The night they shot the cannon - downtown!

[rcmodel]

This 30 pounder Parrett Rifle has been in a park next to city hall on the river here for as long as I can remember.
It was made at the West Point Foundry in Cold Springs N.Y. in 1863.
How or when it ended up in Kansas is beyond me, as the barrel alone weighs 4,200 pounds and it is 11' 2" long.
Not the sort of thing you can throw on a pack mule!

Anyway, one warm spring night about 1971?, one of the local boys got the wild idea so shoot it!
One of those "Here, hold my beer and watch this!" moments I guess.

Somehow he scrounged up 4 pounds of black powder, and some fuse.
Then he stole a 20 ft. log chain out of his old man’s truck.

About 3:00 AM, he loaded the cannon with 4 pounds of powder, newspapers for wadding, and tamped the log chain down the barrel.
(The standard charge was supposed to be about 3 pounds!)

Then he touched her off!
The resounding boom echoed up and down the river like a thunder-clap, and woke up half the city!

Back then the new bridge and the levy across the river had not been built yet.
So the impact area 500 yards across the river was a large grove of willow trees.
The log chain cut a swath through them you could drive two buses through side by side and not touch a tree!

A big to-do and much hand wringing was done by all the city leaders and police, but they never did find out who did it.
No it wasn't me, but I was pretty good friends with the guy who did!

The recoil shattered the concrete carriage it was mounted on then, and left the barrel laying on the ground.


Shortly after, the bore was spiked with concrete, the fuse hole plugged with steel, and the cannon remounted on a new concrete pedestal it rests on today.










rc

 

[rodwha]

Is that Kansas City?

 

[rcmodel]

No, Lawrence KS.

rc

 

[PRD1]

Fun with artillery!

Many years ago, I was stationed at Vint Hill Farms Station, VA, a beautiful, small post belonging to the old Army Security Agency, now returned to the state.
At that time, the post salute gun (stationed at the foot of the flagpole, and fired morning and evening) was a 76mm anti-tank gun, with the breech bushed to fire 75mm blanks. It was plenty loud, and you could hear it all over the post.
ASA troops were never short of imagination (or nerve), and one night SOMEONE decided to have a bit of fun. He loaded a pool ball (from one of the day rooms) into the muzzle of the gun, wrapped and wadded in newspaper, and rammed into the muzzle with a broomstick. He then carefully cranked the traverse and elevation just a bit so that the gun was pointed directly at the post water tower, about 300 yards away (it was not enough change to be noticed by the flag detail, who never checked or did anything to the gun anyway, except load the blank and pull the lanyard at Reveille and Retreat).
The next morning, the pool ball scored a direct hit on the water tower. The investigation never produced a suspect. HOWEVER, the post commander did direct that the gun be rotated so that the muzzle pointed away from the interior of the installation - and more-or-less directly over the guard post at the main gate, also about 300 yards away.
Do you know that it is possible to muzzle-load a dead cat into a 76mm gun with a broomstick? And that the resulting spray of feline langrage covers a wide area (and most of the MP's at the gate)?
The post commander had the gun bushed again, to accept an anemic 10 ga. blank, which made a rather pitiful 'Pop', compared to the 75mm blank, went almost unnoticed over the post when fired, but did put an end to ballistic pranks involving that 76mm gun.
They never did find out WHO did the dirty deeds, and I wouldn't want you to think it was me...
PRD1 - mhb - Mike

 

[rcmodel]

Now that just proves the old saying.
The first story teller (ME) doesn't stand a chance against the second one! (YOU!)

I'm LMAO over that one, and I don't doubt it a bit.

We had a guy shoot a hole through brigade headquarters with a 106mm recoilless-rifle .50 cal spotting round one time!

He claimed it was an accident, and got off pretty easy.
But he became intimately familiar with the bottoms of grease traps and garbage cans for about 6 months!

rc

 

[Centurian22]

Awesome story!

 

[jeepnik]

Sadly today, such things don't happen much. Whether it's lack of imagination on the part of today's young soldiers, or fear of being caught on camera is a toss up.

 

[rcmodel]

That, and some of that stuff like the cannon shot in the park would probably result in Federal Terrorism & ATF bomb making charges + Federal prison time today if you got caught.

Back then, it was all good clean fun, unless somebody actually got hurt.
Even some of my cop friends at the time thought it was Funny as He-- well you know.

rc

 

[PRD1]

rcmodel:

I do have to thank you for reminding me of the incident, now a good 40 years ago, and giving me the opportunity to share a good (true!) story, also about a cannon and someone with an occasional devil whispering in his ear.
PRD1 - mhb - Mike

 

[Dr_B]

Do you know that it is possible to muzzle-load a dead cat into a 76mm gun with a broomstick?

I didn't. But I know a guy who owns a cannon... hhmmm.

 

[cpt-t]

GREAT STORY`S GUYS: I laugh so loud my Wife ask what in the world I was doing. I love hearing good stories and these were two good ones. If you come up with any more I am all ears and I bet alot of others are to. Thanks Again: ken

 

[Foto Joe]

It is truly amazing that some of us actually lived to be old enough to remember stuff like this.

 

[loose noose]

Now that reminds me of a civil war cannon in Memphis back in '66,we had some fool try to ignite a charge of BP and a 25# bag of shot in it, and tried touching it off with a homemade torch. Don't know if the feller ever recovered from his wounds or is still in the brig, but I can still remember a bunch of dead pigeons littering the ground.

 

[kBob]

There are a host of stories about the salute guns at The Citadel in Charleston SC. As a freshman I discarded most of the stories....especially the one about a pool ball. These were 3 inch AT guns down by the Flag pole on the parade ground. Then one day while "at ease" rather than doing the whole freshamn/knob/screw/maggot trot at a brace thing I noticed that there was infact a patched area on both of the walls of the gym stairway that did line up with the guns all the way across the field. Later in the year I was treated to the roll of Toilet paper/ fire crackers shot while standing at a Friday after noon parade at retreat. A bit frighting actually if you happen to be in the battalion closest to the guns when flaming paper debris and poping fire crackers accompany the salute.

Amazing what happened when you put 2000 young guys together without the benifit of female companion ship or guidence.

I rather liked marching out the front sallyport of old third battalion (fourth marched in the back gate and out the front to reach the parade ground on Fridays) one day to the music of the old Superman TV show while the man of steel stood on the library/museum across the way with his cape streaming in the breeze. No black powder there but it caused some senior privates in my company to have the desire to do something weirder and all they could come up with was a BP powered bomb that shattered four of the 3 foot square tiles in our barracks quad and sent fragments of steel cans flying in all directions. How they did not kill the cadet private of the guard on duty, whom some one called out just as the thing was about to go I am not sure. It did knock him down and his saucer hat was blown and rolled out through the sally port, past the guard station and into the street.

Youth is just a means of concealling brain damage.

-kBob

 

[72coupe]

I'm not telling any of mine. I don't know what the statute of limitations might be.

 

[jeepnik]

It is truly amazing that some of us actually lived to be old enough to remember stuff like this.

That probably because we stopped/slowed our drinking.

 

[Busyhands94]

Sadly today, such things don't happen much. Whether it's lack of imagination on the part of today's young soldiers, or fear of being caught on camera is a toss up.

Oh, I wouldn't assume that. We got a cannon right in the middle of a sleepy little town, years back it went boom. Somebody shoved an M-80 and a tennis ball down the barrel of it, the crazy fool. Of course I am not saying I was part of anything.

 

[thralldad]

I'm tearing up with laughter. Awesome stories!

 

[4v50 Gary]

Glad no one was injured.

That was truly a hold my beer moment.

 

[SSN Vet]

And I thought sneaking beer into the company lounge was exciting

 

[Pulp]

I do know that something called a "ground burst simulator" will wake up the neighbors.

 

[Busyhands94]

I do know that something called a "ground burst simulator" will wake up the neighbors.

Sounds like you could use it for fishing when they aren't biting!
Of course a nasty, soft lead pumpkin ball slug behind 3 drams of Goex FFFG will really wake people up. Too bad it's illegal to pull something like that, I got 50 rounds just like that in 16 gauge.

 

[Gatofeo]

My father was a truck driver before and after World War II. Spent a lot of time in small towns throughout Washington, Idaho, Montana and Oregon.
He told me of a town in Montana, can't recall which, that had a strip of grass between two avenues that led right up to the courthouse.
A cannon was at one end of the strip, with a Doughboy (World War I soldier) running like HE77 in the opposite direction.
He always found that funny, since artillery is always pointed toward the front and the Doughboy was running away from the front!
Anyway, one night someone loaded the cannon with black powder, and topped it with eggs and assorted veggies.
Peppered the front of the courthouse and broke a lot of windows!
Within days, a crane was picking up the cannon and pointing it away from the courthouse -- presumably at the Doughboy!
Wish I knew where this was, but I've forgotten.

 

[BCRider]

No cannons involved but an "empty" can of Goex that has about 15 to 20 gns still rattling around the bottom when tossed into a fire goes off with a pretty healthy BANG! even with the cap left off. The top and bottom were burst off but still hanging on and the sides were round as a soup can....

Fourtunetly the silly perpetrators of this misdeed were still sober enough, but just barely, that they backed WAY off to watch the fun.

 

[Iggy]

Then there was a ronyvoo out west somewheres a few years back where the trappers drawed up sides for some fun. One side was defendin' the fort and the other side was injuns.
Did I mention that there was some "stumpblower" consumed before this here little fracas was conceived?
Well them fellers at the fort had a 12 pound howitzer and loaded it up with fresh horse apples.

Nobody was hurt, but that little squabble ended up with a whole bunch of fellers doin' some skinny dippin' in the crick.
I heard the water was purty durn chilly too.