Lost and Found

Last fall hanover police officer Richard Paulsen learned of a little-known Dartmouth legend that he found too enticing to ignore. An alum casually told him that in the 1960s a group of students stole a World War I-era cannon from the Vermont Veterans' Home in Bennington, Vermont, and hid it under the bleachers at Memorial Field. Although the Veterans' Home had no record of a stolen cannon, Paulsen, passionate both about the law and historical military machinery, decided to investigate.

Under the bleachers he found a cannon ammunition cartridge lodged in the mud-but no cannon. Puzzled, Paulsen enlisted the help of earth sciences professor Leslie Sonder, whose geophysics class combed the area using a magnetometer, looking for clues under the dirt. The class, however, found nothing conclusive, and Paulsen felt ready to relegate the case of the missing cannon to little more than Dartmouth legend.

Then Frank Watkins '62, who read about the cannon search in The D, contacted Paulsen. "You've got it all wrong," he said. "This cannon you're looking for was never stolen from Bennington—it belonged to Dartmouth the whole time."

In a serendipitous twist, Watkins remembers the cannon from his time at Dartmouth. He had become friends with the chief of campus police, who knew that Watkins was wild about military weapons. In a bid to impress the young student, the chief showed Watkins the cannon, located under the bleachers, just next to a plaque commemorating the Dartmouth men who served in World War I.

Watkins was impressedthe cannon was historically significant in that it was the most advanced form of weaponry used during WW I. After the war France had given a number of such cannons to American universities as a thank you for the young American men who fought. Dartmouth received one in 1920, and rumor has it that after a few years of student pranks the administration decided to move it behind the bleachers to avoid further mischief.

In the early 1960s a professor at the College, noticing the cannon was in a state of disrepair, offered to assume responsibility for the cannon and its restoration. Since then the cannon has been off campus and under the care of three separate families, all with military ties. Each family has devoted time and resources to restore the cannon, and today it resides on the grounds of a house in Springfield, New Hampshire, in much better shape than during its Dartmouth days.

"We're happy to let the cannon remain where it is—wherever that is," says Genevieve Haas of Dartmouth's office of public affairs.

Members of the all-female a capella group The Rockapellas belt out Shakira's "Objection" during an impromptu performance and photo shoot on the upper ledges of the Hood Museum. This fall marks the 20th anniversary of the founding of the group, which performs on and off campus. Their sixth and latest CD, Testimony, is due later this year. For more on the Rockapellas, go to www.dartmouth.edu/~rckaplla.