Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1881-05-22
THE DARK DAY IN CANADA.

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The Unexplained Phenomenon of Novensber.
So 1919.
In some interesting and graphic remin-
iscences Of Montreal sixty years ago,
Mr.. j. 81. Dorwin writes to the Mont
real Star as follows: "What was the
strangest occurrence Of that time, or
rather the strangest thing that ever hap
pened in the history of this country, was
what has always been known as the
Phenomenon Of 1819.' On the morn
ing of Sunday, Nov. 8, 1919, the sun
rose upon cloudy sky, which assumed,
as the light grew upon it, strange
greenish tint, varying in places to an
inky blackness. After short time the
whole sky became terribly dark, dense
black clouds filling the atmosphere, and
there followed heavy shower Of rain,
which appeared to be something of the
nature of soap-suds, and was found to
have deposited, after settling, sub
stance in all its qualities resembling
SCOT. Late in the afternoon the sky
cleared to its natural aspect, and the
next day was fine and frosty. On the
morning of Tuesday, the 10th, heavy
clouds again covered the sky, and
changed rapidly from deep green to
pitchy black, and the sun, when occa-
/ sionally seen through them, was some
times of dark brown or an unearthly
yellow color, and again bright orange,
and even blood red. The clouds con-
stantly deepened in color and density,
and later on heavy vapor seemed to
descend to the earth, and the day be-
came almost as dark as night, the gloom
increasing and diminishing most Gtfully.
At noon lamps 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 as to the cause Of the remarka-
BILE occurrence. The more sensible
thought that immense woods or prairies
were on fire somewhere to the west;
others said that a great volcano must
have broken out in the province still
others asserted that our mountain
was an extinct crater about to
resume operations and to make
Of the city second Pompeii;
the superstitious quoted an old Indian
prophecy that one day the island Of
Montreal was to be destroyed by an
earthquake, and some even cried that
the world was about to come to an end.
About the middle Of the afternoon
great body Of clouds seemed to rush
suddenly over the city, and the darkness
became that Of night. A pause and
hush for moment or two succeeded,
and then one of the most glazing flashes
Of lightning ever beheld famed over the
country, accompanied by a clap of thun-
der which seemed to shake the city to
it's foundations. Another pause fol-
lowed, and then came light shower Of
rain Of the same soap5 and sooty nature
as that two days before. After that it
appeared to grow brighter, but an heur
later it was as dark as ever. Another
rush Of clouds came, and another vivid
fash of lightning, which was seen to
strike the spire Of the old French parish
church and to play curiously about the
large iron cross at its summit before de-
scending to the ground. A moment
later came the climax of the day. Every
bell in the city suddenly rung out the
alarm of fire, and the afrighted citizens
rushed out from their houses into the
streets and made their way in the gloom
toward the church, until Place d'Armes
was crowded with people, their nerves
all unstrung by the awful events of the
day, gazing at, but scarcely 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 air
before them, was the summit CT 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 a
crash, and was shiyered to pieces. But
the darkest hour comes just before the
dawn, The glow above gradually SUBJ
sided and died out, the people grew less
fearful and returned to their homes, the
real night came on, and, when next
morning dawned, everything was bright
SPRING.
There is telegraphy in the air now