Posted on 03/30/2005 3:06:23 PM PST by Willie Green
Arlington Elementary School was evacuated Tuesday afternoon when a fifth-grader studying American history brought a 110-year-old artillery shell to class, Pittsburgh Public Schools police Chief Robert Fadzen said.
When the 11-year-old boy showed the shell to his teacher at 1:45 p.m., school officials evacuated the school and called the city police bomb squad, Fadzen said. The shell was taken for disposal.
(Excerpt) Read more at pittsburghlive.com ...
Good if the case is intact.
WoW...my physics teacher heard I had a demill'd pinapple grenade and asked me to bring it in to physics class...no one was evacuated...half the school got to see it too...
A few years ago, I built a SpudGun (with help from my then 11 yr old son). He wanted to use it in his science fair, so we came up with the idea of using the gun as a measuring instrument to chart the combustibility of various compressed gases; i.e, hair spray, deodorant, etc. He didn't win anything at the fair, but his teacher took me aside and asked if I would mind bringing the spudgun to school and demonstrating how it worked! I enthusiastically said yes! On the appointed day, I walked to his school with this Army green SpudGun over my shoulder and a bag of spuds and a couple cans of hair spray (we only lived two blocks from the school). When I arrived, his teacher dismissed his class (along with all the other 5th grade classes as well as the lady principal) to the playgrounds where we proceeded to light off many rounds from that SpudGun! It brought tears to my eyes to see dozens of fifth-grade kids screaming and jumping for joy each time a round was let off! Fun was had by all...
This was in Bakersfield, CA about nine years ago...
1972, when I was a kid living in New Jersey, I was on a trailer camping trip with my parents. They were surprised to see kids in New Mexico (around Carlsbad) going to school carrying rifles (and there weren't Columbines back then).
Somebody sent it to me....if you google search bomb squad and joke on Google images you'll find a bunch of them.
When I was a kid, I made a small pistol out of a piece of fiberglass tubing with a cap on the back just behind a hole in the top into which I'd firmly slide a single firecracker (which happened to be the perfect length and didn't stick out). I would stand at one end of the garage and shoot two-liter pop bottle caps half-filled with wax through pizza boxes on the other. It was fun and sounded really cool.
Move the kid on up to the .50 cal muzzloader & let him pack in 60-70 grains. When he goes to shoot that candle out during "Ronde," he won't even have to come close. The velocity will blow the dang thing out :-). Better yet, get him a smooth-bore. Doesn't even need shot for that. Just a pocket full of small rocks.
Started my son out on blackpowder, too. He was 11. Wanted him to grow up safe, with a healthy respect for firearms. He did, he's a darn good shot, & knew more about American history than most of his teachers, besides. Gentle & good-humored - he's never harmed so much as a sparrow. But, if he had to, I bet he could shoot a terrorist between the eyes at a hundred yards. Does he make me proud? You bet he does.
Have a great summer, Grandpa. Teach that boy well & keep him safe. BTW...you can call me what my son does...."Mom."
Not too many live shells from the Civil War era: Those had "open" fuses paths that couldn't keep the internal powder well sealed. (The blast from the prelling charge ignited the explosive powder.)
2005 - 110 years? Odd time for an artillary shell to reach a civilian's hands.
I carried a knife to school every day. And once took an M-1 to school when I was in the 1st grade. They were a lot more understanding in those days.
And in deer season, most boys brought their 30-30s for hunting after class.
I carried a penknife in my pocket from the time I was about five until after I graduated from college. Then I stopped carrying one regularly because I found it was wearing holes in my pockets.
I got my first penknife by sending away for it with an offer from a box of cereal. My parents tried to divert it when it arrived in the mail, but I soon discovered that it had arrived and insisted on having it. I still have a small scar on my hand from where I cut myself with it the first time I tried it out, but I'm glad to say my parents let me keep it.
The 11-year-old boy told Pittsburgh Public Schools Police that his grandfather gave him the 15-inch shell, which he called a "big bullet."
Nobody was hurt when Arlington Elementary School was evacuated about 1:45 p.m. Tuesday, and the shell was disposed of. It wasn't immediately clear if the shell was live, police said.
The boy took the shell to school in his book bag without telling his parents, police said.
The boy could be suspended for up to 10 days, officials said.
Sounds like a Hotchkiss to me, prolly defuzed, but who knows for sure. Some of the projectiles used Gold Fulminate, which never goes bad.
My friends and I used to play mumbledepeg in a corner of the schoolyard with our penknives. I still remember the first few moves, including "jump the fence" over your left hand. I don't remember exactly, we probably hid behind a tree or a bush while we were doing it.
I was 10, and saved up for almost a year to get a Swiss Army Knife. My parents told me I was wasting my money and would just lose it. I carried it for 40 years, and the plastic handle wore off. I now carry the replacement.
I went to an amusement park last summer. They used metal detectors going in and wanted to take my knife away. I guess they feared I would hijack a roller coaster and crash it into a skyscraper. I turned back and went home.
Y'all stay safe now
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
Actually, about 25 years ago in Virginia (I think Goochland County), a kid brought a "Civil War" - ..ahem .. "War Between the States" - artillary shell to school. He had the bright idea of making an ashtray or something out of it in shop class. As he was tightening a vice on it, it exploded killing a couple of kids. The tragedy received a lot of media coverage in Virginia and left quite an impression on me. The town was shell-shocked. So to answer your question, that was the last time I heard of such a shell exploding. The principal did exactly the right thing in evacuating the school and calling in the bomb squad.
LOL!
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