Almost anyone who enjoyed listening to the stories of older relatives will remember the stories about hooking up some sort of DC device [usually called a "Shocking Machine" by the bad kids who played with them] to someone's old iron bedstead ... and then you had to turn a hand crank to generate enough electricity to shock someone ...
I never heard of anyone being electrocuted by one of these childish pranks. LOL
It is generally considered that current rather than voltage is what kills. Of course the two are related but it is possible to get very high currents from low voltage sources if the resistance is low.
Ordinarilly, point skin resistence is high enough to make low voltages inconsequential. But where skim contact area is large, such as if hands were wet with some conducting liquid, lethal currents can definitely be generated.
I wouldn't doubt at all that field telephones could electrocute under the right circumstances.
Hmmmm. How did these bad kids get hold of a "shocking machine"? Are you talking about a phone? Phones used to have a crank. I would like to know what kind of power goes through the crank generator.
You can take a 9 volt DC battery and place both contacts on your tongue.
It won't kill you. It really even doesn't hurt.