The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1882-08-18

that this storm center, after it became
fully developed, consisted of heated
bsdy OF air or gas in state of combus-
ton, which was constantly fed by the
smoke and vapor driven to the center by
the whirling winds and the gas gener-
ated III the combustion of the pines and
other reslnous woods. This body of air,
or burning gas. il it may be so called,
by Its heat acquired an ascensive force,
but by the rapid forward motion of the
fire was sucked forward and devoured,
actually preceding the fire proper 1t
is evident that body this was of intense
heat, possibly as great as 400 degrees
Fahrenheit, at which point oxygen and
carbon unite. That such body of
luminous vapor existed, detached from
the fire, is asserted by many who saw it
from distance, and By those who were
under it, but who escaped from the fact
that it passed above their places.
The idea is further sustained by the
fact that the fire jumped whole patches
of infammable slashings, and alighted
beyond, lifting and falling in its for
ward motion like balloon touching the
earth. Fences in the center of broad
fields burst into blaze as if by explosion,
and others nearer the fire escaped. A
man In fighting the fire took off his
trousers, fearing they would catch fire
and burn him up, and left them in a
furrow in the middle of a field remote
from any combustible material. When
he went to get them he found them
burned, and six quarter-doliars that
were in the pocket melted together. A
set of spoons were served the same way
at another place.
Mrs. Lock and five children we're
burned to ashes, nothing but their bones
remaining in the middle of the road, one
hundred feet from any heavy timber.
Green timber was dried and burned, and
perhaps the most conclusive evidence
was the apparently spontaneous appear
ance of fire in stumps and fences when
no sparks were falling. These blazes
appeared of white light and indicated a
chemical union of carbon and oxygen.
Another general feature is the fact that
the fire appeared to move forward in
parallel lines of varying width, and that
in these lines everything was burned,
and frequently to ashes. At the edge of
the track a fence would be burned
square off, just as though it had been
cut or sawed perpendicularly house
would be taken and the barn left a
wagon and q tanning mill were within
five feet of each other, and the wagon
was burned to ashes and the tanning
mill not charred. It would be i'm
possible, under ordinary circu instances,
to burn wagon without piling COM
bustible material over it, but of this
| nj lint <ha 1aek
Finally, the storm and fire disap-
peared simultaneously; that is to say,
the fire was dependent upon the storm,
or secondary to it-that it was prevented
from lingering in the track or from burn
ing sideways. In from two to three
hours the fire was practically out where
it had passed, indicating that the prime
cause of the rapid combustion was in
the storm which had passed, and which
passing, perhaps. carried in its wake
condition of atmosphere opposed to COM
bustion. This hypothesis explains pretty
much all the phenomena except the balls
of fire, which exactly correspond with
what is known as "ball lightning" but
which is form of electricity wholly dis
puted by some, but recognized by Prof.
LOOMS.
The statements of Ballentine and
Kabocke are confirmatory of this ball
lightning idea, and contradictory of the
idea that these lights arose from the in.
tense heat, or they themselves could not
have survived it. Other statements are
to the effect that this ball of fire fell on
the ground and exploded, running in all
directions. This Is explained by some
who we're not present, who say that it
was but the resinous cones OF the pine
ignited, carried by the wind, falling,
scattering the burning pitch about them !;
but it should be remembered that those
people who saw this phenomenon are
men who have lived amid forest fires all
their lives and have seen all the ordinary
phenomena, and are not of class ex-
actly visionary or imaginative. It is
fair to assume the possibility of electri-
cal phenomena incidental to this fire
storm, both from the fact that it was a
great commotion in the elements and
because it differed from storm only in
the facts of the absence of rain and
presence of fire. Scientific american.
Here and There.
THE Steiner House barn, at Muske-
gon, was damaged $500 worth by fire.
A CITIZENS league is being formed
in Muskegon to enforce the liquor laws.
AT Whitehall two little boys, named
Ashman, fell out of second-story win
dow. Both were inscnsible when picked
up.
LIGHTNING kill id five horses belong
ing to VIM. Haddrill, in an open field,
on his farm in North Branch. The
horses we're in group, though not all
together-some being several rods apart.
STANTON Clipper: JAS. Guilmer was
killed at Derby lake by the bursting of
a gun. The breech of the gun struck
him in the forehead and the screw struck
him under the eye. His head was lit
orally blown of.
A WE'LL, being bored for salt, at Mus
kegon, struck oil at depth of 1900
feet, and all the indications give color
to the belief that there is such guam
tity of oil in that vicinity as to warrant
fuller developments.