Virginian retains disputed copy of Declaration of Independence

A wealthy Fairfax County collector can keep a rare copy of the Declaration of Independence that was claimed by the small Maine town where it was sent in 1776.

Yesterday a unanimous Supreme Court of Virginia upheld a lower court ruling that Internet pioneer Richard L. Adams Jr., who bought the document for $475,000 in 2001, had a stronger claim to ownership than did the town of Wiscasset.

"We are very disappointed," said David R. Cheever, Maine's state archivist. "I'm just sorry they reached the decision they did. It seems like a bit of a stretch," he said of the ruling, "but we waged a good fight, they prevailed."

Cheever said there were no plans to try to purchase the copy from Adams.

"To buy it back when it's something that we think belongs in the public realm anyway would be a decision that Wiscasset might make, but one I would not recommend. I would be more apt to encourage Mr. Adams to donate it back to the town," said Cheever.

Otherwise, he said, "there's no place to go from here."

Adams declined to comment on the matter previously. His lawyer, Robert K. Richardson, could not be reached yesterday.

The ruling brings to a close a story that began in 1776 when the Executive Council of Massachusetts ordered 200 to 300 copies of the Declaration of Independence be printed by Ezekiel Russell, of Salem, Mass., for the state's parishes and be read to congregations.

Maine was then part of Massachusetts and Wiscasset was known as Pownalborough. The name was changed in 1802, and Maine became a state in 1820.

After it was read from the pulpit, the preacher turned over the copy to the town clerk on Oct. 19, 1776. On Nov. 10, 1776, the clerk transcribed it into the town book, as directed by the executive council.

It was the transcription, argued Adams, that was the public record and not the copy of the Declaration itself.

In 1994 an estate auctioneer found the document in a box in the attic of a daughter of a former Wiscasset town clerk, Solomon Holbrook, who died in 1929. It was sold and wound up in the hands of a London rare-book dealer who sold it to Anderson.

Among other things, Maine argued that even if the document was not a "public record," the Holbrook family wrongfully gave it up and that Maine, the true owner, could recover it from Adams whether he otherwise legitimately purchased it or not.

But last year Fairfax County Circuit Judge R. Terrence Ney ruled in Adams' favor, finding that Maine had not proved it ever owned the copy or that it was ever wrongfully removed from the state of Maine.

"Mr. Adams, as a bona fide purchaser and as the party in possession of the print, had demonstrated his claim of ownership," Ney wrote. Maine appealed to the Virginia Supreme Court on 10 grounds, and the justices agreed to hear arguments in the case last month.

Yesterday, in a 19-page opinion written by Justice Barbara Milano Keenan, the Virginia Supreme Court agreed.

"Maine failed to prove under any theory that Maine owned the print or had superior title," concluded the opinion.

Contact Frank Green at (804) 649-6340 or .