BUTTE - For 113 years Lady Justice has been proudly standing atop the Butte Courthouse, but without the scales of justice in her left hand. Now, that injustice has been rectified.
"That was on my list of things to accomplish, yeah, that was a big one actually,” Government Buildings Manager John Sullivan said.
Butte’s government building manager has been wanting to put a scale in the statue's hand after discovering it had a spot for it two years ago.
Butte's Lady Justice statue gets her missing scales after 113 years. The $50 eBay find completes this iconic courthouse symbol
"She has a spot for scales, but no indication that there have ever been scales there before. The hole was there, there was still all the fired glazing terracotta, no wear marks, no discoloration, no nothing,” Sullivan said.
The city bought a scale on eBay for just over $50. Custom Construction, which was already replacing windows on the courthouse, let the city crew borrow their lift to attach the scale to the statue.
Joel Worth works across the street from the courthouse and had no idea the statue was missing her scale. However, he’s glad she got one now.
“No, no, it doesn’t seem right if she doesn’t have her scale, for sure. I think it’s cool, especially when you look up there and see it, and you can see even the shadow of it, so I think it’s pretty neat,” Worth said.
The city hopes she will now truly represent blind justice.
“We did verify while we were up there yesterday, though, that the blind over her eyes is over her eyes. There was some speculation that maybe she was peeking, you know, one of the eyes wasn’t completely covered,” Sullivan said.
