News Report of Manuscript Theft

["Catherine Barnes" <barnesc@voicenet.com>]

The news articles below were posted to another list, and I thought readers on this list would be interested to see them. 
Back in 1996, according to other reports at that time, Mr. Smith reportedly hit libraries in Arkansas, Kansas, Tennessee, and Mississippi.  
Catherine Barnes

Here are the stories: 
Former lawyer turns self in in Faulkner letter theft

A man charged with taking six William Faulkner letters from Southeast
Missouri State University's rare book room and selling them has turned
himself in.
Robert Hardin Smith, 43, of Jacksonville, a former lawyer and convicted
thief, is accused of taking the letters from the university and selling them
to a manuscript dealer in Texas.
Smith was arrested yesterday afternoon in Pulaski County and charged with theft of property. He was held on $25,000 bond but will be sent to Cape Girardeau where the theft occurred.
Smith also was convicted of the 1996 theft of historic letters from the
University of Kansas library, including three letters signed by Civil
War-era guerrilla leader William Quantrill.
That same year, he was convicted of stealing manuscripts from the University of Arkansas. Smith served nearly two years in a state prison in Arkansas before being paroled in 1999.
University police said a man viewed the famed author's letters on Sept. 30.
Four days later, Smith sold six Faulkner letters to Noble Enterprises, a
manuscript dealer in Rowlett, prosecutors said.
The Texas dealer told police that the man said he inherited the letters from
his grandmother's estate.
Southeast officials learned of the theft on Nov. 11 after a Faulkner
collector discovered the documents were being sold on the Internet. All six
letters have been recovered, school officials said. (The Associated Press)

ARTICLE
        Ex-lawyer accused in theft of letters arrested
By Mark Bliss ~ Southeast Missourian
A former lawyer wanted in the theft of six William Faulkner letters from
Southeast Missouri State University surrendered to officers in Arkansas on
Monday, nearly two weeks after Cape Girardeau County prosecutors charged him with the crime.
Robert Hardin Smith, 43, of Jacksonville, Ark., was being held in jail
Monday evening in North Little Rock, Ark., police there said.
School officials welcomed the arrest. "We certainly are glad to know that he has turned himself in," said Ann Hayes, university spokeswoman. "At this
point, we certainly hope that justice is served."
Morley Swingle, Cape Girardeau County prosecuting attorney, said late Monday afternoon that he would file extradition papers if necessary. Swingle said he didn't know if Smith, who is being held on $25,000 bond, would attempt to fight extradition to Missouri.
Swingle charged Smith on Nov. 19 with felony stealing in the theft of the
letters, which are valued at $25,000. He is accused of stealing the letters
during a visit to the university's Rare Book Room at Kent Library on Sept.
30.
Four days later, he sold the letters to a Rowlett, Texas, manuscript dealer,
Swingle said.
The letters have since been recovered by various law enforcement
authorities, he said, and will be sent to campus police for safekeeping
while the case proceeds through court.
The letters by Faulkner, a Southern writer who won the Nobel Prize for
literature, are part of the Brodsky collection, which the university
acquired in 1989 from St. Louis collector Louis Daniel Brodsky.
University officials learned of the theft last month after a Faulkner
collector reported seeing one of the letters offered for sale on eBay, an
Internet auction site.
Smith, a former public defender, has prior convictions for stealing historic
manuscripts from the University of Kansas and the University of Arkansas in
1996.
He was allowed to serve both sentences -- 15 years on the Arkansas charge and 11 months on the Kansas charge -- concurrently in a state prison in Arkansas.
He served nearly two years in prison before being paroled on March 22, 1999.
Smith surrendered his law license in Arkansas in 1993 after he was charged
with forgery and writing insufficient funds checks.
In connection with the forgery, he was convicted of felony theft of property in Arkansas County on Aug. 26, 1994, and sentenced to 10 years in prison, according to Arkansas Supreme Court records. A judge reduced Smith's sentence to 10 years of probation on Nov. 22, 1994.
mbliss@semissourian.com 
335-6611, extension 123
© 2002, Southeast Missourian. This story was posted on the site Tuesday,
December 3, 2002. 
All content © Copyright 2002, Southeast Missourian.
http://semissourian.com/story.html$rec=95164




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