Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1890-08-24
PETRIFIED PIGS.
THEY STAND IN A FIELD FULL OF
PETRlFlED CORN.
Marvellous Effect OF the Passage of
Green Cioud-A Strange Story That
ia Amply youched For.
IGlohc-Democratl

The people in The eastern portion OK
Claiborne county. Tenn. are excited over
a remarkable occurrence which took place
there on Sunday evening last. II IS one o.
the most marvellous occurrences ever heard
Of. and it will prove to be q problem over
which scientific minds may wrestle for
some time 20 come.
Edgar Ramsey is farmer who lives Eve
miles from Lick Skillet. lie arrived IN
MiddlesbOrough yesterday afternoon. inc
story he told would not find believers at
first but since then it has been proven
that he mas told nothing but the trulh.
His statement Is a. follows:
Last Sunday afternoon ] noticed whaJ
appeared TO be large green-lc0king clou1
coming from a westerly direction toward
my house. 1t was a long distance on ana
the rain was falling heavily. shorty
afterwnrd il became very cOld-ln fact 80
cold that / went indoors, lit big FIRE, anu
put on my big heavy coat. When came
out again the big green cloud was almost
over the house, and the air was a. colo IS
on q winter day. | watched the cloud TOT
2 few minutes, and then hail commenced
falling and | was forced 10 60 indoors
apain. Inside of half an hour II became "a
dark as night. and | never telt so funny
and heavy in all my life before. The. WIND
howled and the hail fell in stones a. big a.
eggs. An this lasted twenty minutes, ana
then the sky cleared up and felt more
like myself again.
STRANGE TALE.
"An hour later was sitting with my
wife near the fire. when heard the gallop-
ing of "a horse coming at full speed, ana
when | went ont TO see who It was there
stood Jake Warren, neighhor farmer who
L.. y n ..Trrte - f.
He was as pale as ghost ana was treln-
bling all over. II took him over ten
minutes 20 commence 10 tell mo what no
had 20 say and as he was taking Thought
he was crazy.
"He stated that a big green cloud had
come over his place. and that something
which looked like balls of fire had fallen
all around his house. He had I'VE acres
Of corn growing IN n field next TO the
house. After the storm had cleared away
he went 20 see what damage had been
done. He saw that some corn had been
blown down, and entering the field he
found every stalk had been turned
TO stone. There were two fine hogs
IN the field and they, too, were pctrlled
and standing there as If cut out OF sOhd
rock. Myself and wife thought the man
was raviug mad. but induced him 10 re-
main = oil morning, when we promised
.isit his place with him. That we did,
aud what we saw Will be remembered so
long as both live. There was the corn
blown down, but every stalk OF II was
petrlGed. II was not as hard as granite,
but il appeared TO be more like soft stone.
/ took my knife and cut 1t and II became
powder. The ears were very hard, ana
they could not bo broken with the hand.
The leaves were brittle and if YOU struck
them they would break like glass. The
hogs were there. too, looking natural
enough. but they, too, were as haId as
stone"
GUARDED BY wTNCHEsTFRs
Yesterday afternoon George j.. Henry, Of
this city, John Rogers Captain John IS:
Hull, ex-deputy marshal, and several
others rode over tho mountains INTO len
nessee To see for themselves If tho things
were really there as represented. Captain
Hull. cx-Cnited States deputy marshal,
makes the following statement:
" We went over this morning. | doubted
tho story on starting. but thought ia
try IL anyhow We found Narren,s farm
about seven miles from theIap, and there.
sure enough. was the cOrn-teld completely
petrifed. 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. 10 was the strangest
sight | ever saw and ] can't begin
to describe the thing. There were q
number of men guarding tho field with
Winchester rifles, and they wouldn't let us
60 INTO 1t. They only let Us 90 20 the fence.
We could touch some Of the corn-stalks
and could see the hogs, but the men re-
fused positively 10 LET us 20 any tnrther
than the fence. The men wouldn't say
WHY they would not let people 80 into the
field. but presume they were afraid peo-
ple would break the corn-stalks to pieces.
There was quite a crowd there looking at
the thing. aud every one was thoroughly
dumfounded with what they saw
This statement is vouched for 10y num-
Der of others, and naturally there IS con-
siderable excitement. Every horse in the
valley has been engaged for the next seye-
raj days by parties who intend TO visit the
place.