Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1892-08-18

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ern limb Of the planet. There was
no mistake about these lights. They
were seer for four nights in C
sion, so it was impossible that they
could have been produced by cOndi-
tiOns OF the earthly or Marsian
atmosphere, or have ben optical
decisions of any kind. When first
seen at the Lick observatory these
lights in a triangle so aStOnished the
astronomers that they believed them
to be the effect of light uncohnected
with the planet. They. therefore,
with true astronomical caution,
waited until the following night
before deyoting much thought to the
lights. On the second night, however,
which was even more clear and bril-
liant than the first, the lights were
seen TO be there when the great pol
ished lens was turned upon the orb
which had stepped to its place in the
sky. And the lights suddenly went
out, though, at different times Of the
four nights when they were seen. 1t
almost seemed as if they were sup
piled by an electric current and as if
the current had becn shut of, so sud-
denly did they disappear.
Amusement struck the observers
when first the lights went out. Then
they reflected that, of course, the
lights we're some atmospheric effect
on the rim of Mars and the very fact
of their strange disappearance tended
to prove this. The next night, how
ever, the three strange lights flashed
out in the same place as soon as the
darkness had set in, and after show
ing steadily for a few hours they van
ished. For two succeeding evenings
after that these lights were observed
burning steadily, brilliantly and
effulgently, as if from three mountain
tops. 1t was evident that the lights
were placed upon either mountains in
Mars or artificial projections or ele-
~vations of some kind. Now here is
the way the astronomical mind looks
at a discovery like this. The chief
astronomer at the Lick observatory.
writing in the New York World Of
this extraordinary revelation, says:
Apparently these projections arise
from very bright regions on the
planet. Whetherthe are mountains
or are due to some other phenomena
1t is now impossible to say What
does he mean by ''other phenomena
as a possible cause for these three
lights? There are no such vague and
elusive terms known to astronomical
science. Everything there is exact
and definite, and there are distinct
scientific names for every phase of
nature as it appears among the stars
and planets. When, therefore, the
astronomers talk officially of "other
phenomena" it shows that they are
talking about something hitherto
unknown in astronomy. Certainly
the appearance of these lights raises
a presumption in the minds of ordi-
nary men, as well as those of the
astronomers, that the neighborly
planet may be inhabited. Another
strange thing has been discovered in
Mars, and is reported officially by the
Lick observatory. Last night on
the south polar cap very complex and
numerous dark markings were WISH
bic. The unique spectacle of mark
lngs in the 10Y caps has been noted
not only with the large telescope, but
als) with the twelve-inch by Barnard,
who some time ago observed that on
one night, a dark streak would apnear
across the polar cap, and then would
follow a separation, and then the dis
appearance of a large portion of the
polar cap, leaving two white streaks."
These strange appearances or "mark-
ings," as the California astronomers
put 1T, were W seen by human eve.
Now they move about, playing con-
stantly over the nov cap of the
south pole, but not so fast that the
eye OF the astronomer cannot follow
them. Sometimes the long black
lines over the frozen surface remain
liked i N one position for hours il not
for days. Then they are seen to move
to some other place, or one or two
VIII disappear together. Apparently
those black streaks which move so
m~ysteriously, yet with a seeming
method, over the frozen polar plains,
concentrate at the pole itself. Now,
what does this mean? Are the peo-
pie up in Mars trying to signal the
people in our larger world? These
moving lines over the frozen polar
country of Mars have never been seen
before. And what of the three LIGHTS
placed so as TO form a perfect triangle
that burned for a while and then
went out and flashed up again, finally
going out altogether? Is Mars inhab-
tied? The astronomers tell us that
Mars is a planet very like our own.
OF ly somewhat smaller. 1t has an
atmosphere and seasons. There is
what resembles snow at the noles
They say it is older than the earth.
If it is not inhabited, why not, and
OF what other purpose can It be? II
is possible that the people up there
have advanced so far beyond sin
astronomical investigation as to
know that this world is inhabited
and are trying to talk with us by
neal of signals? One thing is Ger
tain, and that is that astronomers
are not the only people interested in
Mars.
1t is expected that President
Dueber, of the Dueber Watch Case