Bomb squad goes to museum to remove live 1850s cannonball
A potentially dangerous situation was averted Tuesday when the Milwaukee County Bomb Squad removed a presumed live cannonball from a storage area at the Pewaukee Area Historical Society.
A volunteer called the Pewaukee Police Department to report the cannonball after being alerted of the potential danger by the person who donated it in 2018.
Pewaukee Police Chief Timothy Heier said the person who donated the 1850s cannonball read an article on warhistoryonline.com that reported the 2008 death of a Virginia man who was killed when the Civil War-era cannonball he was restoring exploded.
“The donor believed it was similar to their donated item and had safety concerns and immediately notified the museum after reading the article,” Heier said.
The museum volunteer found the cannonball on a shelf in the secondfloor storage area and immediately called police.
An officer who responded sent a photograph to the Milwaukee County Bomb Squad and evacuated the building. The bomb squad later retrieved the cannonball.
Heier followed up with the bomb squad on Thursday and was told the cannonball weighed 12 pounds, is in immaculate condition and features an uncut time fuse. Heier said that type of cannonball would often be packed with lead balls used as shrapnel.
“It has a fuse, and it’s got powder in it that can cause an explosion,” Heier said. “If there is in fact shrapnel in it, it could be deadly. We don’t know what’s in it because we haven’t X-rayed it yet, but the fact that the fuse has not been detonated, it has not been deemed safe.”
Heier said if the cannonball were to be dropped, it could explode. The cannonball is now in the Milwaukee County Bomb Squad’s possession; if it can be safely preserved, it will be returned to the historical society, Heier said.