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Law & Order on the Civil War

By Lawrence B. Ebert, Esq.

Law & Order: Criminal Intent on March 5 was a re-broadcast of an episode on 1 Nov 07 which involved a Civil War sub-theme.
Of the Civil War, one Josiah Roundtree, Quaker, was sending money to the South in the form of 1861 double eagles ($20 gold coins). The various murders in the episode were arranged by a descendant to maintain an inheritance which would otherwise be voided by the discovery of fraud in the earlier will (statute of limitations on fraud three years after the discovery of the fraud).

The coins were in a ship, the Philomela, sunk in the vicinity of the New York harbor (but once thought to be outside Charleston).

In Greek mythology, the story of Philomela is bird-related: Philomela and Procne were daughters of King Pandion of Attica. Procne married Tereus, king of Thrace, and bore him a son, Itys (or Itylus). Tereus later seduced Philomela and cut out her tongue to silence her. Philomela embroidered the story into some cloth, which she sent to her sister. In revenge, Procne murdered Itys and served up his flesh to her husband. Tereus pursued and tried to kill the sisters, but the gods changed them all into birds. Philomela became a swallow, Procne a nightingale, and Tereus a hoopoe. Itys was revived and became a goldfinch. [from encyclopedia.com]

There is a post by janethyland.

On the 1861 double eagle:

http://www.usrarecoininvestments.com/coins_for_sale/double_eagles_for_sale.htm

http://www.amergold.com/vault/20LibertyDoubleEagles.shtml

http://www.coinpage.com/coin-image-3460.html

Full post as published by IPBiz on March 05, 2008 (boomark / email).