Local News in Brief : Collector Returns Civil War Cannons

A Lancaster collector has returned two 304-pound Civil War cannons valued at more than $15,000 each that were stolen from a Michigan cemetery in August.

Police in Gladwin, Mich., said Doug Howser did not know the Dahlgren Boat howitzers had been stolen when he bought them from a Michigan man for $2,900.

The 36-inch bronze cannons were manufactured in 1854 and used on Union ships during the Civil War. They were mounted in a cement foundation in the veterans memorial at the 30-acre Highland Cemetery in the late 1950s.

Gladwin Police Chief John Simpson said two or more people took the cannons from the cemetery in early August. One suspect, who has been identified but not arrested, apparently picked up one of Howser’s business cards at a Michigan gun show, telephoned Howser and offered to sell him the cannons, he said.