Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1880-06-03
Mlistellameuns &eaaiug.
ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO.

| ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO.
MAY 19, 1880, THE DARK DAY IN NEW ENG.
LAND.
1t was May 19, 1880, when darkness was
at monday over all New England. The phe'
nomenon has never been explained. DR..
Tenney, in 1885, wrote to the Historical So
ciety that the ability of the land had endeav-
ored to present cause, but said he, "you will
agree with me that no satisfactory solution has
appeared" In similar language wrote DIR.
Noah Webster, in 1843. The theory of some
that it was smoke and ashes from forest fires,
extensively ranging, was disproved. No fires
in the forests 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
a darkness that settled down over an area Of
more than 100000 square miles at the same
time ...-
We publish condensed account of this re-
markable phenomenon, forwarded to us by D.
T. Taylor, of Rouse's Point, N. Y, who wrote
it for the Boston Journal in 1871:
The year 1880 was celebrated for its nu-
merous auroral exhibitions in this latitude.
They covered the midnight heavens with cor
ruscations of red and silver, and streamed out
like lightning, seeming, says one writer, fairly
to flash warmth into the face. The winter
preceding was marked by extraordinary &C.
verify. Snow lay on the ground from the
middle of November to the middle Of April.
In December and January storm continued
for seven successive days, and the snow fell to
a depth of four feet on level in this single
storm, and with drifts eight and ten feet high.
Sheep were buried 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 traversed the ice
from Providence to Newport in skating par
ties, and from Fall River to Newport loads Of
wood were conveyed on the ice throug h Bris-
tol ferry.
Previous to the 18th vapor filled the air
for several days. There was smell Of sui
phur. The morning of the 18th was overcast
with some clouds, and rain fell over the coun-
try, with lightning and thunder. Scarcely
any motion was in the air; what wind there
was came from the southwest. By o'clock
in the forenoon, without previous warning,
the darkness stole gradually on, with lumin.
GUS appearance near the horizon, as if the OBJ
scuring cloud had dropped down from over
head. There was yellowness of the atmos.
phere that made clear silver assume grass
green hue. Then dense, unde6nable vapor
settled rapidly and without aerial movement
over all the land and ocean from Pennsylva-
MIA to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the darkness
it caused sinking by degrees until the sun
light was effectually shut out. Ordinary
cloud it was not. The rapidity with which
so large an extent of country was enveloped,
precludes the possibility of supposing this to
have been a natural cloud moving laterally.
Besides this, the day was too calm to imagine
such a thing. Down came the darkness
thicker and thicker. By ten o'clock the air
was loaded with thick gloom. The heavens
were tinged with yellowish or faint red the
4hrid look increased few, if any, ordinary
clouds were visible. The sun, in disappearing,
took on a brassy hue. The lurid, brassy col
or spread everywhere, above and below. The
grass assumed the color of the sky, and all
out doors wore asickly, weird and melancholy
aspect-a dusky appearance asif seen through
a smoked glass. By eleven o'clock it was as
night itself, and from this time until three in
the afternoon the darkness was extraordinary
and frightful.
The extent of the darkness was greater
than is related of any other similar phenome-
non on record, not excepting the celebrated
dark days over Egypt and Judea. Itreached
south to the northern half of Pennsylvania,
and from thence along the coast northeast to
the wilds Of Maine, eastward to the Gulf OF
St. Lawrence and out at sea 120 miles south
east Of Boston, and undoubtedly much far
ther west to the valleys of Lake Champlain
and the Hudson River, and north into unde-
fined regions in Canada. Portland, Boston,
Hartford, New York, West Point and Alba.
ny were affected by it. But the degrees Of
darkness differed in different places, the deep
est night settling over New England. A tract
of land and sea 800 miles in length and 400
miles in breadth, embracing an area Of $780,
900 square miles, was known to be covered
Ly the cloud, and 80 far as can be ascertained
population of 100000 souls sat for por.
ton of the day and night in gloom more or
less profound and inexplicable
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 watc.., persons of unimpaired eyesight.
Candles became an absolute necessity both
out Of doors and in, as it was impossible to
transact business without them. Fires on the
hearthstone shone as brightly as on moonless
November evening, and all dinner tables were
set with lighted candles upon them as if it
were the evening repast. The keenest eyes
in doors could not see to read the common
print. So far beyond any ordinary fog was
the effect, that stages on the road either put up
at the nearest hotel during the mid day hours,
or carried candles or lanterns to enable the
perplexed driver to we'll see his way.
And all the brute and feathered creation
seemed puzzled and agitated. The birds
ceased to fly, and hid themselves in the
branches of the trees. As the darkness in
creased 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 cbeerfully 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. and, after cackling for while over
the mystery of 80 short day, became still.
Cocks crowed as is their custom at nightly
intervals and the early breaking of day.
Frogs piped their evening concert and dogs
whined or howled and ran away as on the ap-
proach of an earthquake. The herds of cat
tie on New England's thousand hills sought
the shelter of the shed or barn-yard, lowing