The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1893-03-29
A Sublime Sight.

Hugh Hays is remarkable old gen.
tlemau, says Louisville letter to the
New York Sun He has just celebrated
bis eighty sixth birthday. and is fairly
entitled to be looked upon as an old set
tier. He came here from Pittsburg as
boy when Louisville was nothing more
than village. He is full of anecdotes
of the early days. One of his most inter-
esting "reminiscences is about the cele.
brated star shower of 1888
II distinctly remember that remarka
BILE scene.on the night of November %,
two generations ago." he said. about
O'Clock in the morning I was walked by
the. screams of frantic women and chill
dren who were pushing through the
streets. My first impression was that the
city was on fire, but when ! got outside
the house such sight as no pen can
describe was presented. 1t vas bright,
cleAr, and beautiful night with q sky
that looked as if prepared for the occa-
sion. Not cloud was visible, but it
seemed an if millions and millions of
bright stars were dartiDg with lightning
rapidiiy in all directions above US. The
city was as brilliantly lighted as if
MONDAY sun shone above.
"What added to the terror was the
fact that the Millerites had been pre-
dieting through the country that the end
of the world was at hand. Lorenzo Dow
had preached for month in this city,
his subject always being The End of
Time He told his hearers that the day
of judgment was close at hand, and that
they should be ready to say farewell
when the archangel's trumpet sounded,
for there was no telling when this might
be. No wonder that the people were
frightened at the wonderful display going
on above their heads. They were sure
the stars were falling, and they went
wild.
"The starry exhibition lasted one hour
and twenty minutes, then ceased as sud,
denly as ifa great black curtain had been
thrown across the heavens. As quickly
as you could shut off gas light the me-
teors disappeared. All was sudden dark.
ness and the scene was over. In the
meantime the doors of every house had
been thrown open, and the citizens felt
that they had been granted new lease
of life.. All the saloons kept open, and
made no charge for drinks. There were
more men drunk that night, probably,
than were ever seen in that condition in
the streets of Louisville at any time
before or since. Strange to say, men
were intoxicated who had never before
been known to touch drop of liquor.
The poor fellows thought it would be
their last night on earth, and they would
take long pull and strong pull before
being ushered into eternity. 1 shall
never forget the death like appearance
of the faces of the people that night.
Men, women, and children wore horror.
stricken expressions, and the bright light
made by the shooting stars caused their
faces to look blue as indigo. 1t was
night of fear and sublime grandeur to
the inhabitants of the city, but night of
frolicsome delight to those wandering,
flaming creatures of the air, who glided
through the ballroom of space as #
guided by the hand of God.
Captain Blair Sammons, with his new
boat, the Ben franklin, of the Louisville
and Cincinnati mail line, was caught in
the meteoric storm six miles below Mad
ison. He told me he had a hard time in
making safe landing with his boat.
The stars were so plentiful and bright
above him and their reflections in the
water around and in front of the boat
were soedazzling that the pilots were
blinded. He had hard time to keep
some of his passengers from jumping
overheard and drowning. Every one
was frightened nearly to lunacy or death,
for they thought the end of time had
come. Indeed, several deaths were caus-
ed by fright in different parts of the
country, and one of these deaths occurred
here. That was long time ago, and