Nuclear Explosion

I was in the Chancery Court of Pearl River County, Mississippi on October 22, 1964, and had just begun to argue a motion to the Judge and said, “May it Please The Court…” when the three story brick Courthouse building shook violently and the window blinds acted as if someone was making them swing back and forth.  I stopped and told the Judge that disturbance must have been caused by the underground nuclear explosion at the Tatum Salt Dome, which, due to wind and weather factors, had been put off several times. 

We were over 25 miles from ground zero.  My office in Lumberton was about 10 miles away from ground zero. My wife was teaching commerce in the Lumberton High School.  Since the Atomic Energy people for over a year had briefed us that the explosion wouldn’t be felt over four miles from ground zero, I became concerned about my wife and two daughters. I asked the Judge to allow me to go to Lumberton, but he declined to do so. 

When I got home my wife told me that the school building shook and that you could feel the vibration under your feet. Many buildings in Lumberton had cracks from the shock waves.  A clock on the wall in her room fell as a result of the blast.

Some of the high school boys were outside on the grounds listening to Jimmy Swan at radio station WBKH in Hattiesburg talking about the shot that was about to take place and talked one of the girl students into lying down on the ground to listen and to see if she could see or feel any movement.  When the blast occurred, the ground shook so badly that it knocked her unconscious.

Webster Daniels Jr. lived about two miles South of ground zero.  Webster said he had forgot that they were going to try and shoot the bomb on October 22, 1964, as it had been put off so many times, and he went fishing about six miles South of ground zero.  That all of a sudden the ground shook real bad and that while standing he saw all the fish in the pond at about his eyeball level.

A few miles South of ground zero there was one of the largest oil fields East of the Mississippi River.  It was known as the Baxterville Oil  Field,  Gulf Oil Corporation had most of the wells in the field.  There was some drill pipe stored at one of the locations and when the blast occurred, it caused the drill pipe to move up and down as if it was toothpicks being tossed around. People noticed that the pine trees bent over from the shock waves fifteen miles away. 

One of the public relations men who had spoke before our Rotary Club in Lumberton some time previous to the shot explained that the purpose of the test was to determine if an underground nuclear explosion could be detected.  We were then in the middle of the Cold War.  Originally the Atomic Energy people planned to dig a shaft similar to a coal mine shaft down to about 2700 feet into the Tatum Salt Dome and then dig a sphere shaped like a basketball and place the nuclear device in it, seal it and the shaft and explode same.  Could this muffled explosion then be detected?  Later this approach proved not feasible due to water infiltration. 

Then oil field technology was utilized and a hole was drilled down into the salt.  Rather than mine the salt into a sphere I suppose the first nuclear explosion was to accomplish this objective by making a cavity.    Subsequently in 1966 there was another nuclear explosion and some tests involving explosions of natural gas were also conducted in the cavity formed by the first nuclear bomb.  None of these explosions were felt or noticed nor any reported leakage of radiation therefrom.

I was all for the test.  I felt that it would economically benefit our depressed area.  One of our Citizens, F. V. High, told me that he had heard from a Production Oil Engineer that the real purpose of the test was to fracture the oil wells in the Baxterville oil field.  He was opposed to the test. He had an interest in over 80 oil wells in the Baxterville oil field.

About fifteen years later, a Dr. Edmund Keiser in the biology department at the University of Mississippi did some work around ground zero and alledgedly found radioactive and deformed toads, and a lizard near ground zero and upon learning of same, Governor Cliff Finch urged families nearby to evacuate the area.  Later the public was told that the radiated frog was in such condition due to exposure to the sun in the lab. I talked to Dr. Keiser when visiting my Daughter Belynda at the Biology Department at Ole Miss.  Dr. Keiser indicated he was of the opinion that someone had tampered with his radiated specimens. 

Due to the fact that numerous buildings were cracked by the nuclear explosion, I did a booming business in settling claims against the Atomic Energy Commision thru their adjusters which were handled by the General Adjustment Bureau in Hattiesburg, but they were only authorized to settle claims 10 miles from ground zero for a good period of time.  Hattiesburg was 21 miles from ground zero.

After I was elected Mayor of Lumberton in 1968 I was apprised that our water was being tested for radiation by the Atomic Energy people.  This aroused my curiosity, why were they testing our water?

I had a mentor lawyer in Hattiesburg who was a genius.  His name was Dudley Conner.  He was one of the most brilliant lawyers I ever met or worked with in trials.  On October 22, 1964 when the first bomb was detonated Mr. Conner was standing in front of the entrance to his office and the shock waves were so intense that he noticed that his brick office building started cracking. Mr. Conner then contacted the General Adjustment Bureau and they repeatedly told him that they were not settling claims over 10 miles from ground zero.

Mr. Conner then shut down his office and spent many days in the library at what is now known as the University of Southern Mississippi.  He read everything he could find concerning nuclear bombs.  Then he filed suit against the Government for damages to his building.  He propounded interrogatories to the Government and they requested numerous delays in answering same. Mr. Conner said several people with the Government visited his office and wanted to know if the Russians were helping him.

Finally the Government filed their answer to Mr. Conner’s interrogatories and stated that the matter involved the National Defense and thus did not have to be answered.  Mr. Conner then filed a motion to cite the person who responded to his interrogatories for being in contempt of Court.  When Court convened Mr. Conner told the Judge that he had brought a book from the University library and he would show the Court that he got each question out of the book.  At this point the Government capitulated and told Mr. Conner that if he would dismiss the action that they would go to the Congress of the United States and get authority to pay him for the damages to his building. Congress approved the settlement and that concluded the matter.

I still was concerned about the Government testing our water.  I was informed by the Atomic Engery people that the water from the Tatum salt dome would pass about 5 miles North of Lumberton. I also was concerned that the trees on the detonation site had been cut and taken to the Joe N. Miles & Sons sawmill in Lumberton.  When the Government was testing the water I went to ground zero and was told there was a small amount of  Tritium in the trees, mostly in the bark.  The trees that had been taken to the Lumberton sawmill were cut and made into lumber but the bark was storied in a pile along with other residue bark.  It probably is harmless unless one breathes it.

I went out to the site of ground zero and a Dr. Black assured me that there was not any leakage of radiation from the hole at ground zero. Satisfied about this I put the test out of my mind.

A lot of people around ground zero have died of cancer. I suspect that when they drilled into the cavity created by the first bomb that a good bit of radiation escaped into the air  and people living downwind were affected by it.