The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1872-10-24
THE DARK DAY IN NEW ENGLAND
IN 1880.
NJ y T. TAYLOR

~ I. TAYLOR
On the 10Th Of Nav 1880 the inbabi
tants Of New England and the adjacent
parts were the trembling witnesses of q
phenomenon never seen before nor since.
aud which to this day remains uncxplain
cd. The year was celebrated for IFS nn-
merous auro,al exhibitions in this latitude
TLey covered the midnight heavens with
corruscations Of red and silver. apd sIrranle
ed out like lightning, seeming, says one
writer. fairly to fash warmth in the ilce
The winter preceding was markrdby ex.
traordiuary severity Snow lay on the
ground from the middle of November to
the middle of April. In December aud
January storm continued for seven sue
cessive days, and tie snow fell to a dsp'h
Of four feet on a level in this simple storm,
and With drifts eight aud ten feet high :
Sheen we're buried in the drifts for many
days, aud even men aud animals rcr'Shed
With the cold. Long Island Sound was
crossed BY heavy artillery on the -! ice - ;,
Narfaga6se,t-Bhy fsdze 5far DO 'fftfd thdi
men traversed the ice from Providence TO
Newport in skating parties, and from Fall
River to Newport loads Of woodf were
conveyed on the ice through Bristol ferry
Previous to the 10Th, a vapor filled the
air for several days. There was smell
Of sulphur. The morning Of the 10Th
was overcast with some clouds. and rain
fell over the country, with lightning and
thunder. Scarcely any motion was in the
air, what wind there was came from the
southwest. BY nine o'clock in The fore.
noon, without previous warning, The dark
ness stole gradually on, with luminous
appearance near The horizon, as if the OBJ.
scaring cloud bad dropped down from ov.
erdesd. There was yellowness Of tbe
atmosphere that made clear silver assume
. grassy green hue Then dense un-
de6nable vspor settled rapidly aud without
AERIAL movement over the land and ocean
from Pennsylvania to the Gulf of 81
Lawrence, the darkness it caused sinking
by degrees until the sunlight was cffectu-
ally shut out. Ordinary cloud it was not
The rapidity with which so large an ez'
tent Of country was cuvclopcl precludes
the possibility of supposiug ibis TO have
been natural cloud moving la'eraIly =
Besides this the day was too calm TO ina
CINE such o thing Down came the dark,
ness ticker aud thicker. BY ten O'Clock
the air was loaded with thick gloom :
The heavens we're ,inged with ycllowish
or faint red; the lurll look increased; few,
If any, ordinary clouds we're visible The
sun, in disappearing. took Qua hfassy hue
The lurid brassy color spread everywhere,
above and below. The grass assumed the
color Of the sky, and all out doors wore 4
sickly, weird and melancholy look--a dus.
ky appearance as il seen through a smoked
glass. By eleven O'Clock it was as night
itself, and from this tine until three in the
afternoon tho darkues. was extraordinary
and frightful.
The extent Of the darkness was greater
than is related ofany other similar phcno-
menon on record, not excepting the ccle-
brated dark days over Egypt and Judea,
It reached south to the northern half Of
Pennsylvania, and trom thence along the
coast northeast to the wllds of Maine,
eastward to the Gulf Of St Lawrence, and
out at sea 12O miles southeast of Boston,
aud undoubtedly much further, west to
the Valleys Of Lake Champlaiu and the
Hudson River, and north iuo the unde6.
ned regions in Canada. Portland, Bost-
on, Hartford. New York, West Point and
Albany we're effected by It. But the de.
groes Of darkness differed in different pa.
ces, the deepest night settled over New