The Cecil Whig., 1881-05-21
THE DARK DAY IN CANADA.

In some interesting and graphic remin-
iscences Of Montreal sixty years ago. Mr..
J. ii. Dorwin writes to the Montreal Star
as follows:
hat was the Stran9est occurrence
of that time, or rather the strangest
thing that ever happened in the history
of this country, was what has been al
ways known as the Phenomenon of
1879 On the morning of Sunday, Nov.
S, 1919, the sun rose upon cloudy sky
which assumed as the light grew upon
it, Il strange greenish tint varying in
places to an inky blackness. After
short time the whole sky became terribly
dark, dense black clouds filling the at
mospherc, and there followed Il heavy
shower Of rain, which appeared to be
something OF the nature of soapsuds, and
was found to have deposited after settling
II substance in all its qualities resembling
SCOT Late in the afternoon the sky
cleared to its natural aspect, and the next
dag was fine and frosty. On the morn
ing of Tuesday, the 10Th, heavy clouds
again covered the sky, and changed rap
idly from deep green to a pitchy black,
and the sun, when occasionally seen
through them, was sometimes of dark
brown or an unearthly yellow color, and
again bright orange, and even blood red.
The clouds constantly deepened in color
and density, and later on heavy vapor
seemed to descend to the earth, and the
day became almost as dark as night, the
gloom increasing and diminishing most
titfully. At noon lights had to be burned
in the courthouse, the banks, and public
offices of the city. Everybody was more
or less alarmed, and many were the con-
lectures rs to the cause of the remarka-
blc occurrence. The more sensible
thought that immense woods or prairies
were on fire somewhere to the west;
others said that Il great volcano must
have broken out in the Province; still
others asserted that our mountain was an
extinct crater about to resume operations
ttitt w liahS VI IliC CluN SCCOIltl
the superstitious quoted an old Indian
prophecy that one day the Island of Mon
treal was to be destroyed by an earth
quake, and some even cried that the
world was about to come to an end.
About the middle of the afternoon a
great body of clouds seemed to rush sud-
Inn1y tho rfty n,,l ba Il 1n
came that Of night. 4 pause and hush
for moment or two succeeded, and then
one of the most glaring flashes Of light
ming ever beheld famed over the country,
accompanied by a clap of thunder which
seemed to shake the city to its founda-
tions. Another pause followed, and then
came light shower of rain of the same
soapy and sooty nature as that of two
days before. After that it appeared to
grow brighter but an hour later it was
as dark as ever. Another rush of clouds
came, and another vivid flash of light
ming, which was seen to strike the spirc
of the old French parish church and to
play curiously about the large iron cross
at its summit before descending to the
ground. a moment later came the climax
of TIE day. Every bell in the city sud-
denly rang out the alarm of fire, and the
aifrighted citizens rushed out from their
houses into the streets and made their
way in the gloom toward the church until
plapa n Ar,naS woS crow1ad with paopia
their nerves all unstrung by the awful
events of the day, gazing at, but scarce
ly daring to approach the strange sight
before them. The sky above and around
was as black as ink, but right in one spot
in mid Lair above them was the summit of
the spire with the lightning playing
about it shining like a sun. Directly the
great iron cross, together with the ball
at its foot, fell to the ground with crash
and was shivered to pieces. But the dark
est hour comes just before the dawn. The
glow above gradually subsidized and died
out, the people grew less fearful and re-
turned to their homes the real night came
on, and when next morning dawned
everything was bright and clear. and the
world was as natural as before. The
phenomenon was noticed in greater or
less degree from Quebec to Kingston,
and far into the States, but Montreal
seemed its center 1t has never yet been
eAplained.'