The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1885-08-29
FAMOUS DARK DAYS.
The End Of the World Supposed to
Be at Hand.
Strange RECOMMENDATIONS of Man and
Beast-The Blood Rains-Red, Blue
and Yellow Snow-The Green
Rains, Etc.

81 went through a curious expert
ence lately" said steamboat man to
the writer. Business took me to a
small town in Louisiana, and remained
there all night, and on turning in at
the small hotel I told the porter to call
me at eight sharp, and left the blind
open, so that should be sure and not
oversleep. A few hours, as l thought,
later, was aroused by some one
pounding on my door, and l soon
recognized the boys voice, saying it
was time to get up. 1T can't be more
than FOUR | sung out, for it's as dark
as pitch. It's eight, all de same,
yelled the boy; and l reckon de SUMS
dun gone out, an de worl's a comm
to an end;' and them" continued the
speaker, II heard yells and groans all
about, and l can tell you l wasn't long
in getting into my buds, and when l
got down stairs there was curious
scene. All the lamps were lighted and
the rooms were full of negroes, all a
yelling and groaning that the end had
come. The white folks didn't look
much more cheerful, for it did look
kind of queer, as out of doors, where
the sun, by good rights, ought to have
been three hours high, it was as black
as the ace of spades-not an ordinary
night black, but something worse-so
that it seemed like a regular fog, and
people got lost and ran into fences and
the Ike. ltlasted for about four hours,
and then, having scared the people half
to death, it began to let up, and finally
the sun came out. 1t was what they
called dark day, and, although there
were plenty of theories proposed, /
doubt if any exactly hit the mark"
FAMOUS DARK DAYS.
The Louisiana dark day is by no
means the first that has visited the
country. In an old journal dated
August 9, 1882, there is a note concern
ing dark day in New England: cat
twelve o'clock, when people began to
go to dinner, it suddenly grew dark.
Chickens went to roost, and few per-
sons returned to their stores, and uni
versal alarm was felt The gloom
lasted well into the afternoon, clearing
away before shutdown, however, as if to
show that that luminary was still in ex-
istence." In very early times dark
in England in the year 1878 was Justly
famous. In 1907 and 1916 England
had similar visitation. In early days
these occurrences were supposed to
precede disaster of some kind, as war,
plague, or something of that nature.
In October, 1888, the sunlight was shut
off over greater part of Canada so
quickly that the inhabitants in many
towns were panic-stricken, and num-
Der of persons were injured by losing
their way and falling over cliffs, etc.
In this case the darkness was followed
by hurricane that caused great dam
age throughout the country. During
the war of 1912 remarkable dark day
was experienced in London, and in the
succeeding year the darkness came fol
several days in succession, so thai
lamps were useful, and business was
almost completely at stand-still
This display was followed by terrible
snow-storm and a winter remarkable
for its severity. Probably the most re
markable dark era, especially so for the
Wilderness of its range, was that which
appeared over New England. Maine
and New Hampshire felt it the most
but it was universal over all the States
In the Connecticut Legislature one o
the speakers was quoting from the Bib,
the line referring to seeing Through /;
glass darby" when, like a shot, they
were left in darkness. black, ominou
clouds seemingly settling down owe
the locality. The speaker, it is said
pointed to the great window anC
remarked: lit is rarely that we hav'
an example better than can be founC
in the Bible, and l move we adjourn
and go out and see it," and, as tn
House was in almost total darkness,
adjourned. Candles were lighted a
this time all over New England, an,
the superstitious were positive that tn
end had come. A peculiar feature o
these dark spells was that they wer
all remarkable for a peculiar hue o
tint that pervaded them. Thus tn
fog, if it can so be called, that sprear
over New England had remarkabl