Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1885-06-02
SOME FAMOUS DARK DAYS,
SUPPOSED 70 usmER ~ IHu EnD
or THE WORLD.
Ksmmpa lighted Ina Midday STRANGE
Eshemomrmn-Ncsw and Oaa ExhfDi-
efoms-Colorea ngafm and snow.

A0D8-~0A0EGA hk1Am ana SNOW
II went through curious experience
lately, said steamboat man TO the
writer. Business took me to q small
town in Louisiana, and remained there
all night, and on turning il at the small
hotel told the porter to call me at
eight sharp, and left tho blind open. so
that should be sure and not overslCep.
A few hours. as / thought, later, was
aroused BY some one pounding on my
door, and soon recognized the boys
voice, saying IL was time to get up. IL
can't be more than four, / sung out,
for it's as dark Is pitch. Its eight,
all do same, yelled the boy; an de
worl's coming to an ends'
and then, continued the speaker,
II heard yells and groans all about,
and can tell you / wasn't long in get
ting into my duds, and when got down
stairs there was curious scene AL
the lamps were lighted, and the rooms
were full Of negroes, all q yelling and
grooming that the end had come. The
white folks didn't look much more
cheerful, for it did look kind of queer,
rs 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 some
thing worse so that it seemed like q
regular fog, and people got lost and ran
into fences and the like. IL lasted for
about four hours, and then, having
scared the people half TO death, il 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.
The Louisiana dark day is by no
means the first that has visited the
country. In an old journal dated Aug
ust 0, 1882, there is note concerning q
dark day in New England "At twelve
o'clock, when people began to go TO
dinner, il suddenly grew dark Chickens
went to roost, and few persons returned
to their stores, and universal alarm was
felt. The gloom lasted we'll into the
afternoon, clearing away before sun
down, however, rs If to show that that
luminary was still in existence" In very
early times dark days have been recorded,
and the one in England in the year 1878
was justly famous. In 1907, and 1916
England had q similar visitation. In
early days these occurrences were sup.
posed 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. ana
d number of persons were injured by
losing their way and falling over cliffs.
etc. In this case the darkness was fol
lowed by hurricane that caused great
damage throughout the country. During
the war Of 1919 remarkable dark day
was experienced Id London, and in the
succeeding year the darkness came for
several days in succession, so that lamps
were useless, and business was almost
completely at stand-still. The display
was followed by terrible snow
storm and a winter remarkable for
its severity Probably the most remarka-
bic dark era, especially so for the wide
ness of its range, was that which APP
peared over New England. Maine aud
New Hampshire felt it the most, but it
was universal all over the States In the
Connecticut legislature one of the speak
ers was quoting from the Bible the line
referring to seeing Through glass
darkly, when, like a shot. they were
left in darkness, black, ominous clouds
seemingly settling down over the locaIi-
ty. The speaker, it is said. pointed to
the great window and remarked: ut is
rarely that we have an example better
than can be found in the Bible, and
move we al journ and go out and see it, .
-. -.
darkness, it adjourned. Candles were
lighted ut this time all over Now Eng
aud, and the superstitious were positive
hat the end had come. Al peculiar fea-
.urc of these dark spells was that they
were all remarkable for peculiar hue or
tint that peryadcd them. Thus the fog.
f it can so be called, that spread over
New England had remarkably brassv
hue, that gave oil objects spec
fral appearance, while some OBJ
servers stated that every
thing had a yellow tint, and claimed
that there was an odor of sulphur. This
same hue was noticed by the writer some
years since on the Maine coast, and was
supposed to be due to forest fires. that
filed the air with smoke The wonder
A0A 0OAN AOfs tAAfte TIL AAhC u N1lA ONGt
England and other parts Of Europe in
17Sa is described as having decided
blue tint. On other occasions the tint
has been red, gray or purple. one OF
the most remarkable "bIue days'' on
record was noticed few years ago in
South America. and in some towns.
whe the houses were pure white. they
gave an extremely rich blue reflection 81
many different shades The great ex-
tent of these periods Of darkness is din
cult to explain.
] as been found that vast amounts
Of organic and inorganic matter arc al
ways floating about in space. and It has
been assumed that at times great bodies
Of dust arc swept into the air-auitc
enough, in fact, 70 occasion 4 series Of
dark days nader the locality where the
dust was held suspended in the air.
WHAT are known as :. red snow.
s'blood rains" and Their phenomena II
e .r0pe are merely the result fhe nrp.