New-York tribune., 1842-04-21
amlendid Meteor.


brilliant light, which shone through the window
of our .lceninr apartment On opening our eyes
y. had ! -nor entatr glimpse of avividl1 luminous
BODY or trail which alu7os, instantly passed Gut OF
.ig,,. nd wa. gone. We were convinced It wns
large meteor, and expected an explosion We
waited from three to fre r:1;nutas. when report
burst through tie wekn ike piece OF heaVy
ordnance standing within short distance. here
WI. nothing il it like thunder bu perfect rc>cnl-
haucc 20 The SQUAD have med. L Shock the
hou,e verv ,.nsiblv. q. it did otness.-n one IN
stance jarrug ,oo,i, t.c-:s from the window to
the to.r.I.. direction northery. and the cN.
p!osion ,uok place, probably, ever the lake
We found. in the morning. tia; our citizens
generally were awakened bv the rcp"rt, though not
many saw the splendid chiect that occasioncd 1t
M Tracy. TIE stage agent. and the stage driver.
were \. the time the barn, u>t leaving It with
fresh team, when they scw the light, and at the
same time heard cracking crushing noise, Ike
that OF falling tr.e..Tae source of light ap-
peared like oblorg body OF fire rushing WIN
tremendous velocity through lie air, and eight or
ten inches in diameter. |; seemed to approach
the place where they stood in curvilinear path
and led one of them TO eSclaim, /" 1t will strike the
barn" 1t however passed over. and Disappeared
as i, seemed to Them, about half mile from the
frequent sparks, or .treck,, frcr, tic sides and
this was probably the occasion of tho swapping or
gathering noise which WAS heard Its disappear
ancc was quite singular as described. The long
fiery tail seemed TO separate from the nucleus, or
heud and the latter rushed on, emitting 4 dark
blue flame but there was no division OF ia body
into fragments, or any thing else indicate
fracture. unless indeed ,he very expiration OF the
fiery and blue portions were the result of the
plo,ien
The light emitted was nearly as bright day
light at meridian. The shingles on distant houses
were distinctly visible. Mr.. Sexton, our postmas
ter. was at the time of its passage. a,sortn: the
mail having two candles 70 furnish hint light, but
the Ii ght o the meteor @as 40 great rs TO make
them appear like hurnin. candles in full daylight.
rom ali VIZ can gather, at least three minutes
must have elapsed between the disappearance OF
the meteor and the hearing OF the report. Conse-
qucntly. as sound travels at the rate OF little over
thirteen miles miautc tho body of the meteor
must have been nearly forty miles from US. either
in elevation or horizontal distance, at the time of
its explosions. Probably was much higher than
it Appeared to be 10 the grntlcmcn who witnessed
it. The whole duration of its appearance was not
more than half minute, il it was long.
Its elevation l6i miles from tho earth, and
is diameter 1910 yards 1t is worthy of remark.
that most Of those which have been sufficiently
noticed to orm,any satisfactory estimate concerning
them, have been found to be between fifty and
SIXTY miles from the earth surface.
Explosive actcors have usually, if no, always,
been attended with the dropping of stones to the
earth. The stone. thus broken and fallen are
generally not large, weighing from few ounces 10
dozen pounds. There have been instances
t.I L.,
onn fell in York shire which measured 80 inches in
length, and aS4 in breadth. and weighed 80
pounds 1t fell with such force that it sunk into the
ground the depth of twcnty-onc inches The
most remarkable stone. far size, whose fall has
ever been Witnessed. which fell in Com
nccticut some % years ago This fell in the day
time SIC believe. 1t 50 bright as to be lu
minous but, if we mistake not, it was not attended
with nm explosion. 1t rushed down into the earth
with tremendous force and gave such jar and
rumbng as led many to suppose that an earth
quake had happened. II was seen to fall, and
people soon repaired to the field and found its
burrow 1t was shortly uncovered, though it had
sunk some three four feet beneath the surface
It's weig ht if we not much mistaken not
far from q ton.
Po>TscRlrr.-Since writing the above, we have
cenvcrsed with Mr.. Horace Palmer, who was on
his way from Dunkirk 10 this place, when the
meteor appeared. He was two or three miles
from Dunkirk, when he appeared to be instantly
surrounded with most painfully vivid light. pro-
ceedins from of luid or jelly like substance
which fell around and upon him, producing sui
phurcous smell, great difficulty of breathing, and
feeling OF talntncss with 4 strong sensation of
heat As soon as he could recover from his as
constituent, he perceived the body OF the meteor
passing above him, seeming To he about mile
high. Ii then appeared TO be III diameter about
the slzs of large steamboat pipe, near mile in
length Its dimensions varied soon /; becoming
first much broader and then waning away in d-
ameter anu length until the former was reduced TO
about eight inches, and the latter to u fourth of u
mile, when 1t separated into pieces which fell to
the earth and almost Immediately he heard the ex-
| plssion, which no SAYS tremendous. On ar
irving here in the morning, his face had every APP
pcarance OF having been severely scorched his
eye. were much affected, and he did not recover
from the shock II gave his system! for two three
days.,I!!is IS really marvellous story; but Mr..
Palmer, is temperate and Industrious man,
and man of integrity: and VIC believe AIRY one
conversins with him on the subject, would be
satisfied that he intends deception but describes
the scene nearly possible, it actually aI,-
pearcd Probably however his agitation at his
sudden introduction to such scene caused the
meteor to be somewhat nlagniicd to him. Wit
ncsscs here speak of the sparks which were thrown
of ; probably one Of those sparks fell and enyeoped
Mr.. Palmer. In addition to its light, Mr.. Palmer
states that It's pas sage wa, accompanied by sound
like that of car moving railroad, Cnly louder.
= Vt Salem, an observer stated the meteor TO be-
.as large rs a house'-rather indefinite, but
provin: it to have been one of extraordinary mag
nitndc. /, wa. noticed At North East, Waterford,
and Sugar Grove. Pa; Harmony, Chautauque and
other towns in this County. The report was heard
also AT Bsaalo. In Chau,auque observer de-
'cribes II as SIX or eight inches in diameter and
haif mile long.