The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1859-11-23

! Remarkable Phenomenon neal
KOrkviIIc-A Meteor by bay
light.
This morning, at halfpAst nine o'clock,
meteor was seen to fall in a due southerIy
direction, and to disappear behind the house,
on the easterly side OF Broadway so abruptly
that it must have struck the earth very nea
the city-perhops at South Brooklyn or nea
Greenwood. Our informant describes tht
apparent size of the nucleus as about one
foot in diameter, and the length of the tail
by the same scale Of; proportion, as abou
twenty feet; the shape being cone, taper
ing to q fine point at the top. The colo
was that of bright yellow FIRE, and it's bril-
liancy may be estimated from the fact tha
this color developed itself "above the bright
ness of the sum-" es the sun was shining a
the time through a cIoudless sky. We trus
this remarkable meteor was seen by others
and that we shall hear OF its discovery wher
ever it happens to reach the earth.
At ten O'Clock Sergeant Clinton, Of tht
Twenty.third Precinct, who was with sever
al other persons a witness of the phenome
non, transmitted the following message t
"We witnessed just now one of the mos
singular things ever seen in this city. A
lsrge body OF fire in the shape of comet
with body as large as a horse Ond tai
about forty feet long. fell from the heaven,
between this village (YorkrilIe) and Seven
ty.first street, lighting up the whole neigh
borhood and witnessed by crowds Of people,
The falling body did not, as near as could
be ascertained, leave any ash or fragments
upon the ground Conjectures were rife
about the matter, and in the absence of Mr.
Merriam the prevalent opinion was that one
OF the numerous balloons which the scientific
amateurs in that section of the city have been
so fond Of initiating and setting off had eX.
ploded, and the expanding gas taken fire, pro.
ducing the remarkable appearance. The
General Superintendent teIegraphed to in.
quire whether the great balloon at the Cen.
traI Fnrk was safe, and received for reply
that all was correct, The affair has creutet
much excitcment-N Y. Post, l6M. = q
The New York Erprcss says a policeman
at 86th street describes the meteor he saw
at about quarter of mile off, and appar.
emily not more than one hundred yards above
the earth, conlcal shaped mass OF fire. L
had something OF comets appearance, as
regards shape, but was more brillilnt, being
perfectly red, and emitting this singular glare
OF light before spoken of. sit was like
streak of lightning, excepting that its shape
was coniCal." In size the mass was about
fourteen feet in diameter at the head, and
half that size at the tail, its whole length ap,
pearing to be about forty feet. Its descen,
was quite rapid and nearly horizontal.
Three men engaged at work in 5th avenue
observed it when it was high in the air. but
believing it to be, as they said, some mes
senaer of the evil one, dropped their shovels
and picks and beat precipiate retreat.
An old woman was milking some COWS ia
lot in the rear OF 6lst street, when the light
suddenly made its appearance. The cow be.
came frightened, and kicking the milk and
the woman over, put off at full speed. The
woman recovered in time 10 witness the phe-
nomenon, which she describes as something
terrible in the extreme. Sac imagined, as
she contends, that the head of the monster
bad a genuine tuce, with eyes Of fire, aud u
demon1c look. Shortly afterwards. some
neighbors found her in an almost insensbIe Ie
condition, so frightened was she.
Numbers of the Central Park laborers saw
the sight also, and many of them were terri.
fled beyond measure. Several, it is said, re-
fused to work.