Cheyenne transporter. [volume] (Darlington, Indian Terr.) 1879-1886, 1881-06-10
THE DARK DAY IN CANADA.
The Unexplained Phenomenon of No.
vember 1919.

Montreal Star as follows: "What was
the strangest occurrence Of that time,
or rather the strangest thing that ever
happened in the history of this u
Try, was what has been always
known as the Phenomenon of 1872
On the morning of November 8, 1919,
the sun rose upon a cloudy sky, which
assumed, as the light grew upon it, a
strange greenish tint, varying in places
to an inky blackness. After a short
time the whole sky became terribly
dark, dense black clouds filling the at
mosphere, and there followed a heavy
shower of rain, which appeared to be
something of the nature of s%oapsuds,
and was found to have deposited after
settling, q substance 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 a deep green
to a pitchy black, and the sun, when
occasionally seen through them, was
sometimes of a dark brown, or an I'M
earthly yellow color. and again bright
orange, and even blood red. The
clouds gradually deepened in color and
density, the latter on a heavy vapor
seemed to descend to the earth, and the
day became almost as dark as night,
the gloom increasing and diminishing
most ftfully. At noon lamps had to
be burned in the courthouse, banks,
and public offices of the city. Every
body was more or less alarmed, and
many were the c%onjectures as to the
cause of the remarkable occurrence.
The more sensible thought that i'm
mense 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 mountain was an extinct era.
ter about to resume operations and to
make Of the city a 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 q
great body Of clouds seemed to rush
suddenly over the city, and the dark
ness became that of night. a pause
and a hush for a moment or two sue
ceeded, and then one of the most glar-
ing flashes of lightning ever beheld
famed over the country, accompanied
by a clap of thunder which seemed to
shake the city to its foundations. An
other pause followed, and then came q
light shower of rain of the same soapy
and sooty nature as that two days be-
fore. After that it appeared to gro "
brighter, but an hour later it was as
dark as ever. Another rush of clouds
came, and another vivid fash of light
ming, which was seen to strike the
spire of the old French parish church.
and to play c%uriously about the large
iron cross at its summit before de.
%scending to the ground. A moment
later came the climax of the day. Ev-
cry bell in the city suddenly rung out
the alarm of fire, and the affrighted
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 peo-
pie, their nerves unstrung by the aw,
full events of the day, gazing at, but
scarcely daring to approach, the strange
sight before them. The sky above and
around was as black rs ink, but right
in one spot, in mid air 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
10 the ground with a crash and was