The New York herald., 1876-03-21
The shower of Flesh in Kentucky.

The Shower OF Flesh in kentucky.
the recent mysterious shower in Kentucky
is that given by our correspondent in his
entertaining letter published this morning.
He visited the place where the strange sub
stance was found, took all the testimony
possible, and seems to have made thorough
and systematic investigation. The mystery
still remains unsolved, even with this light
thrown upon it but several important facts
are clearly established by the evidence.
The first of these facts is that the story is
not hoax perpetrated for fun or gain
Mrs. Crouch, who, with her grandson, was
the only person who saw the shower. is q
woman who for thirty years has borne an ex-
cellent reputation in Bath county. Kentucky,
and her neighbors bore witness to her intel
ligence and veracity No one else claims to
have seen the shower, and this is strong
argument against any collusion, for if there
had been conspiracy, either for gain or
sport, the whole Crouch family, and
probably some of the neighbors would
have declared they also were eye
witnesses of the event. Yet if this
good lady had simply said she had seen
flesh fall from the sky, or had ''seen man
i tn clouds and talked with him, ;" we might
have believed her deceived by her senses
just here that the testimony of the rest of
the family-Mr. Crouch and others-comes
in with force. They found the fakes of
this mysterious shower scattered over the
earth and sticking to the fences and briars
They saw them eaten by hogs and chickens.
Finally other persons gathered the sub
stance, and quantities of it have been pre-
served 1t is q curious fact that none of the
people questioned agreed as to its nature
Some thought it looked like pounded beef
steak others that it resembled fresh NUT
ton /; some pieces were fat and lean, like
meat others were like gristle. One wit
ness, who saw it when fresh, said its fluid
looked and smelt like blood, and when it
had been kept week it was said to have
the odor of putrid flesh. Other qualities,
inconsistent with flesh, are attributed to il,
as, for instance, woolly fibre Now, if
this had been the flesh of any ordinary ami
nal these contradictions would not have hap
pened. Thus we see that all the elements and
conditions which are generally found in col
lusion, or in hoaxes are absent from this
story. The suggestion that the Crouches
got up this shower to sell their farm is not
only inconsistent with the facts, but is ab-
surd on the very face of it. Celestial manure
of tbat hind &c not liEaIv n ipcraoca ba
value of land either as a fertilizer or as an
advertisement A more plausible supposi-
tion would be that the shower was intended
to attract visitors this year to the Olympian
Springs, but in that case an enterprising land
lord would have had it happen nearer to his
hotel, while prudent landlord would not
have had it happen at all, lest it might
throw unjust suspicion on his future stews
and hash. All the circumstances, therefore,
go to prove that on March there
fell from clear sky in Bath county,
Kentucky, shower of an unknown
substance closely resembling flesh, yet
neither flesh, fowl, nor good red herring
and we have just good reason to
believe that story as to believe that it showed
here yesterday and better reason to believe
it than many of the reports which come to
US from Herzegovina or Berlin.
The principal mystery of this shower lies
in the fact that its substance is unknown,
but it is not likely that it will long remain
unknown. Science has explained many
things more wonderful and referred them
to the simplest causes. "The shower of
flesh" does not rise even to the dignity of
preternatural event, and any superstitious
feelings in respect to it are more absurd than
to imagine it the result of the explosion of
an inhabited asteroid
MiIifarY md Naxal Cadefshins.