Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1897-09-26

then came a heavy shower Of rain. du-
ring which there was the most remark
able fail OF hail j have ever witnessed.
| hurried out in the rain 10 examine the
stones, and picked no several. THESE
were nearly square, hattish blocks. say
from :. 10 | inch In length and breadth
and from u 10 y nm inch in thickness.
They suggested. by both shape and siz-
the ordinary chocolate caramels," OF the
confectioner. There were some eight or
ten persons. l think. I'm the station-house
with me. and several OF these, observing
my interest and enthusiasm, began to
pick up the larger stones and bring them
in to me and 70 my friend Professor
larger ones were thus collected and
sought for means OF measuring or weigh
ing them. No rule or scales could be
found. and so we set ourselves, several
Of us, conformity and carefully to esti-
mate the dimensions. l recorded at the
time one as being, honestly estimated.
''2 inches long, lh inches wide, and q
OF an inch thick" these being rather the
average ihan the extreme dimensions.
II then occurred TO me TO make an out
line drawing of the largest by laying II
nat upon page OF my pocket memoran-
dunn, and carefully running a pencil
around It. ] secured. in this way, a
rather rough but fairly accurate outline
Of two. These outlines have been exactly
copied Including some lines due TO q
slipping Of the block or to a different in
clination Of the penciD, ard are given In
the accompanying cuts The extreme
lengths OF these will be found to be- re-
spectively. about 2ls and 3 inches: their
extreme breadths about ~ and inches
The thickness OF No / was recorded at
the time as being by estimate z inch;
that OF No. az being l inch. / estimate
their volumes as about H., cubic inches
for No. l. and nearly cubic inches for
No 2. The drawing OF No. 2 was done
more hastily, as just in the midst OF 1t
my train rushed In, and l had 10 leave
But | took my trophy with me and with
perhaps pardonabe enthusiasm. paraded
II through the cars, and, exhibiting II 10
the passengers asked expressions of opin-
Ions from them as 10 It's size, relatively
10 that OF a popular object OF comparison
guinea egg. Perhaps twenty or thirty
passengers agreed, without dissent, that
IL was as large or larger. Some said
III is as large as hens egg" All agreed
also, that they had never seen so large
hailstone before. Upon breaking IL to
pieces found a sort of nucleus, OF some
what less transparent ice at the centre
but observed no concentrtc layers or other
marked structure OF any kind: it was
quite SOLID ana tolerably transparent
throughout Both OF these stones were
characterized by blunt points or projec-
tons. as shown in the figures: and the
sides. also, while fiat I'm the main were
uneven, with low, rounded elevations and
depreSsions OF the same sort the general
thickness being fairly uniform.
i think that very few OF these stones or
blocks fell. Perhaps they would have
been yard or two apart as they lay on
the ground. | think IT likely also that the
storm Of hail was OF brief duration. say
10 or Is minutes, and that 1t embraced a
very limited area.
1t was, perhaps. about over when 1 took
the train, as | infer from the fact that /
have seen no account Of il in the papers:
and | found at the next station. only five
miles off. that the road was dry ana
dusty.
regret exceedingly that no more accu-
rate observations seem 10 have been