The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1894-08-02
A MEMORABLE DAY.
The Earth Enveloped in a Mys-
terious Darkness
sases and Scientists Alike at Fault for
an Explanation of the Phenomenon
Which Filled the People
with Terror.

England May 10, 1871. That day, says
a writer in the Chicago Times, made a
more profound impressi on, has been
more written and talked about, than
all the auroras, comets and meteoric
showers within the last Ave centuries.
The great astronomer Herschel placed
it in the domain of the unexplainable.
So pronounced was the darkness that
settled down over the earth that fowls
went to their roosts, horses and cattle
showed distress, dogs whined, and
thousands of persons anticipated the
dawn of doom. The great colonial
struggle for American independence
was still in progress, the federal union
was not yet established; there was
that chaotic state that generally pre-
cedes great changes, and there was
considerable rancor in the minds of the
people.
Patriot and royalist each regarded
the ominous sky and the threatening
gloom as the evidence of Heavens dis
pleasure against the other, and the
general conclusion was that the i'm
pending mystery would eliminate in
the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah. The
ignorant gave way to. all sorts of gro
tesque conjectures, and the few pro
founder minds We're unable to advance
any rational explanation of the very
unusual occurrence.
The legislature of Connecticut was
in session on this ill-omened day, and
most of the members made no secret
of their belief that now had come the
great day foretold in the apocalyptic
vision. A member got up and pro-
posed adjournment The matter being
open for discussion a legislator named
Davenport arose and said:
MIR. Speaker, it is either the day of
Judgment or it is not. If it is not there
is no need of adjournment; if it is, de-
sire to be found doing my duty. Let
candles be brought and let business
continue"
But the motion to adjourn was deci-
sively carried, and the lawmakers who
fashioned the laws for the ''men of
steady habits went forth from their
chamber to gaze at the weird and SOM
Der sky.
1t was Friday and the intensity be-
gan soon after ten o'clock a. m. and
continued till past the middle of the
following night. The wind was from
the southwest, and the darkness seemed
to come with it from that direction. 1t
soon became too dark to read common
print readily, and candles were lighted
in order to attend to household duties.
After a time the breeze subsidized; q
dead calm followed and added to the
solemnity. The darkness was all over
New England, westward as far as AL
bany, N. ", souunward along the coast
of Maryland, South Carolina and
Georgia, and northward as far as any
L
Elements.
Nothing was known beyond these
boundaries, but there is reason to be-
lieve that much greater area was in
volved.
Prof. Williams, of Harvard college,
was indefatigable in observing, collect
ing and recording reports of the condi-
tions attending this phenomenon, and
to him the credit is due for the data
from which it is possible to deduce the
causes of this soul-harrowing dark day.
Mr.. Williams professed himself unable
to offer any solution, but this was prob
ably owing to the lack of knowledge
of the physical interior of this great
country and its sometimes peculiar re-
lationship to current meteorology.
All was black as primeval night
when chaos ruled the world and sun
and stars were as inky spots in the
heavens.
And now we come to the key that
unlocl1s the mental situation and it be-
comes clear what it was that stood in
the way of an understanding of this
mystery. Innumerable were the gro
tesque and irrational hypothesis that
were advanced from which their advo-
Gates endeavored to find the solution of
this extraordinary occurrence.
An eclipse of the sun was claimed,
but as the moon was near it's 'Efull'' and
probably one hundred and eighty de-
grees out of solar line from the earth
such condition was physically impos-
sible. A transit of.Venus or some other
celestial body across the SUMS disc had
advocates. Men of grave demeanor
contended that a star had caught fire
and started a conf1agration of the
heavens. or the sun had expired, hence
the residuum of smoke and ashes.
There had been immense land fires,
where there was no one to report, COW
ering perhaps many hundreds if not
thousands of square miles, probably
famed by brisk gales, the vapor and
sooty substances taken up by ascend
ing CuIrcnOS from Cne neaIeQ SURFACE
and loaded on favoring breezes to be
waited over the land of the pilgrims
and, as it CHANGED, to be air-dammed
with the results narrated. This con-
tinued until the barriergave way, when
the vapor soon dispersed.
The great middle and western states
have time and again had this smolzi-
ness, which no one now thinks of re-
garding as supernatural. The only un-
usual feature of this occasion was the
unusual combination of conditions.
This, in brief, is the explanation of
the wonderful dark day.