Telegram-herald., 1890-09-02
TURNED TO STONE.
A srranxs Spory rom Claiborns
County, Tennessee.
4. r<sx ers<a Clss4 Passes over ths Lea
s.ail~t CoaaEry sn1 fstrsEes uess ss
wssl - /. Ftstd - Cera - Tie
rara ~ the ssss0a-

u.st--o IA +--N ~@1e[N- tk4A ~ j
claiberns CoGnty, TeIn-s are excited /
over : remarkable occi1rrenee Nhieh (
t,sk plaea tAsre not leng ago. IL Is enc /
~ 5hs uoss narseloUs occurrences ever 4
heard u. And it VIII prove 20 - prob !
lem over xhich scientac usnds nay
wrestls f0r some time 70 cone
Eagar Ramsey is farmer who lives
eve nailes non Lick Skillet. He ar
rived Ia Niddaesb0ro recently. The story
he tod w0sId nos 6nd believers AZ f-st,
bur sincs then it hss beea prosen thai
he has sold nothing bar the truth. his
statement IS thus reported ~ = co-re-
spondent 0f the -. Louis Giobe-Deno-
efag.
LAST sunday afternoon l noticed
What appeared 70 be q large green-look-
ing cloud coming from westerly direo-
ton toward my house. IL was long
distance Of and the rain Was falling
heavily. shortly sfterward 1t became
very cold, IN fact 30 cold that ! went in
doors, lit big FIRE and put on big
heayg coat. When Ieame out again the
big green cloud was almost over the
house, and the air was Is cold as on
winter day. The wind hOwled and the
hail fell IN stones as big As eggs All
this lasted twenty minutes, and then the
sky cleared up Snd felt more like my
self again.
AN hour after was sitting with my
wife near the fire when l heard horse
galloping at full speed, and when went
out TO see who it was there stood Jake
Warren, a neighbor farmer who lives
about mile and quarter from me. He
was as pale as a ghost and was trembling
all over. 1t took him over ten minutes
TO commence 10 tell me what he had 10
say, and as he was talking / thought he
was crazy.
HE stated that biz green cloud had
come over his place, and that something
which looked like balls of fire had fallen
all around his house. He had fvo
acres OF corn growing in field next 70
the house. After the storm had cleared
away he went 10 see what damage had
been done. He saw that some corn had
been blown down, and, entering the
field, he found every stalk turned 70
stone There were two fine hogs in the
field, and they, too, were petrified and
tltIt 10 II CuI Oub VI oOAAQ AONA-
Myself and wife thought the man was
raving mad, but induced him TO remain
over till morning, when we promised TO
visit his place with him. That we did,
and what we saw will be remem-
bered 80 long as both live. There was
the corn blown down, but every stalk Of
IL was petrified. IL was not as hard as
granite, but it appeared to be more like
soft stone took my knife and cut il, and
it became powder. The ears were very
hard, and they could not be broken with
the hand The leaves were brittle, and
and ifyou struck them they would break
like glass. The hogs were there, too,
looking natural enough, but they were
as hard as stone"
! George E. Henry, Of this city, John
Rogers, Captain John 3. Hull, ex-dep-
uty marshal, and several others rode
over the mountains into Tennessee to
see for themselves if the things were
really there as represented. Captain
Hull, ex-United States deputy marshal,
makes the following statement:
''NYe went over this morning. /
( doubted the story on starting, but
I tuOuBut u u ~, any uON' VIC tOuAS
Warren's farm about seven miles from
the Gap, and there, sure enough, was
the corn-feld completely petrified. The
stalks were somewhat blown down, but
they seemed completely turned to stone.
The two hogs were there also, and they
looked like they were carved out of
rock. 1t was the strangest sight ever
saw and / can't begin to describe the
thing. There were a number of mon
guarding the field with Winchester
rifles and they wouldn't let US go into
it. They oaly let US so to the fence.
We could touch some OF the corn stalks
and could see the hogs, but the men re-
fused positively to let Us go any further
than the fence. The women wouldn't
say why they would not let people go
into the field, but presume they were
afraid people would break the corn
stalks to pieces. There was quite
crowd there looking at the thing, and
every one was thoroughly dunfounded
with what they saw
This statement is vouched for by a
number OF others, and naturally there is
considerable excitement.