Tuesday,
July 14, 2009
THE
SEARCH FOR STOLEN WILLS AND OTHER HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS
CONTINUES:
Suffolk
County Register of Probate Richard Iannella has learned that
the stolen will of a Hall of Fame baseball player will likely
be returned to the Registry soon.
For
more than a decade now, Register Iannella has been working
with local, state, and federal authorities to secure the
return of historic documents that had previously been stolen
from public files housed at the Suffolk Registry. (To read
numerous media accounts of these successful efforts, please click
here.)
Many
times, the whereabouts of these documents was revealed when
they were listed for auction on the Internet and at auction
houses.
Iannella
has been in contact with authorities in Bloomington, Illinois,
where at least one – and possibly two – of the stolen
documents recently turned up. He is confident that they will
be returned to the Suffolk Registry soon.
Iannella
encourages the public’s help in securing the return of
documents signed by other baseball notables. The wills of
Jackie Robinson, Connie Mack, Tommy McCarthy, Simon “Sam”
Curran, Jeremiah Murray, John Manning, Thomas “Bucky”
O’Brien, George Fair, Jimmy Collins, Jack Chesbro, George
Haddock, Denny Sullivan, Jack Slattery, Thomas Smith, and
James O’Rourke remain at-large. Anyone with information is
encouraged to call Iannella at (617) 788-8304.
