Here is the email I got from a fellow reenactor. Please keep an eye out and pass down the word. Dear Fellow Reenactors, My Cannon, limber and covered Car hauler was stolen from my lot at 4218 Pelham, Dearborn Heights , MI 48125 . Batty B 1st Michigan Light Artillery's entire gear was enclosed in the well locked up trailer. My trailer has distinctive bullet hole decals running up both sides and a giant cannonball splat on the back door. I want to get this information out as quick as I can. The more eyes we have looking the better! U.S. 1841 6pdr cannon mark C.A.&CO 1845 on trunnions 298 over W.V. on Muzzle No. 5. Limber U.S. 6 pdr. Trailer is a 2000 Haulmark 18ft covered car hauler charcoal gray VIN 16HGB1834YH065667. Please forward to any and all your C.W. reenactors and reenacting websites. Police Contact is: Dearborn Hgts. Police 313 277-6770 Officer Beaudree Case # 2010-84 Reward! Thanks Dr. Bill Vecchioni 313 277-1100 313-274-5412 Jim McKee Historic Interpreter III NC Division of Historic Sites Brunswick Town/Ft. Anderson SHS 8884 St. Philip's Rd., SE Winnabow, NC 28479 Ph: (910) 371-6613 FAX: (910) 383-3806 [email protected]
It may be that they only wanted the trailer. I had a friend who's house was completely swept away by Hurricane Katrina down around Gulfport, MS. He had a small 5x10 open utility trailer that he parked on the slab and as he and his family searched their lot and surrounding neighborhood picking up little items...a few of the kid's toys, a piece of his wife's grandmorthers china, family keepsakes, whatnots, etc., they piled them in the trailer. They did this for several weeks until one day they arrived on the site and the trailer was gone. I'm sure the slugs that stole the trailer threw the "junk" that was in it into a ditch somewhere...they just don't know how much sorrow they added to a family already suffering from a great loss. There's really some people out there that must be living miserable lives to do what they do. ...or, I hate to say it, it could be someone that cased your rig out at a previous reenactment. Like I said, they may have just wanted the trailer since it appears it was a well constructed, secure trailer. I hope you recover the trailer and it's contents ASAP....even if it is Yankee ordinance. Best wishes. Ed
Glad this guy got his stuff back! Too bad they didn't press charges on the theives! No real motive why they wanted it. Good Samaritan returns stolen replica war cannon Owner's 'faith in humanity' restored with 850-pound gun Steve Pardo / The Detroit News / 1-7-10 Dearborn Heights -- A Dearborn Heights chiropractor was reunited Wednesday with his stolen Civil War-replica cannon. The cannon, an 850-pound reproduction of the U.S. Model 1841, was taken from outside William Vecchioni's office on Pelham between 7 and 9 p.m. Monday. It was stored in a trailer along with other Civil War memorabilia. The thief or thieves drove up in a truck, hooked up the trailer and drove off, Vecchioni said. Police said Tuesday afternoon they had no leads. But around 2:30 that afternoon, Vecchioni's telephone rang. (scroll down!) I received an anonymous call from a Good Samaritan in Detroit," he said. "He's scared and he wants to give the cannon back." The man said he had to pick up his kids from school but would drive the cannon back Tuesday evening. True to form, two men showed around 5 p.m., the trailer in tow. There were some items missing from the trailer but the cannon was back, safe and sound. "It's absolutely wonderful," Vecchioni said. "It's restoring my faith in humanity." The police were there when the men arrived. Police don't believe the men who returned the trailer had anything to do with the theft and allowed them to leave. The smoothbore cannon is in working order and capable of firing a 6-pound shell 600 yards. Vecchioni is a member of Battery B First Michigan Light Artillery. His re-enactment group yearly displays the cannon at Greenfield Village as well as Fort Wayne during their Civil War days. They actually fire shells yearly at Camp Grayling's antique ordnance shoot. The 147,000-acre National Guard training site hosts the shoot every July. Vecchioni said the cannon would be difficult to pawn. "It's a very small community of cannon owners," he said. When word got out that the cannon had been stolen, Civil War re-enactment groups from as far away as Texas and Virginia let Vecchioni know they, too, were on the lookout for the artillery piece. Vecchioni feared the thief or thieves would dump the cannon in a river after realizing it wasn't something that could be sold.
