Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-08-21
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Brilliant Phep0suenOp-AzF Flnm.
= fiagio Redy Gon,es down from
belHeaven az Midday. smlsD 3a agneH
;Ds % Yesterday d strange and terrible nat nat
nral phenomenon occurred in Cheatham
county; about nineteen miles from the
city, en- theslinei of the Nashville and
Northwestern railroad. About i clock.
while the men employed on the planta-
ton of Joshua Fnlgham. weres going into
ad6eld to plnck fodder, the sun being
,hiddensbehindsclo at the time ahdh
general gloom pervading the SIX y,uthey
were much frightened and confused by
the 1sppsrent Ropening1 gof htiieg clouds,
judging from the description Of the
phenomenon, not more than 6ye ors six
degrees mort h of the zenith. @ They jhdge
the cloud to be about hree.quarters of a
mile high. The strange sight attracted
their notice. A brilliant iwhitish, red
glare overspread- an immense mass of
black clouds, onthe eentreaofa which ap-
peared funnel-like aperture about four
'or,five feet in diameter, the sides of
which presented the appearance Of rag
:gsd flames darting like fiery tongues, and
licking and tapping at large white hot
object. passing with ihconceiyable ra :
pidity down through the aperture.
Whenit left the mass of cloud it did not
appear to- fall ina perpendicular direc-
,tion, but sloped at an inclination Of some
ten or fifteen degrees from plumb line,
and grew more intensely bright as it
approached the earth; 1t swept down
like a bright angel of death and des-
truction; it struck the earth with a
sounds like "a sudden, terrifc-yelap of
thanders and seemed to make the sur
rounding hills hqui7er's to their founda-
tions. Great numbers Of trees on their
rocky sides fell, and continued falling
forsseveral minutes afterwards making
noisesalike the prolonged reverbefations
Of the thunder among rocky cliffs, ! - "a
The men were about four hundred
yards from the place W herethelfery mis-
sive from the sky struck and were afraid
t. go and examine the place for several
hours afterwards. They took courage,
however, and being joined by numbers
of the people living in the surrounding
neighborhood, they proceeded to the
place and found it had struck upon fiat
ledge of rocks in wagon way leading
fromsa farm house to the public road.
The fragments of stone were thrown
around for several rods in all directions;
the ledge, which is said to be three feet
thick, without any seams, was disturbed
for distance Of about fifty feet, split
and torn up infragments; the soil, which
was spread in thin layers all over it,
looked as if passed through sieve. At
the point where the strange body came
in contact with the rock there appeared
to be no storm at all, but very fine,
white, foury sort of a paste, which was
quite hot,, and a steam ascended out of
the hole in which it had buried itself,
which was too hot to approach.-ddh.t
1oiSeveral gentlemen of philosophical
turn of mind we're stronghold ythe, opin-
ion that twas, an acrolite brought into a
state of fusion bylcoming down through
the atmosphere, but had not been com.
pletely, burned tefore touching the earth.
There was a strong odor about the
place, such as may be found in blasting
furnaces, and the passage of the aefolite
was marked BY alight, yellowish sort of
smoke. Very fine particles of some sort
of oxide continued to fall all over the
country for several hours. ti' - al
1t is the intention of the people to or
ganizs a working party to quarry out
what remains of the body, which is un-
doubtedly metal, as soon as the tempera-
ture of thelrocks will admit. .Iz x
1a AS yet it seems to bepremature to en-
ter on any speculation relative to the ma
ture ofIthe9 strangeaphenomenon. More
over, the scientific men Of the city are
already interested in the matter, and
no doubt there will be thorough dag
nosis of the strange case.-NashoiIle
Press and Times. 'eZia' - Z ;Ta7gei d Z