The Worthington advance., 1879-05-22
THE METEOR.

inq l5o Postnds. q .
Below wesgive farthersinformation,
gathered from oursfxchanges, concern
ing the meteor mentioneesdd in last weeks
The Sibley Gazette says:
Last Saturday about O'Clock p. m.,
a very brilliant meteor passed directly
over Sibley from the southwest to the
northeast. The distance at which
it exploded from this place is variously |
estimated at from ten miles up to hum
dreds, and the probability is that the
latter distance Is the more correct.
A correspondent of the Sioux City
Journal, writing from Sanborn, O'Bri-
en- county, Iowa, says:
On Saturday the 10th inst, about
p. M, a ball of fire appeared in the
heavens directly overhead and shot off
very rapidly toward the horizon III an
east, northeast course. The track of
the meteo; oite was plainly marked by a
trail OF white smoke very much ike
that from shell thrown from a large
mortar. The smoke remained in the
same place for several minutes, but A.
nally spread out and slowly disappear
ed. 4 \ But the strangest part OF
the phenomenon is that i'll about two or
three minutes a loud explosion was
heard, like the firing of cannon, fol-
lowed by reverberations through the
air similar to thunder. According to
the best estimate Of the time that We
can arrive at, which elapsed between
the disappearance of the meteor and the
report of it's explosion, the distance was
about forty or fifty miles from this
place. We shall await with interest re.
ports from other points in regard to
this freak Of nature.
The Sheldon Mail says:
Last Saturday afternoon between
and O'Clock those of us who were at
tending to devotional duties or i'll any
manner manifesting admiration for the
| incomprehensible beauties of the ether
| ial regions witnessed Il large aerolite or
meteor, which passed over the city from
| the southeast to the northeast. Not
withstanding the fact that the sky WAS
clear and the day unusually bright the
bull of fire,-which appeared to be as
large as a half bushel was sufficiently
luminous to present a sight seldom if
ever before eQualed in grandeur.
! y gentleman, writing from Esther
vile, Iowa, to the editor of the Martin
County Sentinel: says:
immediately after the oct urrence dirt
and turf were seen flying in the air near
the Barber school house. Parties at
once repaired to the scene Of cOmmO-
ton. and there discovered the res ing
| place Of the met0ric visitor. So great
| was its force in falling tha it penetrat-
ed the earth Il distance of Is feet, and
made Il hole Is feet across where it en-
tered the ground. Fragments of the
meteor were discovered scattered on the
ground in the vicinity. Last Monday
the meteor was dug out. It was secure.
| ~ imbtddcd in the blue clay Is feet be-
low the surface Of the earth. It weighs
43l pounds, but the small pieces that
We're found near it. would make it
weigh about 500 pounds. 1t is princi-
I pally of metallic substance, intcr~pers-
ed With stone. 1t is reported to have
passed over Sioux City, and between
Spirit Lake and Milford. 1t had the
appearance of 4 ball Of fire and was in Il
torri1 state when it struck the earth.
The editor of the Sentinel adds:
| y friend sends MS half-pound sp"ci-
men of the meteor, which is about the
size of II goose egg. 1t is mostly com
posse of a metallic substance, closcly
resembling steel, but is evidently Of II
harder material, as the st roDg,st acids
fail to haye any effect upon it..
The jackson Republic says:
On Monday all doubt in this direction
ceased, when Mr.. Ridley, Of Esther
vile, brought to The Republic tfiice a
piece Of the meteor itself, and which he
saw taken from the identical spot where
it fell. 1t had opened the earth for II
space of ten feet across just over the
line in the town of Emmct, Iowa. One
piece wei hing . pounds had been dug
out when lie left. 1t threw sods about
for fifteen rods, and other evidences
went to show that Il little perseverance
would eXhume the strange aerial viSi-
tor that had SO suddenly sought sepul-
ture in the beautiful valley of the Des
Moines. On Wednesday, Mr.. s. B.
| Weir came to our Office, and who first
discovered the terra fr,na destination
of the new conner, and informed US that
after digging fifteen feet they reached
the 500 pound wonder, which had been
driven that distance into the ground,
and ten feet of which was in solid blue
clay. The parties succeeded in raising
it by means Of levers and chains and it
weighed 43l pounds, another piece 80
poun's, and with other pieces that were
found, made the whole meteor safely
500 pounds. Its exterior is rather rag
ged and it's exact composition is a mat
t~r Of speculation. LII size it is two
feet in length. and II by 21 inches,
hence the sublimity in contemplating
the body, it's course, its momentum, as
well as its destination. Its starting
point is 4 matter not easily figured, its
exact orbit not positively known, but
its destination IS not Il matter Of specu-
lation, for within II rods Of the School
House near Barber's about mile east
Charles Jarvis, that burning, bursting,
cannon -resoundjng, ligl,tning-speed
missile came in contact with the earth.
Mr.. W. Il. Pingrey was in our office
yesterday and Informed us that anoth-
TT piece that weighed about 15O pounds
was afterwards found on A. A. Pin
| grcy's farm, about two miles from the
9th, and which was buried five feet in
the solid clay.
The Spirit Lake Beacon says:
Nearly, if not quite, every person in
Spirit Luke first had theii. attention ar
.tsttd d Ivy terrific explosion. that shook
the buildings, and even seemed to make
the solid earth quake and sI.iver by the
overpoWtring force of it's concussion.
Ii is safe to presume that the first
thought with most of us was that some
human agency had caused the exrlo-
son, but before there was time for spec
ulati0n attention vas directed toward
the heavens, from whence it WAS evil
dent t:'at the sound came. Following
thn first report in rapid succession. but
differing from it in some respects were
at Last three les! er explosions. These
might have cen mistaken for thunder
had net tie aid of vision Enthusiastically
determined them to haye been closely
ctnnected with and proceeding from
the same source as did the first. A line
OF smoke, quite heavy overhead, and
taprring to a thin streak of blue at the
| eXtrpmitipS marked the neteor,s