The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-07-21
CELESTIAL VISITOR
Is WIDELY NOTICED
Meteorite Causes Minneapolis
to See Things and Police.
man to Sidestep

1 An aerolite meteorite or uranolith-
whatever you please to call it-fell
near the Twin Cities and Saltwater
| early yesterday morning. Shortly be-
| fore 1 o'clock at ST. Paul this fragment
| from another world suddenly illumi-
| mated earth and sky with a dazzling
greenish glare. So swiftly fell the
rocket from space that the few local
observers saw nothing but a blazing
| greenness. Of sudden the sky was
| all afame. A second later the blue
black heavens were serene and the
/ modest stars were tWinlding.
| Il suppose it will be like that when
the earth comes to an end" remarked
a pessimistic luncher at the window
of Robert street cafe. But he'd been
! eating toasted cheese.
Enough not many residents could
say, yesterday morning that they were
lucky enough to be watching the
northern skies when the heaven
stone came down, considerable
indirectly. That is, they were startled
by the abrupt flashing of a silvery
green light across the floor or ceiling.
Such observers, of course, were not
half blinded by the direct glare. They
were able to estimate better the size
of the burning ball. Several of them
| thought it glowed in outline as if it
were an irregular mass about two feet
| in diameter
Some persons, including Severinus
| Corrigan, the local astronomer, heard
well defined sound of rumbling, a
thunder-like echo, at least one minute
| after the blaze had passed.
Minneapolis Sees Things
Minneapolis saw as much as ST.
Paul. and more. Indeed, if published
reports are trustworthy, Minneapolis
acquires preternatural vision after
midnight-sees strange things and is
oppressed with strange desires. Thus
| group of Minneapolitans standing
near Third avenue south and Seventh
/ street not only heard "a harsh kissing
| sound as the aerolite descended. but
took the pains to observe that "all the
light and noise" came from a fiery
! sphere about as big as a football
Not content with reducing to it's true
compass this celestial football, big
enough to startle all the country for
fifteen miles round about the well
poised, temperate South siders saw
the ball descend through the branches
| of a tree" a few rods distant.
| 'The ball separated on striking the
earth, and all that could be seen was a
| shower of sparks" There was also "a
| faint explosion.
But Minneapolis was not satisfied.
! Having seen something it made grab
| for it. Those standing near the cor
! ner quickly recovered from their sur
| prise, and made a scramble to secure
pieces of the terrestrial (celestiaD WISH
tor" Naturally enough, they We're
unsuccessful
st. Paul did not take the aerolite
into its midst This city did not APP
propriate the phenomenon nor paw
| about in adjacent. grass for souvenirs
| of heavenly jetsam that had lighted up
| three counties.
Policeman Sdesteps
At Saltwater the meteor was seen
by more than one who CHANGED to walk
the night. Capt. Roland F. Barnes, of
| the Saltwater police, said that the
town became suddenly las bright as
midday" "The shooting-star or what
ever it was,' he added, dropped ap-
parently from the center of the heaV :
| ems. | found myself 'side-stepping,' I
| was so startled. But it never touched
me. I couldn't say how big it was. 1t
looked as big as the sky"
Among the best Informed of the local
observers is Mr.. Corrigan. He was
asleep when the meteorite fell, but with
fine astronomical instinct he aWoke
| while the glare was still filing his bed
room window.
The light had a greenish hue" said
| Mr.. Corrigan last night, and was very
| bright. First 1 thought it was light
ming but the peculiar color and the eX-
| pansive glow convinced me it was
something else, even before L had time
| to look out at the clear sky. About a
| minute after the light faded l heard a
hollow roar in the distance like the
noise of an explosion. I'm inclined to
think that the aerolite exploded.
| Not having seen the body fall, and
having no definite knowledge, SO far, of
its appearance from a scientific view
point, l am not able to conjecture much
as to it's nature, size or distance.
Green Glow Shows Iron
But these bodies consist either OF
stone or metal They often include
glow 1 should suspect that this one was
composed of meteoric iron, though
can't speak with chemists knowledge
| of the case.
'The small meteors are extremely
numerous. Set on fire by the friction
caused by passing through our atmos-
phere, they burn up long before they
| strike the earth. In a single average
| night, dark but clear, it has been cal
culated as many as 100000 of these
| little stones may be seen by an observer
| with an active neck.
| Inc larger ones, lhOSe a part Oh
| which, in each case, reach the earth
are called meteorites. Less than 60C
have been recorded since the earliest
times and only $50 in the United
| States. A good part of these large ones
| is always burned away. Sometimes
| the meteorite eXplodes and breaks into
| big or little fragments.
They Sometimes Explode
Sometimes one explodes and is scat
| tered in dust. Only occasionally does
a big fragment or nucleus bury itself in
the earth, though some have beer
found that weigh hundreds of pounds
If the body that fell last night was
far distant, it must fave been very
large. If it was close to the city, il
may have been small enough to have
|, been entirely burned before touching
the earth. But as it was apparently
as bright in Saltwater as it was il
Minneapolis, thirty miles away,
should imagine that it was a meteor OF
remarkable size. We may hope that
part of it will be discovered.
when 1 opened my eyes was not
of course, sufficiently wide awake tt
make reliable guess of time. But
, so far as 1 can recall at least one min
ute elapsed after the light vanished
!, before 1 heard the rumbling sound L
l am not mistaken as to the time, anG