Art Scholar Seized With Stolen Lincoln Memos

An art scholar was arrested Thursday in a bookstore and accused of illegally transporting stolen art documents and three memos written by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War, authorities said.

Charles Merrill Mount--also known as Sherman Merrill Suchow--was charged with one count of illegally transporting stolen documents within the United States.

FBI spokesman Jack Cloherty said that Mount, 59, transported and sold for $20,000 nine letters written by artist James Abbott McNeill Whistler, all stolen from a special collection at the Library of Congress.

Taken From Archives

When arrested at Goodspeed’s bookstore, Mount reportedly was carrying three notes written by Lincoln at the height of the Civil War. Officials said they had been taken from the National Archives in Washington.

Mount also had a letter penned by Winston Churchill in 1914 and other documents signed by Ulysses S. Grant and Abner Doubleday, FBI officials said.

Authorities have not determined when the art documents or the Lincoln letters were taken or the origin of 60 other documents Mount reportedly had with him, including the Grant, Churchill and Doubleday letters.

Federal officials said that Mount, who lives in Washington, would only face counts related to the Whistler sale and the three Lincoln notes, pending further investigation.

Faces 10-Year Prison Term

Mount was arraigned in federal district court but no plea was entered, officials said. He faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine if convicted.

FBI special agent Jack Ahearn said that authorities were alerted to Mount’s activities by the owners of Goodspeeds, who bought the Whistler letters from Mount. They said that they did not suspect wrongdoing because they thought the circulation of those documents was not unusual.

But a bookstore official, not identified by the FBI, called authorities Tuesday after Mount offered three Lincoln notations. Mount was arrested when he came in to complete the deal, authorities said.

Familiar Face

David Wigdor, assistant chief of the Library of Congress, said that Mount was a familiar face in the manuscript room for the last two or three years.

“We have fairly rigid procedures, but there’s always a possibility of problems,” Wigdor said.

Jill Brett, a spokeswoman for the National Archives, said that her office had no comment on the Lincoln letters pending positive identification of the documents. She said that it was rare for material to disappear from the archives.

Mount has published biographies of painters Gilbert Stuart, John Singer Sargent and Claude Monet, officials said.