American Presidency Link Lectern Stolen (From Evesham Journal)

American Presidency Link Lectern Stolen

3:30pm Sunday 19th October 2008

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An historic lectern linked to the American Presidency has been stolen from a county church.

The pure brass lectern - linked directly to the first woman candidate for the American Presidency - was stolen from St Giles’ Church, Bredon’s Norton, near Pershore, South Worcestershire.

“It would have taken at least two people to carry the lectern from the church and this could well have attracted attention.”

A police spokesman

American-born Victoria Claflin Woodhull-Martin presented the historic lectern - now valued at between £10,000 and £12,000 - after her husband, John Biddulph Martin, of Norton Court, died, aged 56. Mr Martin, a member of the Martins Bank family of Overbury Court, died on 20th March 1897. In addition to being the initial woman to be nominated for President of the USA in 1872, Mrs Woodhull-Martin was the “first woman” to: * Speak at the Capitol in Washington, D.C.

* Open a bank on Wall Street.

* Speak about the wireless.

* Say we would fly the ocean.

* Offer a prize for a flight over the Atlantic Ocean.

* Drive a motor vehicle.

* Impress upon the nation the importance of race propagation based on scientific principles.

She has recently been accepted into the ‘Oxford Dictionary Of National Biography’ containing “authoritative biographies of 56,000 people who shaped the history of Britain and beyond from the 12th to 21st Century.”

The theft took place sometime between 9.30am and 1.30pm on Tuesday, October 14 and police are asking anyone in the area at the time if they can now remember seeing anything suspicious.

“It would have taken at least two people to carry the lectern from the church and this could well have attracted attention,” said a police spokesman. “There would almost certainly have been some sort of vehicle nearby - perhaps even quite close the church’s double-doors - and this may have also aroused suspicion. “If anyone believes they saw anything that at the time - or now - might help with the investigation, we would like to hear from them.”

Officers can be contacted on 08457 444 888, quoting 345S/171008. Information can also be given - anonymously and free-of-charge - to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

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