The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1885-06-24
IS0ME FAMOUS DARK DAYS.
SUPPOSED TO USHER IN THE END
OF TaE WORLD.
Lamps Lighted in NTfdday-Strange
PhenOmcna-Ncv and Old Exli1bfs


OF TaE WORLD.
Lamps lighted in Midday Strange
PhenOmcna-Ncw and Old Exhlbis
tions-Colorcd Rain and Snow.
~ went through curious experience
lately" said n 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 l told the porter to call me at
eight sharp, and left the bliud open, so
that should be sure and not oversleep.
A few hours, as I thought, later, was
aroused by some one pounding on my
door, and soon recognized the boys
voice, saying it was time to get up. It
can't be more than FOUR I sung out,
for it's as dark as pitch It's eight,
all de same yelled the boy; an de
worl's coming to an end,
and then," continued the speaker,
~ heard yells and groans all about,
and can tell you I wasn't long in get.
ting into my duds, and when got down
stairs there was q curious scene. ALL
the lamps were lighted, and the rooms
were full of negroes, all 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 tho 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 9
regular fog, and people got lost and ran
into fences and the like. It lasted 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 il any exactly hit the
mark"
The Louisiana dark day is by no
means the first that las visited the
country. In an old journal dated Aug
ust Q, 1882, there is a note concerning
dark day in New England: "At twelve
o'clock, when people began to 60 to
dinner, it suddenly grew dark. Chickens
went to roost, and few persons returned
to their stores, and universal alarm was
felt. The gloom lasted well into the
afternoon, clearing away before sun
down, however, as 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 1915
England had 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, and
q 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 1912 remarkable dark day
was experienced in London, and in the
succeeding year the darkness came for
several days in succession, so that lamps
were useless, and business vas almost
completely at o stand-still. The display
was followed by q terrible snow
storm and q winter remarkable for
its severity. Probably the most remarka.
BILE dark era, especially so for the wide
ness of its range, was that which ap-
peared over New England. Maine and
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 shot, they were
left in darkness, black, ominous clouds
seemingly settling down over the locali-
ty. The speaker, it is said, pointed to
| the great window and remarked: SIT is
rarely that we have an example bettor
than can be found in tho Bible, and I
move we adjourn andgo out and see it,"
and, as the house was in almost total
darkness, it adjourned. Candles were
lighted at this time all over New Eng
land, and the superstitious were positive
that Ihe end had come. A peculiar fea-
ture Of these dark spells was that they
were all remarkable for peculiar hue or
tint that pervaded them. Thus the fog.
if it can so be called, that spread over
New England had q remarkably brassy
hue, that gave all objects spec.
trail 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
full dark fog that fell like a pail over
England and other parts of Europe in
1888 is described as having decided
blue tint. On other occasions the tint
has been red, gray or purple. One Of
the most remarkable "blue days" on
record was noticed a few years ago in
South America, and in some towns,
where the houses were pure white, they
gave an extremely rich blue reflection of
many different shades. The great ex-
tent of these periods of darkness is diff
cult to explain. 81.
It has been found that vast amounts
of organic and inorganic matter are al.
ways floating about in space, aud it has
been assumed that at times great bodies
of dust are swept into the air-quitc
enough, in fact, to occasion series of
dark days under the locality where the
dust was held suspended in the air.
What are known as cred snow,"
''blood rains" and ether phenomena in
Europe are merely the result of the pre-
cipitation OF this matter to the ground.
They were even more dreaded in early
times than the dark days, and the people
of the time fully believed that blood
had fallen from the sky. A blood rain
according to Pliny, fell in CONSTANT.
nople in the year $50. At Brixan there
was a similar fall in 500; at Bagdad in
920; at Viterbo in 1919; in Bohemia in
1419; in Westphalia in 1543; at Emden
in 1866; at Strasburg in 1923; Brussels,
1910, and at Venice in 1857. Other fa-
nous blood rains occurred at Genoa in
1744; at Clcves, 1868; Picardy, 1855;
Italy, 1903, and at Glessen in 1921. In
the records of all these rains there are
accounts of the terror of the people, who
firmly believed that some terrible vista
ton was about to occur, and, indeed,
they were not agreeable to the eye. The
snow that was pure white in the evening
would, in the following morning, have
changed to rich blood-red, so that the
entire country looked as though it had
coating of blood. In the slang of to-day
the world was "painted red." The
cause of the peculiar color was explained
bv the fact that tons Of dust had fallen.
and the rcd hue was the natural tint OF
peroxide of iron. Nor was the color of
these rains confined to red. In 1S46
yellow rain fell in France. and so alarmed
all the inhabitants that it is said that
wild animals took to the towns, and ut
tc-ly lost their fear of man. This rain is
said to have originated in South Amer
ica, and Ehrcnberg estimated that hun
drcds of tons of organic matter was de.
positcd about the surrounding country.
| This must have crossed the Atlantic in
some extremely high current. The yell
low pollen of plants at times causes what
is known as yellow fog, and that this
coloring agent is carried along through
the air great distances the writer can