Posted By: P.C. George
Date: Tuesday, 19 February 2008, at 5:45 a.m.
I'm posting this (as I did in another forum) so that readers of this thread will have some Factual information to go by, instead of the wild rumors which typically arise on the Internet soon after such an incident. I will update you with any additional facts as they develope. In the meantime, guys, PLEASE keep the wild rumor-mill under control.
Sam lived about 15 miles from me. Here is what I know from local TV news-reports (and as we all know, "first reports are often incorrect"). I will also include my deductions about what the shell was, based on viewing a 14-pound fragment of it, and on eyewitness reports of the extensiveness of Sam's injuries.
Sam died a few minutes after the accidental explosion of a very large-caliber civil war cannonball he was drilling to deactivate. I've seen a news-photo of one of its fragments, reported to weigh 14 pounds. The frag in that photo appears to be from a 9" or 10" caliber Navy Watercap fuzed shell (weighing between 70 to 95 pounds, and containing 7 to 10 pounds of Blackpowder). Unlike most other civil war fuze-types, which tend to let groundwater enter the shell during 120-140 years of burial in the ground, that Navy fuze was specifically designed to be extremely waterproof.
The 70-95 pound Navy shell exploded around 1:20PM this afternoon. At 5:15PM, I got a phonecall from a (local) WRIC-TV News reporter, who had been referred to me by Steve Sylvia. She asked me to come to the studio for an on-camera interview. I agreed, in order to "get the word out" that EXCAVATED civil war period shells are not dangerous to keep in your house ...which was the reporter's main question. I explained that their explosive component is simple Blackpowder, which is NOT illegal under Federal law. (Blackpowder Deerhunters commonly keep cans of Blackpowder in their houses.) Furthermore, my extensive research has turned up NO news reports during 1900-2007 (in Newspaper Archives, etc) of an EXCAVATED CIVIL WAR PERIOD shell exploding from merely being dropped or knocked off a shelf. Those two statements by me (on video) were used in the TV-station's 11:00PM news-report.
Please note: EVERY time somebody has gotten blown up by a civil war shell in the last 100 years, the person was drilling into it. Don't do that, or put one into a fire or oven, and you'll be fine.
For more than 20 years, I've been trying to get Public Authorities (the police, etc) to call in a civil war artillery expert when a shell turns up. I've been partially successful at that - the National Park Service has employed me to deactivate several civil war era shells for them. Each of those is now displayed in a Museum Collection for public benefit and education, instead of being in pieces at the bottom of an Army EOD disposal-pit. Regarding today's incident, I've been told that my message reached the police authorities on the scene, and they've decided not to confiscate the many civil war shells inside Sam's house. But the 18 which were in the backyard where Sam was drilling will be destroyed.
My condolences and prayers for Sam White's family and friends.
"[The Lord] shall dry every tear... They will no more mourn nor weep."
Regards,
Pete [P.C. George]
