Crooks broke into the site of Bay Ridge’s recently demolished “Green Church” overnight on Tuesday in an apparent attempt to heist a time capsule from the rubble, Pastor Robert Emerick told The Brooklyn Paper.
The thieves hopped a fence to get into the construction site at the corner of Fourth and Ovington avenues, where the 108-year-old Bay Ridge United Methodist Church stood until last month, when it was demolished to make room for a smaller, easier to maintain temple funded by the construction of condos.
The relic raiders were eyeing a “little copper box” that church officials tucked behind the emerald-colored church’s cornerstone when it was built in 1899.
The time capsule contained a Bible, hymnal, church documents, photographs and a newspaper account of the capture of Manila.
The thieves chiseled away at the cornerstone to get at the artifact, but they were unable to snatch the time capsule because workers had removed it in October, Emerick said.
But the thieves escaped with a section of the cornerstone reading “Erected A.D. 1899” — and Green Church worshippers want their property back.
“Somebody took something from us that was ours, something that is from our own history,” said Emerick, who is offering a $500 reward for the return of the cornerstone.
To make matters worse, the crooks put Krazy Glue in the locks that secured the construction fencing.
Call (718) 238-4517 with info.
