Head of Civil War statue is found

By Peter Schworm, Globe Staff

It took them a while, but vandals who beheaded a statue of a Union soldier two weeks ago finally had a change of heart.

Police last night found the detached granite head resting on a cemetery wall near the Shirley town common, where the Civil War memorial statue has stood for nearly 120 years.

The crime infuriated the community, but authorities said they were more interested in recovering the head than prosecuting the offenders, and called upon those responsible to make amends. To the relief of town officials, their appeal was answered.

"We must have convinced them it was the right thing to do," said Gregory Massak, police chief in Shirley, a small town northwest of Boston. "Just to have it back is the most important thing. Now we can make it whole again."

A resident driving by the cemetery around 10:30 last night spotted the 15-pound head and called police, who quickly retrieved it. The head was undamaged.

The recent media attention, Massak said, placed additional pressure on the thieves.

"We're glad they had a conscience," Massak said. "Hopefully they learned a lesson."

The 10-foot-high statue has graced the common since 1891 and provides a stately backdrop for the town's Memorial Day service. With luck, the statue will be repaired by then, Massak said.

The statue is inscribed with names of 58 men who fought in the Civil War, including 19 who died. Its inscription reads: "Erected by the Citizens of Shirley in memory of those brave men who in response to the nation's call hazarded their lives to suppress the Great Rebellion 1861-1865."

The perpetrators could have faced charges of wanton destruction of property, a felony. Massak said they were likely teenagers playing a misguided prank.

They removed the head cleanly, leaving no debris. Police speculated that they yanked off the head by hitching a rope to a car.

Designing a replica of the head to match the rest of the statue would have been nearly impossible, he said.

"If it had really disappeared forever, it would have been tragic," he said.