Los Angeles herald., 1906-07-05
METEORITE FALLS
IN ST. LOUIS YARD
SIX WITNESSES AVER STONE
BURNED TEN MINUTES
Water Failed to oueneh the Hlsslnu
Heavenly Fragment, lts
Light Illuminating the
Surroundings
Special to The Herald

Special tn The Herald
ST. LOUIS. Mo-, July 4.-Durins a
storm last night meteorite is believed
TO have fallen into a yard at 594O Han
cock avenue. south of the poorhouse.
1t was viewed by six persons, who
state that it continued to burn after
touching the earth, throwing off a
shower of sparks ten minutes Several
buckets of water failed to have any
effect. The meteorite, which is de-
scribed as being about eight or nine
inches long, and shaped like a large
pawpaw, was entirely consumed
Mike Preiss was awakened by the
storm and went to window. He saw
the light in the yard and called his
wife and Edward Blenecke and the lat
ter's wife, who live at the same adj
dress Mr.. and Mrs Henry Smith, who
live next door to Press, were also at
tracted.
All accounts agree that the strange
ball of fire blazed ten minutes. 1t fell
beside wagon standing in the yard
and sparks thrown off set fire to a sack
which lay on the ground The light IL
Illuminated the yard.
Feared House Fire
The sparks, Preiss says, were flying
and he feared they would set fire to
the house. Calling his wife, he told
her to bring a bucket of water which
was thrown on the burning mass. A
cloud of steam arose and the blaze in
the burning sack was extinguished, but
the water had no apparent effect on the
meteorte. A second bucket of water
Tn,
time the meteorite was consuming it
self rapidly leaving only ashes, which
were blown away by the heavy wind.
Left No Mark in Ground
A peculiar feature of the fall of the
meteorite is that there was no large
dent in the ground where it landed.
Such bodies are usually very heavy
and have been driven deep. In many
cases meteorites have been composed
of metal and were cooled by the earth
and water and were preserved.
These strange wanderers in space
are supposed to be fragments of other
worlds revolving around the sun. When
they enter the atmosphere of the earth
they Immediately become heated by
friction. The effect is that they burn
up long before they reach the earth.
On any evening one watching the sky
will see numbers of these meteorS, or
shooting stars.
The meteorite which fell in st. Louis
was not heard to strike the ground.
Had Preiss not been awakened by the
storm no one would have known of it's
fall.
Scientific View
A meteorite is defined as mass Of
stone or iron fallen to the earth from
space, and it is also known as an aero
lite. A meteor proper is an aerial body
which, happening to pass through at
mospheric conditions, becomes heated
by friction and thereby becomes lumin-
Gus. When these revolving portions
reach the earth's surface they become
known as meteorites, or simply meteoric
stones. The popularity about a meteor
ite as distinguished from other terres-
trial minerals, is that native iron forms
an essential part of 1t.
The holy I<aaba of Mecca, the Mo-
hammedan shrine is supposed to have
received it's special sanctity by falling
from heaven. The British museum has
more than three hundred specimens of
which nearly two hundred were seen to
fall. In 1910 about twelve hundred
stones, one weighing one hundred and
twenty pounds, another sixty pounds,
fell near Padua, in Italy. Often me-
teorite will descend in the form of
cloud and suddenly explode into frag-
nentS