Recovered Stolen Weapons On Display at Baker Mansion

It was a cold day in 1973 when Blair County residents opened their newspapers and discovered there was a story featuring the Baker Mansion and The Blair County Historical Society.

Chairman of the Board for The Blair County Historical Society Jim Lowe said that normally, that would be a good day. However, that day, it wasn’t good news. The discovery was made that somebody had broken into the mansion the previous evening. Their mission was clear: they removed a number of valuable antique rifles.

Lowe said that this story had been all but forgotten, not because people didn’t care, but forgotten because hope was pretty much given up that Blair County would ever see these rifles again.

“It’s quite remarkable that we are here for this event,” Lowe said at Baker Mansion’s display of the recovered rifles. “Obviously, we are very excited to get these rifles back. That’s not just because when you have something stolen, you would like to have it returned. Not because whenever someone commits a crime, you would like to see justice served. Not because at Blair County Historical Society, our job is to preserve and maintain the history of Blair County, but because each one of these rifles tell a story.”

Lowe said that these rifles witnessed the forming of Blair County. They witnessed the development of Altoona, Tyrone and Hollidaysburg. They witnessed the panic that set in during 1863 when Confederates invaded Pennsylvania. They were ready at a moment’s notice with their owners to defend their homes against the confederate invasion.

Historical Society Board Member Roger Shingler said that four of the guns have a very direct significance to Blair County.

Each one of the rifles were handcrafted by a talented gunsmith at a time when manufacturing was done in the home, unlike today, where

things are mass produced.

Those talented gunsmiths took pride over profit in making the items that they were creating.

Lowe added that when looking at these artifacts, everyone should keep in mind that each one is 150 years or older.

Shingler said that when the society repossessed the guns, they had been improperly stored in attics or garages. In the process of cleaning them, decades of dirt and grime were taken off them. In some cases, the guns had a little bit of deterioration as far as rust is concerned.

"Some of them have very intricate mechanisms," Shingler said. "Most of them were found to be nonfunctional and damaged. We were able to repair these guns, so that every one is in perfect condition."

Upper Merion Township Police Detective Brandon Dougherty spoke about his pursuit to solve this case.

"Back in 2009, myself and my partner were investigating cold case thefts and burglaries from the Valley Forge Historical Society."

Those thefts and burglaries occurred between the 1960s and 1970s.

"We did not expect what we were going to embark on for the next fourteen years.," Dougherty said. "We partnered with the Montgomery County District Attorney's office. Along with them, we embarked on thousands of miles of driving, knocking on doors, digging through records for the next 10 years. What we found was that the man who was responsible for three of our thefts and burglaries at Valley Forge was also responsible for the thefts and burglaries here in Blair County."

Dougherty continued by saying that back in 2016, after spinning their wheels, they partnered with the U.S. Attorney's office and expert negotiator, a prosecutor named KT Newton. They also partnered with the FBI's Art Crime Team.

"We started digging into this man and tried to uncover first, where were the items that were stolen and second, how to get them back." Dougherty said.

In 2017, after eight years of investigation, they got a search warrant for this man, Michael Corbett's house in Newark, Del.

After they executed the warrant, they found the rifles in a false room in his attic in poor conditions, along with another 125 historical pieces.

The next chapter of the investigation began. They had all of these historical objects. They had to figure out where they came from. For the next three to four years, they drove from institution to institution including in Blair County.

"We had a lead that some of the guns were associated with your institution and we came to meet with you." Dougherty said.

He continued by saying that fortunately, the folks at the Blair County Historical Society had some of the greatest records from 50, 60, 70, 100 years ago.

"We started in 2009, hoping to return one item to Valley Forge," Dougherty said. "I am happy to say that at the conclusion of our investigation, we have two indictments and two convictions of two men, who didn't even know each other. Most importantly, we were able to return 60 historical objects to 22 institutions from Massachusetts to Mississippi."

"I'd like to take this moment to thank the law enforcement officials who didn't give up on this case," Lowe said. "In fact, they allowed the story to come full circle. Earlier this year, again on the front page of the paper, there was a story about the Blair County Historical Society and Baker Mansion and these rifles. This time it was a good story."