The Pioche weekly record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1877-1900, 1881-05-28
THE DARK DAY IN C,NACA

In some interesting and graphic remin-
isc--oes Of Montreal sixty years ago, j.
II. Dorwin writes to the Montreal Star
as follows: "What was the strangest oc-
currence of that time, or rather the
strangest thing that ever happened in
the history of this country, was what
has always been known as the 'Phenom-
enon of lSl9.' On the morning of Sun
day, Nov. Sth, 1919, the sun rose upon
cloudy sky, which assumed, as the light
grew upon it, a strange greenish tint,
varying in places to an inky blackness.
After o short time the whole sky became
terribly dark, dense black clouds filling
the atmosphere, and there followed a
heavy shower of rain, which appeared to
be something Of the nature of soap suds,
and was found to have deposited after
settling 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
pitchy black, and the sun, when occasion.
ally seen through them, was something
of a dark brown or an unearthly yellow,
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 diminish
ing most ftfully. At noon lamps had to
be burned in the courthouse, the banks,
and the public Offices of the city. Every
body was more or less alarmed, and
many were the conjectures as to the
cause of the remarkable occurrence. The
more sensible thought that immense
woods or prairies were on fire somewhere
to the west; others said that the 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 the 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
rushed 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 glaring flashes
OF lightning ever beheld famed over the
country, accompanied by a clap Of thun.
der which seemed to shake the city to its
foundations. Another pause followed,
and then came light shower of rain oi
the same soapy and sooty nature as thai
two days before. After that it appeared
to grow brighter, but an hour later il
was as dark as ever. Another rush O.
clouds came, and another flash of vivie
lightning, which was seen to strike the
spire of the old French parish church ant
to play curiously about the large iror
cross on its summit before descending tx
the ground. A moment later came ths
climax of the day. Every bell in thu
city suddenly rung out the alarm Of fire
and the afrighted citizens rushed ou
from their houses into the streets ant
made their way in the gloom toward tn
church, until Place d'Armes was crowde
with people, their nerves all unstrung b
the awful events of the day, gazing al
but scarcely daring to approach, tn
the strange sight before them. The SIX
above and around was as black as ink
but right in one spot, in mid air abov
them, was the summit of the spire wit
the lightning playing about it, shinin
like a sun. Directly the great iron cross
together with the ball at its foot, fell I
the ground with crash, and was shivere
to pieces. But the darker hour come
just before the dawn. The glow abov
gradually subdued and died out, the pei
pie grew less fearful and returned
their homes, the real night came on, an
when next morning dawned everythin
was bright and clear, and the world w;
as natural as before. The phenomena
was noticed in q greater or less degrt
from Quebec to Kingston, and far in'
the States, but Montreal seemed its eel
ter. 1t has never yet been explained"