The barrage, heard miles away, eventually led to an arrest and confiscation of the cannon, which apparently was firing charges but no cannon balls. Powder charges are held in place by wads of paper or foil. “We had reports from people that had heard the cannon go off,” explained County Sheriff Joseph A. Gerace.
On Wednesday, after several days of the racket, sheriff’s deputies went to Brian J. Malta’s home in Kiantone, south of Jamestown. Accused of firing a replica Civil War cannon toward a neighbour’s property, 52-year-old Malta was charged with three misdemeanor counts of menacing and three violation counts of harassment. He is free on $2,500 bail.
“It’s a civil matter,” Gerace said, declining to comment further on its nature. It is not illegal to own a cannon in New York State, but this one is now being held as evidence by the Sheriff’s Office, a first for Gerace in terms of confiscated weapons. “I don’t recall, during my 34-year career, taking a cannon,” he said.
2 comments:
'MERICA!
40 years ago when I was first dating my wife, a guy down the street from her parents was a Civil War re-enactor and had a cannon. When the local roller skating rink would get too rowdy with their music on Saturday nights he would sometimes load up a light round and bounce one off the metal building's roof. They'd get the message and turn down the music...
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