Eddie Southgate
36 Cal.
For the last 25 or so years of my grandfather's life he was blind . He and some friends in the local SCV chapter did Civil War reenacting with a cannon built from one of Turner Kirkland's early steel lined iron 6 pounder barrels . They were firing the cannon at Frontier Days held at WENO (Radio Station ) Ranch outside of Nashville in the mid 60's . The powder to shoot the cannon was rolled up in Kyser Foil and stored in two wood dynamite boxes . You would insert a charge and stick the gimlet through it through the touch hole to allow the spark to get into the charge .
They had the two boxes of charges setting one on top of the other and several of the guys were standing around shooting the bull. My grandfather was wearing a sweater because the weather was kind of cool and had just rubbed his hand on the sweater when he reached into the box to remove a charge . He said sparks jumped from his fingers to the charge and it ignited setting the rest of them in the box off as well . Several people were injured . He had a broken arm and lost a Kidney and the use of both eyes due to cornea damage . There was some speculation that the radio towers and overhead high voltage wires may have played some part in the heavy static that set the powder off . I kind of doubt it but who knows . What I do know is in some situations static can set powder off . My grandfather was a gunsmith and had a lifetime of familiarity with muzzle loaders and black powder and he still did not anticipate this ever happening .
Eddie Southgate
They had the two boxes of charges setting one on top of the other and several of the guys were standing around shooting the bull. My grandfather was wearing a sweater because the weather was kind of cool and had just rubbed his hand on the sweater when he reached into the box to remove a charge . He said sparks jumped from his fingers to the charge and it ignited setting the rest of them in the box off as well . Several people were injured . He had a broken arm and lost a Kidney and the use of both eyes due to cornea damage . There was some speculation that the radio towers and overhead high voltage wires may have played some part in the heavy static that set the powder off . I kind of doubt it but who knows . What I do know is in some situations static can set powder off . My grandfather was a gunsmith and had a lifetime of familiarity with muzzle loaders and black powder and he still did not anticipate this ever happening .
Eddie Southgate
