The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1868-08-26
THE4iATE CITY
nRlLLIANT PHENOMEHON.
A planipg Bsdy Gomez Dswn ffsa
Heaven ~ midday.
From the sa.hy,ll. pr,,s sud Times. i

From the Nashville Press and Times.
Tuesday, = strange and natural phenome
non occurred in Chatham county, abou1
nineteen miles from Nashville, on the line o.
the Nashville Il Northwestern Railroad
About one o clock, while the men engaged on
the plantation Of Joshua Gulgham were going
into . field to pluck fodder, the sun being
i hidden behind the clouds at the time, and q
/ general gloom pervading he sky, they were
mneh frssAAe1ed sad confused b - 49,
rent openine bf ths cionas, judsisg hon DE
:. description Of the phenomenon, NOT more
than Eve or six degrees north OF the zenith.
They Judge the cloud to be about three quar-
ters Of mile high. The strange sight At
!, trActed their attention. A brilliant whitish
red glare oyerspread an immense mass OF
black clouds, on the center Of which APP
| peared funnel-like aperture about four or
| Eve feetin diameter, the sides of which pre-
scented the appearance Of ragged darling like
fiery tongues, and licking and tapping at q
large white bot object passing With moons
ceivable rapidly down through the aperture.
When it left the masses of clouds it did not
appear to fall in perpendicular direction,
but sloped at an inclination Of some ten or
fifteen degrees from plumb line, and grew
moro intensely bright as it approached the
earth. 1t swept down like bright angel Of
death and destruction; it struck the earth
with sound like a sudden, terrific clap Of
thunder, and seemed to make the surround
ing hills culver to their foundations; great
numbers Of trees on their rocky sidee fell,
and continued falling Tor several minates af-
forwards, making noises like the prolonged
reverberations of the thunder among the rocky
cliffs.
The men were about four hundred yards
from the place where the fiery missive from
the sky struck, and were afraid to 60 and ex-
anime the place for several hours sfterward.
They took courage, however, and, being
joined By Numbers Of people living m the
surrounding neighborheod, they proceeded
to the place, and found that it had struck
upon fat ledge Of rocks in = wagon way
leading from 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 a distance of
about FIFTY feet, split and torn up in Fragments;
the soil, which was spread in thin ayers all
over it, looked as if passed through sieve.
At the point where the strange body came in
contact with the rock there appeared 10 be no
stone at all, but very fine, white, Aoury sort
Of paste, which was quite hot, and . steam
aecended out of the hole in which it had
buried itself, which was too hot to approach
Several gentlemen Of philosophical turn
Of mind we're strongly Of the opinion that it
was an nroiite, brought into state Of fu.
sion by comiu~ down through the atm o.
sphere, but had ~ completely burned
before touching the =. :
There WAS . strong odor Asout the place, |
'uch ss may be found in blasting furnaces,
and the passage OF the arolite was marked BY |
J light yellowish sort Of smoke. Very fine
particles Of some sort Of oxide continued to |
all all over the country for several hours.
1t is the intention Of the people to organize I
! working party to quarry out what remains
If the body, which is undoubtedly metal, as
loon as the Temperature of the rock will ad-
nit. As yet it seems to be premature to en-
er on any speculation relative to the nature
If the strange phenomenon. Moreover, the
scientific men of the c.is are already inter-
sted in the matter, aud no doubt there will I
'e thorough diagons of the strange case.