SACRAMENTO, Calif.—The statue of a 19th-century Northern California rancher and meat-packing magnate was decapitated earlier this week, leaving investigators in the state’s capital city scratching their heads to find a motive behind the vandalism.
Tipsters could receive a $1,000 reward for information about what befell the nearly century-old granite statue of Charles Swanston in Sacramento’s William Land Park on Monday. The severed head was found on the ground nearby.
The head of the Charles Swanston statue rests on the ground near a bush in William Land Park in Sacramento, Calif., on Dec. 27, 2022. (Hector Amezcua/The Sacramento Bee via AP)
Swanston traveled west from Ohio as part of the California Gold Rush and quickly realized he’d make more money as a butcher, according to Sacramento City Historian Marcia Eymann….