Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-09-11

that, in their infaItile glee, they jumped :
feet III inches from the earth to the top OF
our heads merely to show how the game of
leap frog should be played. They came from
above, In company with the rain, and this
fact was made cleal by holding out the hand
and seeing them fal upon it, as well as find
ing them upon our hat rims"
RARING FISH
10 judge from number of instances re-
lated In Chambers Book of Days. it would
seem that the cases of fish falls, In the old
country, at least, OF tnumber those of frogs
to a considerable legree. On the 18th of
April, is2s, Maj Mackenzie, of Rosshire,
while walking In field on his farm, saw a
great portion of the ground covered with
herring fry three u four inches in length,
fresh and entire. The spot was all of three
miles from the Firth of Dingweu About two
years later, in the Island of ISlay, in Argyle
shire, after n day of very heavy rain, the in
habitants were surprised to find large num-
Der Of fresh herrings strewn over their fields
More recently a Wick newspaper stated that
one morning a large quantity of the same
species of fish were found scattered In a gar
den In that town These, it is stated. the
peasants cooked and ate, though not without
misgivings as to the possibility of some sa-
tanic agency having been concerned in trans
ferring them to such a spot
One OF the most curious instances of this
nature is related by IN English officer, who,
while residing in Calcutta, saw IA quantity of
live fish descend In a heavy shower of rain
The most strange thing that struck me In
connection with this event, said the officer,
was that the fish dill not fall helter SHELTER,
everywhere, or here and there, but in an
even, straight line, u IT more than a cubit In
breadth" OF all remarkable events of this
character, however, the most sensational
was the famous kentucky meat shower
which mystified so many people some twenty
years ago. This wss at first regarded by
many as "A hoax. but was found to be a veri
table occurrence, Tough hardly susceptible
Of thoroughly satisfactory explanation
This flesh fall" took place on the farm of a
MIR. Crouch, which was in a spot surrounded
10y high hills and mountains, in Bath county,
Ky. This account, given by Mrs Crouch,
was substantially as follows:
KENTUCKY STORY
Between Ii and 10 O'Clock 1 was in my
yard, not more thar forty steps from the
house. There was light wind coming from
the west, but the sky was clear and the sun
was shining brightly. Without any prelude
or warning of any kind, and exactly under
these circumstances, the shower commenced
The fall was of not less than one nor mora
than two minutes duration When the flesh
began to fall | saw large piece strike the
ground close by me- with a swapping like
noise when 1t struck. / was impressed with
the conviction that it was a miracle or a
warning. The largest piece that saw was
as long as my hand and about half an inch
wide. 1t looked gristly, as If it had been
torn from the throat O. some animal Another
piece that saw was alf round in shape and
about the size of a half dollar"
An old hunter, residing in the neighbor-
hood, on being shown a piece of the flesh de
clared it to be bear N eat, and stated that it
had that uncommonly greasy feel" peculiar
to the flesh Of that an NAL A butcher who
was persuaded to TASTE the meat changed his
mind about swallowing any of it, and de-
clared that it tasted neither like flesh fish or
fowl 1t looked to hin like mutton, but the
smell was "a new one. Some of the meat was
quite dry, and there 81 emed to be a fine, wool
like fiber running through it. A great deal
of the flesh was sent to chemists and others in
various parts Of the country, and analyses
we're made by several well known scientists.
Professor j. L. Smith was at first inclined to
pronounce it the dried spawn of frogs, but as
it was found under the microscope to pos
sess undoubted characi eristics peculiar TO the
fesh Of animals, this theory was abandoned.
Perhaps the most reas enable explanation is
that Of Professor Peter, Of Lexington, KY,
who believed the fall OF flesh 10 be simply the
result Of kind Of pot-prandial disgorging
by flock Of buzzards who had been feasting
themselves more undantly than wisely on
the carcass Of a sheep. This is the simplest,
and, perhaps, after all, the most satisfactory
explanation that can b. given of the supposed
miracle.
OF showers of insects there are a few In
stances on record, and it is undoubtedly true
that the 20 called CO ored rain and snow
storms are In many Ct ses caused by minute
insects and shells of inf usoria carried into the
by the wiids--St. Louis Globe
Democrat