The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1872-09-20
THE DARK D1Y 1850.

of Rouse's Point, n. Y. The article was
originally published III the Boston Journal
of June IA, 1871. The phenomenon has
never been explained DR. Tenney, in
1875, wrote to the Historical Society that
the ability of the land had endeavored to
present a cause, but, said he, ''you will
agree with me that no satisfactory solution
has yet appeared" In similar language
wrote DIR. Noah Webster in 1S43 The
theory of some, that it was smoke and
ashes from forest fires, extensively ranging,
was disproved. No fires in the forest could
have been sufficient to spread dense cloud
over the whole of New England and even
some parts of the Middle States. 1t came
too suddenly, with no wind to carry it from
one point to another. 1t was darkness
that settled down ovcr an area of more
than 300, 900 square miles at the same time
Here is the story i'll brief:
On the 18th of May, $780, the inhabit-
ants of New England and the adjacent
parts were the trembling witnesses of u
phenomenon never seen before nor since
and which to this day remains unexplained.
The year was celebrated for its numerous
auroral exhibitions in this latitude. They
covered the midnight heavens with corrus-
cations of red and silver, and streamed out
like lightning, seeming, says one writer,
fairly To flash warmth in the face. The
winter preceding was marked by extraor-
dinary severity. Snow lay on the ground
from the middle of November to the mid
die of April. In December and january a
storm continued for seven successive days
and the snow fell to depth of four feet on
a level in this single storm, and with drifts
eight and ten feet high Sheep were bur
led in the drifts for many days, and even
men and animals perished with the cold.
Long Island Sound was crossed by heavy
artillery on the ice. NarraganSett Bay
froze over so hard that men tTaversed the
ice from Providence to Newport in skating
parties, and from Fall River to Newport
loads of wood were conveyed on the ice
through Bristol ferry.
Previous to the 18th vapor filed the
air for several days. There was n smell of
sulphur. The morning of the 18th was
overcast with some clouds, and rain fell
over the country with lightning and thun-
der. Scarcely any motion was in the air,
what wind there was came from the south
west. BY nine O'Clock in the forenoon,
without previous warming, the darkness
stole gradually ON, with luminous APP
PcaranCe near the horizon, as if the obscur-
ing cloud had dropped down from over
head. There was yellowness of the
atmosphere that made clear silver assume
u grass green hue. Then a dense, undeti-
nable vapor settled rapidly and without
aerial movement over all the land and
ocean from Pennsylvania to the Gulf of
st. Lawrence, the darkness it caused sink
ing by degrees until the sunlight was
effectually shut out. Ordinary cloud it
was not. The rapidity with which so large
an extent of country was envelOpcd pre-
cludes the possibility of surprising this to
have been natural cloud moving l;.terally.
Besides this, the day was too calm to i'm
agine such thing Down came the dark
ness thicker and thicker. BY ten clock
the air was loaded with a thick gloom
The heavens were tinged with a yellowish
or faint rcd the lurid look increased few,
if any, ordinary clouds were visible. The
sun, i'll disappearing, took on n brassy hue.
The lurid, braSSy color spread everywhere,
above and below. The grass assumed the
color of the sky, and all out doors wore a
sickly, weird and melancholy aspect-a
dusky appearance as if seen through
smoked glass. By eleven o clock it was as
night itself, and from this time until three
i'll the afternoon the darkness was cxtraor-
dinary and frightful.
The extent of the darkness was greater
than is related Of any other similar phe-
nomenon on record, not excepting the
celebrated dark days over Egypt and Ju-
dea. 1t reached south to the northern
half of Pennsylvania, and from thence
along the coast northeast to tho wilds of
Maine, eastward to the Gulf of St. Law
renee, and out at sea 120 miles southeast of
Boston, and undoubtedly much farther :;
west to the valleys of Lake Champlain and
the Hudson River, and north into underlined
regions in Canada. Portland, Boston,
Hartford, New York, West Point and AL
bany were affected by it. But the degrees
of darkness differed III different places, the
deepest night settling over New England
\ tract OF land and sea 500 miles in length
and 400 miles in breadth, embracing an
area of $50, 900 square miles, was known to
be covered by the cloud, and SO far as can
be ascertamed, population of 200, 900
souls sat for portion of the day and night
III a gloom more or less profound and mex
phcable.
Just how dark the day was is attested
by indisputable evidence. The hour and
minute could not be discovered on the face
OF a clock or watch by persons of unim-
paired eyesight. Candies became an abso-
lutte necessity both out doors and in, as it
was impossible to transact ordinary busi-
ness without them. Fires on the hearth
stone shone as brightly as ON a mooiless
November evening, and all dinner-tables
were set with lighted candles upon them,
as IL 1t were the evening repast. The
keenest eyes in doors could not see to read
the common print. So far beyond any or
binary fog was the effect that stages on the
road either put up at the nearest hotel dur
ing the mid day hours, or carried candles
or lanterns to enable the perplexed driver
to well see his way.
And the brute and feathered creation
seemed puzzled and agitated The birds
ceased to fly, and hid themselves III the
branches of the trees. AS the darkness
increased they sang their evening songs as
they do at twilight, and then became silent.
Pigeons ON the wing took to the shelter of
the forest as they do at night. The whip
poor-will, as if it were truly night, cheer
fully sang his song through the gloomy
hours. Woodcocks, which are night birds.
whistled as they only do in the night time.
Bats came out of their hiding places and
flew about The fowls marched solemnly
to their roosts as they do only at nightfall.