From the Archives to eBay

Denning McTague, a 40-year old intern at the National Archives last summer, has pleaded guilty to smuggling 150 Civil War-era documents out of the Archives and putting them up for sale on eBay, AP reports. McTague snuck the papers out by sticking them in a yellow legal pad. The stolen documents, according to the report, included "telegrams concerning the troops’ weaponry, the War Department’s announcement of Lincoln’s death sent to soldiers, and a letter from famed cavalryman James Ewell Brown Stuart." A Gettysburg publishing company noticed the items for sale online and got suspicious. Moral of the story? The Archives might want to look into boosting its security procedures, and cast a skeptical eye on 40-year-olds who want to work as interns.