The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1868-11-21
The Meteoric Shower of Last Satur
day Night


The following is the official report from
Commodore Sands, Superintendent of the
Naval Observatory, in regard to the recent
meteoric showers, received at the Navy De-
partment this evening:
WAsHNGToN, November ii, 1868.
Sir l have the honor to submit the fol
lowing preliminary report Of the meteoric
shower OF this morning During the even
ing Of the 18th inst there we're no greater
number of meteors to be seen than are
usually observed on clear nights, until about
IL o. m, when there seemed to be an IN
crease IN num Der and brillianey, though not
sufficient to indicate the beginning of a
shower AT midnight the number had con
siderably increased, and the prevalence of
trains was generally noted. At UhiTty-fiFe
minutes past midnight the Observatory party,
consisting of Prof Eastman and Messrs.
Harrison, Frisby and Hays, began to count
meteors and to spot the tracks of the princi-
pal ones. At l:35 over 300 metcOrs had been
counted Ghey werequite brilliant, having
green, blue or red trains. Thus far the
display had not been confined to any portion
Of the sky, but most of them were IN the
northern and southern heavens, scarcely in
pusition to be placed in the star chart
Many of the trains were visible several
minutes; one lasted ten minutes, and traces
near b UTsa Minor were seen 80 minutes
after the appearance of the meteor After
I50, Prof Eastman, assisted by Mr. Harri-
son, devoted his time to mapping and noting
time of the apparition of the principal me
teors. and succeeded in sketching tracks of
about 90 during one hour and 40 minutes
-Four hundred have been counted, and after
wards successive hundreds were observed
in the following intervals. The intervals
are here given by Com Sands observations
and were continued until after SIX NJ at
which time there had been counted 5OIS.
At 2:20 a m, Prof Num- and son Joined
the party of observers and assisted in count
ing meteOrs in the western heavens. Dur
ing the whole display there were many me
teoFs seen in the west, but from FIVE to six
the numbers were about equal in she east aud
west The time of maximum frequency
was about FIVE hours when they fell at the
rate of 250 per hour The radient point
was quite we'll defined during the latter end
of the shower, and was found by estimation
to be l49 degrees in right ascension, and
twenty minutes thirty seconds in declima-
ton. The trails were usually brilliant, pre-
senting the various green, orange, blue and
red, and remained visible for an unusual
time, and frequently all could be seen at
once.
HAYWOOD CoUNTY.-We clip from the
Brownsville Bee of the 18th inst, the fol
lowing items
Active steps are being taken to build a
large No. l Cotton and Wooden Factory IN
our town. 1t is contemplated to raise and
commence with capital Of 100000
GRECIAN BEND-Mild symptoms Of this
fearful epidemic appeared at the concert
Friday night but did not break out in an
aggravated form until Sunday evening"
square in front of the New Drug Store.
Fatal RAILROAD Accident. Yesterday
morniag, 18th, the A M. express train,
Memphis 4 Louisville Railroad, passed over
a broken rail three miles west Of Browns
vile, precipitating the ladies car from the
track with terrible consequences. The car
was frightfull7 broken to pieces, and serious
damages suffered by the passengers. A
clergyman named Neal was on the train
with his family, and they were the principal
sufferers. Ills little son, an interesting
child of four summers, was instantly killed,
while his wife was 50 seriously Injured as to
be insensibie Of her child's death, even when
the delayed train reached our depot Quite
a number of our citizens chanced to be on
the train, and brought up a full share Of
cuts, bruises bumps, sprains and eontusiOns,
but fortunately no broken bones. Luckily
the whole train had passed over in safety
until the rear car ran off, or the accident
might have been far more disastrous. We
are pleased to announce that It was an IN
avoidable accident and no blame can posi-
blv attach to the company, or any Of the
employees on the road
-~-ss-s-s