Crews safely detonate Civil War-era land mine in Arkansas

April 1, 2016 at 8:59 a.m.

by The Associated Press

The Sentinel-Record/Richard Rasmussen BOMB SQUAD: Members of the Little Rock Air Force Base Explosive Ordnance Disposal Team load what is believed to be a Civil War-era land mine into their vehicle Thursday before taking it to the Garland County Landfill to be detonated. The device was found in Danville by Hot Springs resident, Matt Bell, who initially thought it was a cannonball.
The Sentinel-Record/Richard Rasmussen BOMB SQUAD: Members of the Little Rock Air Force Base Explosive Ordnance Disposal Team load what is believed to be a Civil War-era land mine into their vehicle Thursday before taking it to the Garland County Landfill to be detonated. The device was found in Danville by Hot Springs resident, Matt Bell, who initially thought it was a cannonball.

HOT SPRINGS — Crews have safely detonated a Civil War-era land mine that prompted the evacuation of about 20 homes in Arkansas.

Matt Bell says he was doing excavation work when he dug up what he thought was a cannonball Wednesday near Danville, which is about 85 miles west of Little Rock.

Bell tells The Sentinel-Record that he put the 32-pound land mine in his pickup's backseat, buckled it in with a seatbelt and drove 65 miles to his home in Hot Springs.

Bell says he realized it was a land mine after talking with a Civil War historian, so he called police Thursday afternoon. Hot Springs Police spokesman Kirk Zaner says authorities evacuated nearby homes and contacted an Air Force bomb squad, which later detonated the explosive at a local landfill.

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