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Hammer holes in the window that housed the Magna Carta, in Salisbury Cathedral, after the arrest of a 45-year-old man suspected of attempted robbery, in Salisbury, England on Friday, October 26 2018. The British police announced Friday that the cathedral's alarms sounded Thursday when a person attempted to break the glass display case surrounding the Magna Carta, which was later removed from Salisbury Cathedral and that a man has been arrested. (Ben Birchall / PA via AP) (Associated Press)
LONDON – An American tourist from Louisiana reportedly attacked a thief with a hammer who tried in vain to steal the Magna Carta from Salisbury Cathedral, holding him to the ground until help arrived.
Matt Delcambre, of Little Iberia, Louisiana, told The Sun newspaper in an interview published on Saturday that he and his wife Alexis were touring the southwestern city of England when they were in the city. a man tried to break the glass covering the precious manuscript after the outbreak of a fire alarm. in the chapter house of the building. In the midst of the confusion, Delcambre seized the suspect while he was running away.
"I just had to stop him," said the 56-year-old Sun.
Delcambre, director of the Center for Business & Information Technologies at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, said he had retained her on the ground until security could arrive.
"Back home, he was tied to the ground," said his wife Alexis Sun.
The document was protected by two layers of thick glass and the thief gave up and tried to escape.
Wiltshire police announced Saturday that a 45-year-old man had been released on bail until November 20 while police officers were continuing their investigation.
The Magna Carta of Salisbury Cathedral is one of four existing models of the 1215 charter that established the principle that the king is subject to the law. Considered the founding document of English law and civil liberties, it influenced the creation of the American Constitution.
The document, in Latin for "Great Charter", was short-lived. The despotic King John, who met disgruntled barons and accepted a list of fundamental rights, almost immediately went back on his word and asked the pope to cancel it, plunging England into a civil war. It was reissued after the death of the king.
Nevertheless, its importance can not be underestimated because it has inspired everyone from Mahatma Gandhi to Nelson Mandela.
"I could not let him get away with that," Delcambre said. "The Magna Carta is one of the most important documents in the world."
Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, disseminated, rewritten or redistributed.
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