Cannon master Ted Dickel ’07 poses with the antique siege gun after its return to campus. He was part of an honor guard of Flems that flew to Cambridge, Massachusetts, in April to retrieve it from MIT.

Firing off on the cannon caper

By Rhonda Hillbery

Now safely resting in front of Steele House after its 6,000-mile journey, the Fleming House cannon looks no worse for wear, despite its brief stint as a prisoner of war.

Its April 19 return provided welcome closure to Doyl (Ted) Dickel ’07, a physics major who served as official cannon master for two full years.

The duties of the cannon master include trekking around campus to obtain administrative approval signatures before each firing. The cannon master also maintains a large red binder filled with cannon history, lore, and firing protocol.

Most importantly, the cannon master unlocks the breech and then fires the 19th century relic to mark the end of rotation, end of classes, Ditch Day, and the conclusion of commencement (a battery-operated fuse sets off the blank charge to achieve a satisfying bang). In addition, the cannon is fired during certain special events, such as its dramatic return to Caltech in April.

Over a late-afternoon lunch of pizza in Chandler Dining Hall, Ted was happy to talk cannon history. Built in France in 1878, the weapon was intended for use in the Spanish-American War. But by the time it was available for action and had reached Florida, it was obsolete. “The model was discontinued shortly thereafter, when they changed to smokeless powder,” says the lanky native of South Carolina, speaking rapidly and without a trace of a southern accent. “It was only made for a short period and is a relatively rare model. So it’s been hard to get information about it.”

It was especially hard during those few days after a campus security bulletin documented the cannon’s mysterious departure on March 28. The snatchers had apparently taken advantage of its removal to a new, unsecured location in front of Steele House while the South Houses, which include Fleming, were being renovated.

Since the cannon vanished close to the anniversary of its hijacking 20 years ago by Harvey Mudd students, the first thought around Caltech was that the same culprits had struck again. In fact, Tom Mannion, assistant vice president for student life, called the dean at Harvey Mudd to try to figure out if he knew what was going on. “He hadn’t heard anything,” Mannion recounts. “There was no chatter on his campus.”

But soon enough, an anonymous caller assured Caltech security chief Gregg Henderson that the cannon was safe, and that all would soon be revealed. And as the world now knows, the cannon turned up 3,000 miles away on the campus of MIT.

Then it all made sense. MIT had swiped Fleming House’s beloved mascot as payback for a raft of recent Caltech-engineered pranks, including the one in 2005, when unsuspecting MIT prefrosh were handed T-shirts that read “MIT” on the front, and on the back “...because not everyone can go to Caltech.” During that same event, Caltech students had also altered an MIT sign to read “The Other Institute of Technology.”

With the facts finally out, Flems reacted with mixed emotions, relieved that their iconic symbol was found and miffed that MIT was able to spirit it away so easily. On April 10, Ted joined the red-shirted Fleming contingent that traveled to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to retrieve it. The red-eye journey was too stressful to be fun. “Nerve-racking,” is how he describes it. On April 19, the cannon was restored, with a padlock this time, to its temporary home in front of Steele House.

Members of Fleming House push their venerable symbol back into position.

Trustee (and former Flem) Philip Neches ’73, PhD ’83, on campus at the time for a trustee meeting, was invited to don protective earmuffs and fire the cannon in honor of its return. The resulting explosion touched off a few car alarms in the nearby Holliston Avenue parking garage.

For the New Jersey–based businessman, it was an opportunity to reprise an important role he had played in the cannon’s inaugural firing at Caltech nearly 35 years earlier.

Until its 1972 arrival at Caltech, the cannon had sat for about 45 years in front of Southwestern Academy in San Marino, a former military school. By the late 1960s the weapon was falling into disrepair. The school had changed its mission, and the Vietnam War controversy only underscored the sense that the old relic no longer belonged, Neches says. “One individual suggested to Fleming House that perhaps it would be willing to provide it with a new home.”

Neches, who was a senior at the time, adds, “Southwest Academy was happy to get rid of it, but we didn’t tell the freshman Flems that.”

Figuring out how to transport an apparatus designed to be conveyed by 17 horses was a challenge, but of course Caltech ingenuity was up to the task. After freeing the wheels from a bed of concrete, the Flems spent weeks building a special dolly to support and help steer the heavy tailpiece. Finally, all was in readiness, and a large contingent dressed in black set out in the dead of night.

“One fine Saturday night, early in the term, Fleming House freshmen showed up with ropes and pulled the thing through the streets of San Marino to campus,” Neches recalls.

Once it was delivered, the enthusiastic Techers naturally wanted to see the thing fired. “Being the only Fleming House resident (out of 80 in the House) with a Visa card got me appointed to run to the gun shop, where I bought a pound of black powder.”

The rest is history, or at least part of a 31⁄2-page typewritten account tucked into the official cannon binder: “Curiosity eventually led Fleming [House] to wonder, ‘How loud a noise can we make?’ Up until then the 12-pound-capacity breech had never been loaded with more than two pounds of powder, but a 31⁄2-pound charge demonstrated just what this machine was capable of. The lowered muzzle aimed at Page [House] didn’t help.”

The outcome could have been predicted—the blast shattered two glass doors and several windows at Page House.

Since the cannon is inexorably linked to Fleming House, how have other students reacted to all the brouhaha that surrounds the latest cannon-napping?

Says Sean Mattingly, who wrote a humorous piece about the cannon and its retrieval cost in the California Tech, “It’s amazing how much Flems get worked up over that cannon.” Most students, he says, were amused, not outraged. “People were laughing at Fleming when it got stolen, when it showed up at MIT, and then didn’t really care when they brought it back.” He admits, however, that he was happy to see it return.

In keeping with tradition, cannon master Ted fired the cannon one last time on Ditch Day 2006 (May 17), when the rights and responsibilities of the job were transferred to Meng Tan ’09. The cannon is expected to return to its permanent home along the Olive Walk when the South Houses renovation is completed in early 2007.