Virginia crews may have found time capsule in Robert E Lee statue’s pedestal

Statue was taken down in September but on Friday governor said crews found box embedded in 2,000lb granite block

Crews working to remove the pedestal from which a statue of Confederate general Robert E Lee towered over Richmond, Virginia, for more than a century believe they have found a time capsule buried there in 1887.

The large bronze equestrian statue of Lee, erected in 1890, was taken down in September, more than a year after Governor Ralph Northam ordered its removal amid protests over racism and police brutality across the US following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.