Cannon Balls Stolen from War Memorial

The city Public Works Department and Police are probing the attempted theft of cannon balls and several other metal pieces from the Soldiers and Sailors war memorial in Goodwin Park.

Public Works Director Steve Parkinson said Friday morning police discovered the theft and vandalism to the 1888 war memorial to Civil War soldiers and sailors last weekend after they received a call from New Castle Police.

Police learned that the replica cannon balls that sit on top of a metal box were dumped in New Castle near the Wentworth Marina sometime last Saturday.

"We went out there and checked out the statue and sure enough the metal box and cannon balls were cut off," Parkinson said.

They also discovered that the top and bottom of the anchor that the statue's sailor leans against were gone "so it looks like he is leaning on a walking stick now."

On the other side of the statue, the soldier's bayonet was also broken off, he said.

Somehow, the thieves managed to get undernearth the metal box that sat seven feet off the ground and they cut through three of the brass bolts that held it onto to the statue with a tool such as vice grips, Parkinson said.

"Right now it would be an estimated $10,000 worth of damage to the statue and it may be higher," Parkinson said.

The city did $200,000 worth of work to rehabilitate the statue and make improvements to Goodwin Park in 2003, which is often used for Veterans Day ceremonies. Parkinson said the city is insured for the damage and the statue will be repaired. Daedalus Inc., of Watertown, Mass., the company that will do the work, is the same firm that will refinish the World War I bronze plaque that was taken off the Memorial Bridge, he said.

"They are going to have to recast the whole anchor," Parkinson said.

Parkinson believes this was a very brazen crime that must have occurred either late at night around Saturday, Feb. 25, or in the early morning hours. There are also flood lights that illuminate the statue at night and Goodwin Park has high visibility on both the Islington and State street sides.

The replica cannon balls and metal box weight about 200 pounds and Parkinson believes that alone would involve a great deal of work to haul them away.

He believes the perpetrators must have believed they could sell them as scrap metal and when they discovered they could not, they chose to dump them in New Castle. He said he has never seen a war memorial vandalized like this before.

"In my 30 years, I've never had any vandalism like this to a historic statue," he said. "Hopefully, the police can get some leads on it."

The perpetrators would certainly face felony charges given the amount of damage involved.

Anyone who has any information about this crime should contact the the Seacoast Crime Stoppers crime line at 603-431-1199, send a text to CRIMES (274637) with TIPSCS in the message, or go to seacoastcrimestoppers.org. People may also leave anonymous tips. Rewards are paid for information leading to arrests and convictions.