[meteorite-list] Arizona Resident Recalls 1930 Fall of the Miller Meteorite

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:28:20 2004
Message-ID: <200310031620.JAA08775_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.thesuntimes.com/articles/2003/10/03/news/news02.txt

Local recalls falling of Miller Meteorite
By Chastain Shumway
The Sun-Times (Arizona)
October 3, 2003

A recent Sun-Times story on meteors caught the attention of Charlsie Stark DuBois
of Heber Springs, who told us a fascinating story of awas 36 pound Miller Meteor that
fell at her grandparent's farm on a Sunday morning, July 13, 1930. She said she had
documentation and photographs to show us. Her mother, Opal Bailey Stark passed
away in March of this year. Charlsie was going through her mother's files, and found
information, which she felt, was important on the Miller Meteorite.

Ms. DuBois's grandparents, Julian and Pearl Bailey, owned a farm on Hwy. 92 in the
religious community of Miller now called Greers Ferry. Residents of that area will be
more acquainted with the farm location now which Todd Davis owns across the street
from F. L. Davis' hardware store. The oak tree in the front yard is still standing
where the meteorite rested for a short time.

On this particular humid Sunday morning, the Bailey family was getting ready to
attend the Post Oak Baptist Church services. Their large family had their usual
breakfast of bacon, sausage, eggs, hot biscuits and to die for chocolate gravy.
Dressed in their Sunday best the family was about ready to go out the door and pick
up kinfolk and neighbors on their way to church. Julian had the only mode of
transportation in the area, which was a pickup truck. He had made sideboards and
benches in the bed of the truck so everyone could be comfortable.

About 9:00 a.m. an earsplitting sound of roaring and popping filled the air. The house
and ground vibrated. Little seven-year-old Leon Bailey said, "I think an airplane hit
the ground."

Julian charged out the door with his sons, Oather, Kenneth, and Leon following.
Swirls of smoke filled the air above a dry dirt roadbed next to his crop of waist high
corn about fifty yards from their home. Julian hotfooted it over to the smoldering
glowing object in the ground with just the tip of it showing. He did not know what it
was.

Julian's brother John and his nephew Hobert were walking over to Julian's house to
ride to church with them. Suddenly they heard and saw this heavenly body hurling to
the earth from outerspace. He said, "The flight of this object racing through space
looked like a white pigeon, but was moving much faster." Continuing he said, "When
it landed it mushroomed into a huge cloud of dust."

The hole it made in the ground was 18 inches in depth, and was coated with a thin
ebony crust. This was a stony meteorite, not a metallic one and shaped like a heart.
The specimen was unique in that the margins of the under surface were radically
grooved. These markings were developed while passing rapidly through the earth's
atmosphere, implying that the specimen did not turn over while in transit, but kept on
one straight path to the earth. (ref. Reed)

Nothing was going to deter Julian, a staunch Baptist and Democrat from continuing
his plans of attending church that Sunday morning. After they attended the services,
they came home to a crowd of people from surrounding communities viewing the
strange object.

When it had cooled down some John was going to pick it up, but Julian said, "No, it
may be contaminated or it might explode."

Finally after they saw that it was harmless, John dug it up, and with the help of
Julian's son Oather carried it to the big Oak tree in their front yard. Kenneth and
Leon, the younger sons, cleared the path of the people who came far and wide to
observe this marvel. People began chipping at the meteorite with their pocketknives
getting pieces of it to take home. One man brought a hammer and began pounding on
it. The rural postman offered to buy it for $20.00. The heart shaped meteorite weighed
36 pounds and 10 ounces. The local Headliner newspaper wanted to do a story on this
occurrence. Julian got his nephew, Hobert Bailey out of school to tell about the falling.
Hobert often told people, "I got out of school and Uncle Julian paid me."

Julian was an enterprising man. He hauled it to two fairs, charging people a small fee
to see it, but that was more trouble than he anticipated, so back under the Oak tree it
stood for quite some time.

Realizing he had a diamond in the rough oddity, Julian took bids from various
museums to sell the meteorite.

Later Julian sold the meteorite for $800.00 to J. P. Morgan, a wealthy businessman in
New York. After he sold it, he said he had enough money to get a new car. It is
believed that Julian purchased a new 1932 Plymouth car with the money.

November 11, 1930, "A New Meteorite" (the Miller Meteorite) through the
generosity of Mr. J. P. Morgan was given to The American Museum of celestial
immigrants for observation. The J. Lawrence Smith Fund of the National Academy of
Sciences gave a grant towards the cost of investigating this Meteorite.

It is interesting that we have many unique, mysterious happenings in our own
backyard of Cleburne County. There are acres of virgin land in this area of Arkansas,
which have never been fully explored, land that has been in families since the
migration of their ancestors. The State Geologists are heading back to our area soon
to continue their study on rocks, fossils, etc. But we Razorbacks aren't too surprised.
After all this is the natural state.

Thought I would share this interesting tidbit before closing. It is amazing that earth
happenings can be triggered by the impact of large meteorites. In 1980 it was
discovered by Nobel Prize winning physicist Luis Alvarez and his geologist son
Walter that the dinosaurs and thousands of other species of plants and animals
became extinct about 65 million years ago as a result of environmental changes by the
impact of a giant meteorite.

And as proof, the crater (Chicxulub) was found at the northern edge of the Yucatan
Peninsula. That gives one something to think about, doesn't it?
Received on Fri 03 Oct 2003 12:20:57 PM PDT