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SACRAMENTO, Dec. 29 (AP) The decapitation of a statue of a 19th-century Northern California rancher and meatpacking tycoon earlier this week left investigators in the state capital scratching their heads for vandalism motivation behind.
A $1,000 reward is available to whistleblowers who provide information about Monday’s encounter with the nearly century-old granite statue of Charles Swanston in Sacramento’s Williamland Park. The severed head was found on the ground nearby.
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According to Sacramento historian Marcia Eymann, Swanston traveled west from Ohio as part of the California Gold Rush and soon realized he would make more money as a butcher money.
Police are investigating whether the vandal — or multiple vandals — had an altercation with the Swanstons, or if it was a random act.
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“I don’t know why anyone, unless they’re vegan and don’t like meat processors” would do this to the statue, Ayman said Wednesday. “I think it’s weird.”
The statue is the work of the late sculptor Ralph Stackpole, a noted artist in San Francisco during the Great Depression.
An early pioneer and settler in Sacramento, Swanston later became a rancher and started a meatpacking business that made him wealthy. His son commissioned the statue in the 1920s, which was part of the fountain, and donated it to the city after Swanston died in 1911 at the age of 101, according to the Sacramento Bee.
The family’s ranch is located in what is now William Land Park. Ayman said the city might never have dedicated a piece to Swanston had it not been for his son’s donation.
“Not that anyone knows who he is, but that’s something very special that Sacramento had, and now it’s been destroyed,” she said. (Associated Press)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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