faced local farmer named Richard Carey privately confessed to Evers in 1980. Carey agreed to return the statue if he wasn’t implicated in the theft. Carey publicly stated two anonymous men dropped it off. The true story of the kidnapping remained secret for 30 more years.
A Confession
In 2010, Carey, then age 78 and a self-proclaimed prankster, told the Marion Historical Society that at age 20, he and two friends carried her away one night. In the sober light of the next day, he and co-conspirators Jerry Criswell and George Dennison weighed what to do next.
“Should we hold her for ransom? Should we make a casket and bury her in a grave? We decided… to hide her in an old barn… She was hidden under the straw for many years,” Carey told Romine on Aug. 30, 2010.
Though the statute of limitations had long since expired, Carey reported being nervous about the public’s reaction.
“I had a bit of anguish as to how it would be received when the knowledge of this came to the general public. I’ve been surprised in a way…. Most people just kind of chuckled,” Carey told The Star in October 2010.
Lady Justice Restored
Donations covered the cost to restore Lady Justice and return her to the courthouse dome. Artistic blacksmith Mike Griffiths of Caledonia spent nine months of painstaking restoring her crown, head, hands, dress and feet. He recreated her missing sword and scales of justice, Evers wrote in 1984.
Hundreds Witness Installation
Hundreds of people came to watch a helicopter lift the nearly 100-year-old statue, The Star reported on Nov. 15, 1980. The Marion Community band performed for the historic occasion.
“A lump formed in my throat when I realized Lady Justice was coming home after all of these months of work,” Charlie Evers recalled in Newslife on July 22, 1984.
Evers said he was filled with awe as he surveyed Marion from the top of the courthouse.
“Suddenly a feeling of grandeur enveloped me… I didn’t want to come down. What a sight,” Evers recalled.
Hand signals guided the pilot lowering the statue. Evers said the swinging statue hit him in the shoulder.
While ironworker Dane Rengert worked to weld Lady Justice on her perch, smoke began to appear.
“My shirt began to smoke…burned by sparks. The cause was so good, I didn’t mind being burned a little,” Evers reported. “Wait a minute, though. Smoke was coming from another source.”
Birds had built nests between the dome’s outer and inner coverings, Evers reported. The courthouse maintenance supervisor grabbed fire extinguishers to pass to a grateful Evers and Rengert by rope to smother the flames. At last, Lady Justice resumed her loft.
“After all those years, people seemed to understand it was a prank and had a good ending,” Carey stated in 2010. “This is really where she belongs, on the courthouse. She is a symbol of justice of our courts.”
Related Articles
Marion County Historical Society | MarionMade
Randy Winland Highlights Marion’s History Then and Now | MarionMade
MarionMade! is a program of Marion Technical College.
