[meteorite-list] NPA 10-02-1885 Stone Hurled From Heaven, Meteor Wrong
From: MARK BOSTICK <thebigcollector_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri Jan 14 10:40:07 2005 Message-ID: <BAY4-F1267E2718936F7BA695F3EB38B0_at_phx.gbl> Paper: Keystone Courier City: Connellsville, Pennsylvania Date: Friday Morning, October 2, 1885 Page: 1 A Big Stone Hurled From Heaven. Washington county now has something new to brag about. Last Saturday loud detonations were heard over the county, the heavens flashed fire, the earth trembled, and godless cowered. Subsequent investigations developed the fact that these strange phenomena were due to the presence of a heavenly visitor in the shape of an aerolite, or meteoric stone, which foil upon the farm of a man named Buckland, in Jefferson township, near the West Virginia line. Ellis Jones, who witnessed the fiery creature in its flight through the heavens, said he had never beheld a more awful or impressive scene. His home suddenly stopped, and he heard a noise as if the winds were rushing onward with great violence. Looking up he saw moving high above him with incredible velocity a huge mass, which he describes as resembling a great coal of fire as large as the largest barn he ever saw. There appeared to be attached to it an immense flame of a deeper color than the coal, which tapered off into a dark tail with a sinuous trace. All in in a moment, the noise which accompanied it ceased; the fire like appearance, the flame and the black tail disappeared, and in their stead the stone assumed a whitish line, which it retained until it passed out of sight. His horse was so frightened that it took several minutes of vigorous application of a whip before the animal could be persuaded to move. He afterwards saw the stone when it was still hot. When the stone lit it broke into three pieces, and buried itself in the ground. It is grayish in color, with a tendency to red in streaks. Is irregular in form, and at least thirty feet square, although some place its dimensions at fifty feet square. Consternation seized upon the people who beheld it in its flight through the air, and those of a superstitious nature thought it laden with protents dire and awful, and that the spirit which causes war, pestilence and famine prevaded the fiery visitor. A great number of people have gone to see the wonder. Measures should have been taken early to preserve the stone intact. Up to this time the relic hunters have done remarkably well in carrying away souvenirs. (end) Clear Skies, Mark Bostick Wichita, Kansas http://www.meteoritearticles.com http://www.kansasmeteoritesociety.com http://www.imca.cc http://stores.ebay.com/meteoritearticles PDF copy of this article, and most I post (and about 1/2 of those on my website), is available upon e-mail request. The NPA in the subject line, stands for Newspaper Article. The old list server allowed us a search feature the current does not, so I guess this is more for quick reference and shortening the subject line now. Received on Fri 14 Jan 2005 10:39:26 AM PST |
StumbleUpon del.icio.us Yahoo MyWeb |