MAN ARRESTED TRYING TO STEAL MAGNA CARTA

A man suspected of trying to steal a Magna Carta from its display case at Salisbury Cathedral has been arrested after he was wrestled to the ground by cathedral employees, British authorities said Friday.

Wiltshire Police said cathedral alarms sounded Thursday afternoon in the southwestern English city when a person armed with a hammer tried to smash the glass box surrounding the Magna Carta.

The Magna Carta is considered the founding document of English law and civil liberties, a document that influenced the shapers of the U.S. Constitution.

The document, granted by King John in 1215, established the principle that the king was subject to the law, rather than above it.