The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1870-07-09
Communicated
WOuderfuI Phenomenon.


On Thursday of last week, June Both, in the
burial place set apart in the Catholic Cemetery, on
King street, for the lamented dead of the DOnGu's
crew who died at this port, there was discovered a
most remarkable occurrence.
One of the cast iron monuments erected by the
graves within the iron railing was found broken
entirely off about one third of the way down from
the top, and the iron cross on the top was broken off.
Invent to the Cemetery about 8 P. NJ, on the Both,
to place a tomb railing close by the Donau's. My
attention was first called to the broken monument by
the person who has charge of the Cemetery. She
said that she first saw the break about 8 O'Clock that
morning. 1t rained heavy early in the morning and
continued to rain until about half past six, or about
three quarters of an hour after sRnrise.
The ground for several feet around the monument
is lately made, and when 1 saw it in the afternoon,
after the rain, was well soaked with water and bore
no trace of any footsteps made after the shower in
the morning. The piece broken from the monument
weighed about 120 pounds and the cross about Is
pounds. They both lay to the north of the base
exactly in range, the heavier piece about one foot
from the base, and the cross about ten feet farther
off. The top was standing upright as it stood on the
monument, and the cross lay on the side. The
weight of the top in falling had sunk it about three
inches into the earth, and there it stood ; the cross
had probably been thrown with some force, and first
struck about seven feet from the base, and had
rotated to the distance of about three feet, on its
arms and ends, indenting the earth about one and q
half inches at each point of contact, and fell on its
side TO the west.
The remaining part of the monument was split
down the panel for the distance of about ten inches,
and CAPPED open at the top about one quarter of an
inch. The masonry around the base appeared slightly
disturbed since the rain. There was not the slightest
trace of any mark on any part of the broken mOnu-
ment, except on the top about six inches from the
foot of the cross on the south side, and q bruiSe on
the end of the south arm of the cross. The fracture
of the iron was perfectly bright. without n sign of rain
since the break. The earth disturbed by the broken
pieces was freshly done, and showed no sign of rain
drops after it was disturbed by the falling of the iron.
The above are the principal facts i'll the case as
found by myself and three of my men who were with
me at the time What conclusions do We draw from
the above facts?
1. The breaking was done after the rain. and
before 8 in the morning. That is between 6:45 and
8 A. NJ, at a time when there are persons continually
passing in King street close to the monument, and in
the broad shine of day.
2. No human agency could have done the breaking
without leaving some trace of footsteps or of hammer
marks.
3. 1t follows (unless we ascribe it to the agency of
the ancient gentleman at whom DIR. Luther threw his
ink horny that it must have been from natural
causes, the explanation of which 1 will give accord
ing to my view of the case.
The slab broken was made by casting q heavy rim
around an iron panel. 1t was about two feet wide
and three feet high, with a semicircular top, on the
SuLuAull " u WHICH SlOOu III LII TIL WuSS say
2 x 3 inches, and the panel about { of an inch thick.
In cooling at the foundry, the panel being thinnest
would cool first and become rigid before the rim was
done shrinking. The rim in cooling around the
panel would be subjected to n severe tensile strain.
The rain of the morning reduced the temperature of
the iron several degrees lower than it had been
before, and the hot sun coming out after the rain,
and shining square on the iron would heat the thin
panel and expand it much sooner than the rim,
bringing the tensile strain beyond the cohesive power,
and the rim snapped off at the south side first. The
sudden shock and spring of the top snapped of the
cross, and as the top raised and few to the north,
the cross fell south until it struck the rim with the
end of the south arm, when it was carried over with
the top and thrown several feet OF in the same
direction as found. The first starting force being on
the south edge threw up that side first, and lifting
the whole top sent it flying with sufficient force to
give it one turn and drop it on the earth where found.
And in proof that the top had been in rotation at
the time 1t struck the earth the earth was leveled
down on the north side so as to stand clear Of the
iron about two inches at the surface of the ground,
that the iron had tilted a little to the north
and settled back again.
The rent in the solid panel gaping open Mt the top
the immense strain exerted on the iron. 1t
would require a strain of 200 900 pounds to bend
the solid iron as that was bent. The fracture surface
was about Sc inches, which at $4,000 pounds to the
inch (Which is the tensile strength of good cast
iron), gives 34 tons as the force to break the mon
ument. .9
1 never knew but one occurrence similar. a large
cog-wheel at the Brewer Plantation, bursted when it
being used with an additional strain. 1t went
off with ajsrnart report, and the parts separated
about half an inch, and could not be brought
together again.
The same difficulty has been combated by engineers
in the early days of car wheels, where for many
years the proper form could not be obtained to equalize
The forces. 1 am aware that stand in the minority
Oh this subject, but facts are stubborn things, and
we must all believe as our judgments are convinced.
~ Yours, L.. L. ToRBERT.