VIRGINIA CITY, Nev. (CN) — Ron James knows firsthand that folklore can trump the factual written word when it comes to a blindfold-free statue of Lady Justice that has long been a source of community pride for Nevada's most famous mining town.
The oldest continuously operated courthouse in the state since its opening in 1877, Storey County Courthouse is by itself deserving of praise.
In his 1994 book "Temples of Justice: County Courthouses of Nevada," however, James dispelled a belief long touted by locals: that the Lady Justice positioned outside above the building's entrance is particularly rare because it lacks a blindfold.
Having served as the state historic preservation officer in Nevada for more than 25 years before retiring, James found that a Lady Justice without a blindfold is actually not all that unusual.
He discovered a number of other similar examples in his research, but their significance proved lost on at least one reader.
James recalled a longstanding Storey County recorder who loved his courthouse book. In fact, the recorder had him sign several copies she gave as Christmas gifts.
But when James escorted a group of students on a tour of the courthouse in his last year of state employment, he heard the recorder call the justice statue one of only two in the country that didn't have a blindfold.
James did not take offense. "Actually I was thrilled because when I wrote the book I was really afraid that I would extinguish the folklore, but it didn't," he said in an interview. "The folklore is more powerful than the written word."
Noting that a statue could be ordered with or without a blindfold, James said the version without a blindfold is in the minority but "just not as rare as the local folklore would have it."
While the blindfold has come to symbolize impartiality, James is among those who argue a blindfold doesn't make sense because Lady Justice is "the goddess of justice, and if she's the goddess of justice, she doesn't need to be blind to be just — she's inherently just."
According to James' book, the chairman of the Storey County Commission ordered the gold-plated statue from a catalog of the Seelig Fine Arts Foundation of Williamsburg, New York, at a cost of $236, including shipping.
Another bit of folklore, which James called a 20th century addition, is that the statue's lack of a blindfold was a reflection of frontier justice the need to see the violence of the Wild West.
The statue does have other significance: It's the only one to adorn the outside of a Nevada courthouse.
James noted that the "idea of having this monumental piece of metal sculpture on the front of a courthouse is a real statement in itself."
Making a statement is what Storey County officials had in mind when designing and building the courthouse. The prominent San Francisco architecture firm of Kenitzer and Raun gave county commissioners three options for constructing the High Victorian Italianate style courthouse. They chose the most expensive option, clinging to optimism that Virginia City and the silver riches of the famous Comstock Lode would persist.