A plaque that was placed in the public right of way on Franklin Street has been recovered after it was removed over the weekend.
Activists placed the plaque last Tuesday near where the Confederate monument known as Silent Sam stood on the UNC – Chapel Hill campus for more than 100 years. The plaque was honoring the “Negro Wench” referenced by Julian Carr at the Silent Sam dedication.
Carr told the crowd in 1913 that he had whipped the woman near where the statue was being erected until her skirt hung in shreds.
The plaque was removed overnight Friday and Chapel Hill Police began an investigation Saturday.
Officials said in a release on Monday evening that “someone was seen Friday night loading the plaque into the back of a pickup truck and driving away.”
Police said that the vehicle was stopped by an Orange County Sheriff’s deputy “a short time later,” and the plaque was recovered and returned to the Chapel Hill Police Department.
Police said they are now trying to contact the designer of the plaque and that it “will be returned to the artist as soon as contact is made.”
The plaque was one of two placed last Tuesday. The other was erected in the Pit on the UNC campus. It was dedicated to James Cates, who was killed in the Pit in 1970 by a white supremacist motorcycle gang. Media reports at the time said three members were charged in Cates’ death but that they were ultimately acquitted by an all-white jury.
The memorial honoring Cates was removed by university officials by Wednesday morning.
The plaque on Franklin Street was also next to another marker that has drawn protests in recent months. The marker dedicates Franklin Street as part of the Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway. Local government bodies have been investigating who owns that monument and what steps can be taken regarding its removal.
That process is complicated by a 2015 law limiting the movement of “objects of remembrance.”
“The Town of Chapel Hill is awaiting a response to its inquiry to State Attorney General Josh Stein as to whether the Town or some other public agency or property owner has the authority to remove the Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway marker,” according to Monday’s release. “The response from the State Attorney General’s office may provide further guidance regarding the plaque’s removal.”
Chapel Hill town manager Maurice Jones wrote in an email to the Town Council Monday afternoon that Chapel Hill Police chief Chris Blue had provided an update to the situation saying the plaque was in Chapel Hill Police’s possession.
“The CHPD investigation into the removal of the plaque has concluded. There was no crime found in the removal of the plaque,” the email stated.
Orange County Sheriff’s Office officials confirmed Monday night that no charges were filed and that a deputy made the traffic stop and turned the property over to Chapel Hill Police.
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