Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-11-28

Some Of the Celebrated Dark Days in Or,
History.

History.
| Toronto Globe
! The strange darkness which oversprea
western Ontario on the 9th of last Sep
TENDER, and reached New England on the
following day, is still the object of atten-
/, ton from many, and is certainly the most
famous phenomenon of its kind of the
present century. It has had parallels,
/ though only one is recorded which APP
preached it in darkness and lurid magniti
cence. In the year 526 the whole of the
Ramon empire is said to have been GOV
| cred by reddish shadow, caused by a
strange haze in the air. What
produced this haze is not known, though
+! it is possible it may have been an unusual
accumulation of the red dust which now
and then falls over the Mediterranean and
which Prof. Gutenberg. a celebrated scient-
lst, has examined microscopically and
found to be dried vegetation, probably
borne by the counter trade winds from
some tropical region where drought pre-
vailed.
/ COMETS AND DARK DAYS.
In 1888 large part of Europe, North
America and the western portion of Asia
was covered with dry fog of pale blue
color, which dimmed the light OF the sun
and at times almost extinguished it. It
was accompanied by violent electrical
disturbances, and lasted for several weeks.
1t spread alarm everywhere. A
writer says regarding the weeks
of this fog: 1T was a time of
| terror, of tumult and of universal excite
| ment." In 1881 fog of long duration
prevailed and made the sun look green or
| blue. Both these fogs were slightly phos-
| phorescent at night. The same phosphor-
escence was noticeable iu 1921, when for
several days, during which it was supposed
the earth passed through the tail of the
great comet of that year, slight haze
pervaded the atmosphere. It is suggest
i've that during the dry fogs of 1888 and
1881 the earth was also III close proximity
to the tail of comet, if not actually i'm
mersed in it, and the fact that the fogs
prevailed on the highest SUBMITS of the
Alps as we'll as in the lowest valleys, is
looked upon As tending to confirm the
hypothesis that they were due to the pres
ence OF cometary vapOr in the atmospere.
| Some of the celebrated observations of
| solar light are confined to small areas, as
London fOgs, the cause of which is obvl-
| Gus. In 1873 London was darkened for a
| week, SO that traffic had to be suspended
on the Thames, street traffic became diff
| cult, and lives were lost by accidents due
to the obscurity. In the spring of 1908, a
mysterious darkness covered a portion of
| Minnesota, ordinary occupations were sus-
| pended, and people were obliged to eat
their dinners by lamp light.
THE BLACK FRIDAY OF 1880.
| More celebrated, however, IS the ''Black
Friday" of New England, May 10, 1880.
The coast was shrouded in darkness, which
| turned away incoming ships. The air was
| of a brassy color, and pervaded by a sui
phurous and sooty smell. Many thought
| the day of Judgment had come. The Con-
| necticut legislature was in session waen the
darkness fell and the senate chamber be-
came enshrouded in gloom. The general
alarm spread to the law makers, and one
of them solemnly moved that the senate
adjourn. Col Abraham Davenport imme-
diateiy arose and opposed the adjourn
ment. His speech, though brief, was a re-
markable one, and had the effect of restor-
ing compOsure of mind III The assembly.
He said: Il am against the adjournment.
Either the day of Judgment is come Or it is
not. If it is not there is 10 cause for ad-
journment. II it is | wish to be found in
the line of my duty. l ask that candles
may he brought" This terrorizing darkness
extended over the most of New England,
and portions of New York, Pennsylvania
and Canada, and was due to similar causes
to those which produced the famous dark
ness of September. A correspondent of
the Globe sends the following extract from
letter relating to that darkness, and dated
Boston, May 10, 1880. The letter was pub
lished in the Imperial Messenger for 1889.
The extract says:
This day has been rendered very re-
| markable by an extraordinary phenome-
| non, which demands particular relation.
An unusual darkness came on between the
| hours of 10 and II in the morning, and
| continued to increase. Your friend hav-
| ing been accustomed to dark days in Lon
| den :; * 3 regarded it with no special
| attention until called to do it by his neigh
bors, who were much alarmed. He dined
by candle light about 1. After that it
grew much lighter, and he walked about 5
O'Clock to tavern, a mile distant ON the
| road to Boston, to meet |. committee of
| Roxbury on special business.
when they had finished about o'clock
| at night, he set out for home, not suspect
ing but that being fully acquainted with
every foot Of the road, he should easily
| return Notwithstanding its being extremely
| dark. There were houses all the way.
though at a considerable way from each
other. He marked the candle light of one,
and with that in his eye went forward till
he got up to it, but remarked that the ap-
pearance of'the place was so different from
| what was usual, that he could not have
believed it to be what it was, had it not
! been for his certain knowledge of the stu
alton. He caught the light of a second
house, which he reached, and thus on. At
length the light being removed from the
last he had gained a sight of, ere he was
up to it, he found him
sell in such profound darkness
as to be incapable of proceeding, and
therefore returned to the house he had
passed and procured latern. Several of
the company having further to go we're on
horseback. The horses could not see to
direct themselves, and by the manner in
which they took up and put down their
feet on the plain ground appeared to be
involved in total darkness. x
The shifting of the wind put an end to it;