Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-11-26
,rnNrH FoR nrETEoRs.

The Rrilliance of the Showers During
the Past weeks-A Case of Excited
Imagination-The Great Rain of Fire
in 1888.
The unusual fall of meteors during the
present month-notably during the past
week.-Mrs. been the subject of good deal
of comment, and the cause of not little
superstition among the negro classes. A
cnlored man and his family living out on
the White Bluff road came into the city
Yesterday and declared that his house had
been struck by some huge object and the
roof crushed in. The thing, he said, re-
sembled a big black rock, and come
fving through the air with wheeling
noise. 1t struck the roof with crash
and knocked in the whole side. The
frightened darkey didn't wait TO see where
the visiting missile lodged nor what 1t
was, but lit out for spot where meteOrs
didn't strike. The story is given for what
il is worth, but it shows the Iear
that exists among cOlOred people during
| auv celestial disturbance. November is
/ generally the month of meteOrlc showers,
/ and so far this year they have been I'M
usual in their brilliance. Reference to
meteorological history discovers an ac-
| count of the great fall of meteors III lS33
Just 30 years ago-knoWn as the rain
| of fire."
/ The event was a remarkable one. The
| greatest intensity of the shower was
/ about daybreak. but it lasted from ,
O'Clock in the morning until broad day
/ light. 1t is described as veritable rain OF
/ fire. The negroes from Virginia throughout
/ the entire South were frightened, and
\ from a history of the occurrence the eN-
/ trayagant statement was made that every
/ we'll contained one or more negroes who
/ had gone down by bucket and rope to es-
/ cape the "day Of wrath and day OF burn
/ ing" The spectacle frightened thousands
! of steady-gOing people as well. The
/ two months in which meteOric showers
/ usually occur are August and November.
| There are said TO be two great meteorlc
streams, and when brushed by the earth in
its movements at these seasons of the year
the disturbance occurs. In the shower
| of 1888 the law of graVitatlOn, 1t was
/ claimed by scientists, probably aided the
mixing of affairs, and a greater shower
than usual fell. The meteOrs in move
I ment appear to be bodies of various
sizes aggregated in Il great stream mil
| hons of miles long and having an orbit
like any of the planets. The August
! stream Is said to be 100000 900 of miles
/ long, and the November stream Is OF
unknown extent. Owing TO the burning,
caused by the friction which the earth's
! atmosphere involves to foreign bodies
plungfng through it at a tremen-
dous rate. few of these sO-called
meteors ever reach the surface
that are larger, when found, than an
apple. They are set on fire and burned
up in falling, and most of them fall in I'M
/ noticed ashes or ''insteric dust" Now
/ and then big one is found. Me-
! teors weighing five tons have
| fallen upon the earth, and perhaps
some of more stupendous dimensions than
any one now imagines. All have semi
vitreOus, iron-stone character. Untold
millions and billions of these meteors
were visibly on fire in the air and falling
| in a rain of fire in the dark hours before
the dawn on the 18TH of November, 1888.