"Perhaps they'd heard about the incredible cow-killing cannon and decided to steer well clear of Athens," suggested Fred Sanders, an Athens resident and self-described amateur military historian. "But it's far more likely that those rumors of the impending Yankee arrival were completely unfounded."
After the war, the cannon was left to molder. It mysteriously disappeared sometime in 1891 and reappeared almost a decade later.
Newspaper reports stated that a young boy discovered the cannon in a rock pile while he was attempting to catch a lizard. He hauled the cannon into town and sold it to a junk shop for $4. The city purchased it for $5 shortly afterward.
Until recently, the cannon sat peacefully on the lawn of City Hall, though Athens' convention and visitors bureau helpfully notes in its tourist guide that the cannon is "pointing north ... just in case."
But the peace was shattered Sept. 22, 2003, when the cannon was accosted by a robot.
The robot was investigating the contents of a suspicious package that had been placed in one of the cannon's barrels. The package, which bore a tag reading "random act ..." sparked fears that a bomb had been placed in the cannon.
"They sent a robot with a camera over to the cannon, and used the camera to look at the package," said Athens resident Mary Clark, who witnessed the event.
"They couldn't figure out what it was, so the robot then removed the package, aimed a shotgun at it and blew it to bits. It was totally cool," Clark said.
It was later discovered that the package only contained candy, and had been left in the cannon by a local church group as, according to the tag on the package, a "random act of kindness" in the hopes a hungry person would find and eat the sweets.
"Seems like that cannon just has to get itself involved in some strange ruckus every so often," noted Sanders. "It's had a more interesting life than any other public monument that I know of."
Additional Sources:
www.ngeorgia.com
www.rootsweb.com
www.nscs.com
www.igougo.com
