The B Girls - By Cari Cole Page 0,22

is that she was looking for a rare document."

"Sorry," Jane said. "I'm not a morning person. I really do want to hear about it."

Perry perked up and he seemed fully in the moment for the first time. "Okay. It's early June, 1776 and the Continental Congress has pretty much decided they're going to vote to declare independence from Britain."

Nods of agreement. Lucy did know this much but she found herself getting into the story. This was obviously Perry's forte. The subject on which he could shine.

"The Congress needs a document they can vote on, something to publish and send to King George, so they appoint a committee of five men to write one. The five men include John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson and they all agree Jefferson is the guy to write the declaration. He humbly accepts the task and goes home to get busy." He paused and sipped at his coffee.

Lucy couldn't wait to see where this was going. The guy seemed to know what he was talking about but she had serious doubts that the Morris family ever had anything more than a copy of the Dunlap Broadside. Still, if she heard something that would help her find Belle she'd listen to Perry recite the phone book.

"So, Jefferson writes a first draft of the Declaration of Independence and sends it to the other committee members for their input. They do some editing, making their changes right on the draft and send it back to him. Jefferson now has this original that's had stuff crossed out and other stuff added. It's looking a little messy so he makes a brand new copy that incorporates the input of the rest of the committee. You with me so far?"

Lucy nods. "At that point there are two copies of the declaration. The original that's been edited and had stuff crossed out and added. And a nice neat copy Jefferson made to present to Congress."

"Exactly!" Perry said. "So Jefferson and the rest of the committee of five take their nice neat copy to Congress. It's read and debated and now Congress has a few suggestions and changes which they make on the page. On July 4, 1776, everyone's happy and they vote to adopt the Declaration of Independence. Now this final somewhat messy copy was supposedly signed by John Hancock, President of the Congress and Charles Thomson, Secretary of the Congress. Congress then tells the original committee of five to get the Declaration printed.

"Now, things get a little fuzzy. No one knows who took the signed copy of the Declaration to John Dunlap's print shop but somehow it made it there. John Dunlap was the official printer for the Continental Congress and risked his life by adding his name as printer of the Declaration to the names of Hancock and Thomson as signers. The story goes that Dunlap turned out somewhere around two hundred copies of the Declaration late July 4 and into early July 5 when the first printed copies were sent out. Twenty-five of those Broadsides are accounted for today. But the original handwritten document, approved by Congress and signed by John Hancock disappeared, presumably destroyed at the print shop after John Dunlap was finished with it. The same way you'd destroy a draft of a letter today after it's been printed."

"So what's on display in Washington?" Mae asked.

"The official engrossed copy of the Declaration made in August of 1776 and signed by almost all the members of Congress. Thomas Jefferson's personal first draft with changes by the committee is also accounted for and housed in the Library of Congress. But that final version signed by John Hancock and used as a master to set the type for the Broadside has never been found."

"And you think Belle has some idea where to find this original?" Lucy said. "I don't remember the story that way. It doesn't matter anyway because Belle's not here and she didn't tell me anything about it."

"You didn't find any notes? She must have left something," Perry insisted.

"Maybe. If I come across anything I'll let you know." Lucy was ready for Perry to leave. She had a bad feeling about Belle going missing while looking for a presumably priceless document. And if her disappearance was related to the Declaration, Perry would have to be at the top of the suspect list.

"But my dissertation depends on my finding out what happened to that document."

"Why not write it without the conclusions about the original copy? Surely there must