PADUTCH-LIFE-L Archives

From: "Vee L. Housman" <>
Subject: The Hidden Cannon
Date: Wed, 04 Nov 1998 23:13:53 -0500

Dear Group,

This evening I've been working on sorting out copies of newspaper
clippings to be filed in our historical society museum's files tomorrow
and I came across one that I enjoyed so much that I wanted to share it
with someone. So you're "it." I guess you would have had to know how
stubborn old Wally Moon was over 20 years ago to really appreciate it!

Niagara Gazette
Niagara Falls, New York
August 28, 1974

VILLAGE “SENTINEL” HIDES CANNON

By Don Glynn
Gazette Sunday Editor

“Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them . . .”
--Charge of the Light Brigade

YOUNGSTOWN--Wallingford (Wally) Moon stands as a lonely
sentinel in a community once jolted by the boom of heavy cannon
fire. Though the guns have been silent for more than a century,
Wally is digging in to protect a small historic cannon, an 800-pound
souvenir of the Spanish-American War, “for the public.”

The cannon has been the target of constant controversy between
Wally and the Village Board for the last two years, when it first
mysteriously disappeared from the lawn of the Red Brick School
House in Lockport Street.

Wally knows where the cannon is hidden, but he won’t utter a
word. The Village Board says he’ll face a court order if it isn’t
returned by Labor Day. But the “Soldier of Peace” has set some
conditions: put the cannon in the Historical Museum on the second
floor of the Red Brick building, now the village community center,
and mount it on a steel plate. Put a plaque on the base. The
Village Board must provide a legal document outlining its
intentions to fulfill the requests.

“We’ve been very patient with Wally on this matter,” says Mayor
Nick Lozzi. “We’ve tried to get the cannon back for over a year
and he still refuses to return it. He’s already ignored the Aug. 10
deadline. The village needs it by early September to have it ready
for the international cultural festival in October.”

“When they (Village Board) produce a steel plate of sufficient size
and prove to me that it will be secured in a safe place this time, the
cannon will come back,” responded Wally.

“I talked to Wally a couple of weeks ago and I think we can
straighten out the matter soon,” said Kenneth Wieland, a village
trustee who also is president of the historical society. “He seems
concerned that it is all spelled out in a legal manner.” William D.
Broderick, another trustee, admits he’s not a “great one for the
implements of war,” but the village would like the cannon back. . .

It was a familiar landmark at the entrance to the Red Brick School
until the pupils moved to the new Lewiston-Porter elementary
system three years ago. “All of a sudden, the cannon disappeared.
It took me two weeks to track it down,” recalled Wally.

Subsequently, it was taken to the village garage in Second Street,
where Wally hoped to refurbish the relic. Some sort of battle
erupted there--the Department of Public Works didn’t like the
artillery smack in the center of the building--and without any
suitable explanation the 75-year-old cannon was suddenly dropped
off on Wally’s front lawn one day. No one has seen any sign of it
since.

Wally insists he’s the only person who knows the hiding place.
Mayor Lozzi says it’s actually in two places, as far as he knows.
“Wally has the brass barrel and the rest of it is at another location,
but [he’s] not saying where.”

The mayor is baffled by Wally’s reluctance to comply with the
board’s request. “We offered to place it in the museum, to pay for
the painting, to mount it on a steel plate and to reimburse Wally for
polishing it. We’ll even arrange to have it picked up to take the
strain off him.”

Meanwhile, Wally still wants to know why “it was just left on my
lawn . . . I’m not sure how they brought it either.”

Vee Housman
Youngstown, NY

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• The Hidden Cannon by "Vee L. Housman" <>