Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-09-27
MIScHIEyOUs WIGGINs.
BE Retreats His Prophecy Professor
Proctor Shows Him Hin

Proctor Shows Him Up.
ST. LOUIS, September 26th.-A dispatch
from Ottawa, Ont, states that Professor
! Virgins is now claiming that he has been
misrepresented by the American press. He
, denies that be ever related to a correspond
| ent the chapter of horrors which has been
| given as incidental to the fulfillment of his
prediction for the 10Th instant. Il simply
stated the Professor said to a reporter
Yesterday. THAT the earthquake forces
| would be to the south of the goth parallel
of latitude. never ventured any predic-
tions regarding the destructive III of
the storm on that parallel at all"
A BLOODY MOON.
A dispatch from Atlanta says that citi-
zens there claim to nave seen for the past
three nights bloody lines on the face of
the moon, and that the matter has become
a subject of general M The
negroes, the dispatch says, accept it as the
ful6llment of the prophecy that there
shall be signs in the heavens before the
end of the world, which event they now
claim will take place on the 10Th instant.
PROFESSOR PROCTOR KNOCKS OUT THE SELF
NFLATED PROPHET.
ST. LOUIS, September 26th.-The English
astronomer, Richard A. Proctor, in an arti-
Gle contributed to the Globe Democrat, emit
tied "Mr. Virgins Prophecy" says: 1t
appears to me shameful that any man,
even though he may be a student of sci
ence, and therefore fully aware of the mis-
chief he is doing, should spread abroad
predictions of coming disaster of such sort
that foolish folks are likely to be disturbed
and terrified. Mr.. Virgins, a half-edu-
Gated and wholly unscientifc employee
of the Meteorological Office in Ottawa,
has long endeavored to acquire a cheap
reputation by weather predictions of that
kind which of itself assures the student of
science that the weather prophet is rather
ignorant or exceedingly knavish." After
noting several instances of the failure of
former predictions made by Virgins, " Mr..
Virgins" continues the writer, I" claims to
have predicted the earthquake of August
31st, bat truly he has so continuously
threatened storms and earthquakes that
no great disturbance of either sort
could steer clear of his predictions.
He now loudly proclaims that on
the 10Th instant there will be another
great earthquakes, one of the most terrific
subterranean upheavals ever known on this
continent. He knows that such prediction
will attract attention for q while to his
name; that if no disturbances should take
place on the 10Th, or near enough to that
date to seem like q fulfllment of his predic-
ton, the people will soon forget the failure
of his prophecy and be as ready as ever to
listen to him again. 1t may, however. be
perhaps asked whether there is not
some reason for regarding the 10Th
of September as a day OF danger. Even a
Virgins, it must be suggested, must at
least imagine reasons for his predictions,
as the Tices, the Venners, the Grimmers
and others of the mischievous tribe have
imagined for years in the past" Mr..
Proctor then goes on to show that certain
well-known astronomical facts have prob
ably induced Mr.. Virgins to make
his late predictions, one being the
slight tendency of earthquakes to increase
during the months of August and Septem-
Der, and another that earth-throeS are more
apt to occur when the moon is in, OF near
her point of nearest approach to the earth,
and in or near the line connecting the earth
and sun, than at other times The moon
will be in such position during the latter
part of the present month but such condi-
tons, Mr.. Proctor observes, occur year
after year, and the resulting earthquakes
are no more liable to occur this year than
in any September the coming century.
On the contrary, he argues that there has
already been one great earthquake, and it
is exceedingly probable that the imprisoned
forces of the earth beneath the American
continent have for a while found relief,
andthat no great earthquake will occur in
the same region for many years, possibly
not for centuries.