[meteorite-list] NP Article, 09-1902 British Museum Wants Alabama Meteorite

From: MARK BOSTICK <thebigcollector_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:18:28 2004
Message-ID: <OE126ZchaaFr6NHc89k00018473_at_hotmail.com>

Paper: The Atlanta Constitution
City: Atlanta, Ga
Date: Monday, September 29, 1902
Page: 3?

BRITISH MUSEUM WANTS LARGE ALABAMA METEOR

     New Decatur, Ala., September 28. - (Special.) - Some months ago Mrs.
Ray Nelson, an enthusiastic collector of geological specimens and curios,
recieved a letter from the British museum in London, England, telling her
that they had been informed that about forty or fifty years ago a large
meteorite, weighing more than 800 pounds, fell somewhere in this county, and
asked Mrs. Nelson to investgate the matter.
    Since that time she has received a letter from Professor C. G. Lynch, of
Leighton, Ala., in which he says that in the fall of 1867 or 1868 he was a
student at Danville, Ala., this county, and while on his way home from
school one evening he heard a sharp, whizzling noise and looking in the
direction from whence it came saw a large meteor shooting across the heavens
to the south. Instantly it exploded with a tremendous sound and he saw
something which seemed to fall to the earth. Later he larned that the
meteorite fell 4 miles northwest of Danville on a farm owned by Colonel
Daniel.
     Professor Z. F. Freeman, who was the president of the Danville college
at that time, accured a piece of this meteorite and kept it on his desk for
a long time. He died in 1872.
     It is thought that this is the meteorite referred to by the British
museum. Mrs. Nelson intends to investigate the matter further.
     So far as known it is said that only forty-two meteorites have fallen
to the earth in the whole world and that the largest per cent of them fell
in Alabama. It is said that only fifteen have been found.
     W. A. Raney, one of the oldest inhabitants of Decatur, says that in the
fall of the year about 1860 he saw a meteorite fall and afterwards learned
that it buried itself in the earth on the north bank of the river near what
is now the north end of the Southern railway bridge, just opposite Decatur.
     It has never been hunted for.
     About the year 1850 Captain H. S. Freeman, once mayor of Decatur, but
now dead, saw a meteor fall near what is now the Decatur union depot. He
picked it up and gave it to Colonel C. C. Sheats, of Decatur, who in turn
gave it to Mrs. Ray Nelson. It is about the size of a goose egg.
     Mrs. Nelson will send this meteorite together with other valuable
historical and geological specimens, to the Alabama state department of
archives and history at Montgomery, Ala.
Received on Wed 19 Feb 2003 01:30:37 PM PST