Stolen Cook-Red Cloud artifacts recovered
Posted: Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Two Colorado men are suspected of breaking into the museum at the Agate Fossil Beds National Monument near Harrison, Neb., and stealing priceless pieces of history, which have been recovered intact.
The items were taken from the James Cook-Red Cloud collection -- accumulations by Cook and gifts from several tribes to Cook, a rancher near Harrison in the Nebraska Panhandle who opened his home and ranch to American Indians in the late 1800s.
The nearly 20 items taken included moccasins, a war club, a Colt revolver, a badge from the U.S. Army 7th Cavalry and a tobacco pouch.
The stolen items were valued in excess of $100,000, said Gary Candelaria of Omaha, who is associate director for cultural resources for the National Park Service's Midwest region.
The Cook-Red Cloud collection features weapons, American Indian games, quilled moccasins, a painted hide depicting the Custer battle and a dog travois -- a supply carrier fashioned out of sticks and poles that was attached to a harness on a dog.
Candelaria called the whole collection priceless because the items can't be replaced.
"There's lots of Colt .45 Peacemakers, but there's only one associated with Red Cloud and Cook," he said Tuesday.
Red Cloud was a famed Oglala Sioux who was known for his bravery as a young warrior and his leadership as a chief in the late 1800s. In 2001, he was inducted into the Nebraska Hall of Fame.
Gary and Maxwell Garihan of Crook, Colo., were arrested on suspicion of stealing the Nebraska artifacts and of stealing Navajo rugs stolen from The Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site in Ganado, Ariz.
Candelaria believes that a Colorado game officer stopped the men when checking for fishing licenses. A check of their names led to a warrant for one of them, and then to their eventual arrest on suspicion of stealing the artifacts.
Spokesmen for the U.S. attorneys in Phoenix and Omaha said the case was being handled by the Colorado U.S. attorney.
A call by The Associated Press on Tuesday to a spokesman for the Denver office of the U.S. attorney was not immediately returned.
The men are suspected of using sledgehammers to break into both museums and of contacting other museums and antique dealers to find buyers for their booty.
"There's a very healthy market for antiques from westward expansion," Candelaria said. "There's also an underground market."
"In this particular case, I believe these people were in part of that underground, clandestine economy," he said. "I think so because of the fact that they took the stuff and they buried it. If I were collecting something for myself I'd take it home. Somewhere they intended to unload it. How, I don't know. To whom, I don't know."
He wasn't sure whether the stolen items had been returned yet to the museum, where the Cook-Red Cloud exhibit remains closed.
Blanca Alvarez Stransky, the site superintendent, was out of the office Tuesday and did not immediately return a call.
Repairs have to be made, Candelaria said, and security rechecked.
But, he said, "We are not going to lock everything up and lock it away so nobody can see it. We want people to come and see the things that make up what it means to be a citizen of the United States."
The items were taken from the James Cook-Red Cloud collection -- accumulations by Cook and gifts from several tribes to Cook, a rancher near Harrison in the Nebraska Panhandle who opened his home and ranch to American Indians in the late 1800s.
The nearly 20 items taken included moccasins, a war club, a Colt revolver, a badge from the U.S. Army 7th Cavalry and a tobacco pouch.
The stolen items were valued in excess of $100,000, said Gary Candelaria of Omaha, who is associate director for cultural resources for the National Park Service's Midwest region.
The Cook-Red Cloud collection features weapons, American Indian games, quilled moccasins, a painted hide depicting the Custer battle and a dog travois -- a supply carrier fashioned out of sticks and poles that was attached to a harness on a dog.
Candelaria called the whole collection priceless because the items can't be replaced.
"There's lots of Colt .45 Peacemakers, but there's only one associated with Red Cloud and Cook," he said Tuesday.
Red Cloud was a famed Oglala Sioux who was known for his bravery as a young warrior and his leadership as a chief in the late 1800s. In 2001, he was inducted into the Nebraska Hall of Fame.
Gary and Maxwell Garihan of Crook, Colo., were arrested on suspicion of stealing the Nebraska artifacts and of stealing Navajo rugs stolen from The Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site in Ganado, Ariz.
Candelaria believes that a Colorado game officer stopped the men when checking for fishing licenses. A check of their names led to a warrant for one of them, and then to their eventual arrest on suspicion of stealing the artifacts.
Spokesmen for the U.S. attorneys in Phoenix and Omaha said the case was being handled by the Colorado U.S. attorney.
A call by The Associated Press on Tuesday to a spokesman for the Denver office of the U.S. attorney was not immediately returned.
The men are suspected of using sledgehammers to break into both museums and of contacting other museums and antique dealers to find buyers for their booty.
"There's a very healthy market for antiques from westward expansion," Candelaria said. "There's also an underground market."
"In this particular case, I believe these people were in part of that underground, clandestine economy," he said. "I think so because of the fact that they took the stuff and they buried it. If I were collecting something for myself I'd take it home. Somewhere they intended to unload it. How, I don't know. To whom, I don't know."
He wasn't sure whether the stolen items had been returned yet to the museum, where the Cook-Red Cloud exhibit remains closed.
Blanca Alvarez Stransky, the site superintendent, was out of the office Tuesday and did not immediately return a call.
Repairs have to be made, Candelaria said, and security rechecked.
But, he said, "We are not going to lock everything up and lock it away so nobody can see it. We want people to come and see the things that make up what it means to be a citizen of the United States."
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