The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1910-05-18
THE COMET
TONIGHT

Atlanta. Ca, MAY 1S.-Dcalers in
''conJur' bags in tle negro sections
of the city carried on a thriving bus
mess today as the result of the sched-
uled trip of the earth through the tail
of HaIley's comet tonight.
Meetings were also held in the
churcnes today, thousands of negroes
refusing to return to work until the
passing of the comic" The fact that
cloudy weather is expected through
cut the .Sosrth tonight ard today and
viii! obscure the heavens is expected
to allay the fears of tie superstitious.
Kentucky Negroes Are Scared.
Stanford, XIV, May 1S.-Scores of
negroes professed salvation at all the
night services held in their churches
last night to prepare themselves for
whatever may happen when the
earth passes through the tail of the
comet
hands. the negroes fleeing to the
towns.
Comets and Their History.
On the night of the 18th and morn
ing of the 18th of May the earth viii
pass through the tail of Halley's com
ct What will the effect be? 1T is i'm
possible to say in advGnce. We know
that there are deadly gases and also
rneteorites 9r stones i'm comets tails,
but there is not snuch likelihood that
we shall be injured bv them. The
earth has passed through comets tails
before and escaped: we argue from
this that IL will do so this time, tao
really there is no guarantee that it
will
The meteor showers" that the
earth passes through every August
aud November are but the scattered
tails of comets: we see the meteors
or shooting stars if We watch for
them, but not once in 2 century does
one ever hit person CT do other
damage The writer recalls that while
the great comet of 1882 was at its
brightest, he saw 4 huge meteor i'm
full daylight: IL seemed almost as big
and bright as the sun, but thodga il
frightened those who saw it ne2rly
20 death all the harm it did was To
bury itself in the ground over in the
next county, where il remained hot
for uwo days. Similar big meteors have
been observed recently. and taey are
without doubt connected with the
HALEY comet. IL the earth. We're to be
Hit by the Head of the Comet.
that would he different story. for
that part of it is much more solid
than the tail, and it would probably
give our globe hail of white-lot net
t-oric matter which would mean oiTr
destruction. AS uhe time when the
earth will pass through the comets
tail Will De late. in the night os May
Is. the actual passing will not be Wis
ible to us in the United States. How
ever, it is possible that we shall on
that and several following nights see
IN unusual number of shooting-st
caused by stray particles left be-
hind uhe comet as il crosses the path
of the earth. Strange glows of light
i'm the Sky have also been seen on
some forcner occasions of this sort.
Prof Pickering has figured out the
probabilities and finds that the earth
has but one chance in 100000 years
OF colliding with the head of a com
ct: and as life Is believed to have
existed on our planet for 100.000.000
years, 1t is likely that the earth aas
been struck say 25 times by comets
heads in that period-'and never been
destroyed. Hence those people in Eai-
rope. who. the cablegra-ps tell us.
have refused to put in their crops
this spring or engage in any new un-
dertakings, in the belief that the world
is coming to an end, are not showing
much common sense. Nevertheless
there is good reason to feel respect
for comets as
Harbingers OF Woe,
IL we nav believe the records of his
tory. Whole books have recently been
published or uhis subject, and in
the past there have been dozens of
writer's who gave years of study to
treatises telling of the numerous sev
ents In history for which comets were
cnargeable. This is not so foolish an
idea as IL may seem at first- The
moon causes the tides and the sun.
spots cause electric storms: it might
therefore easily be that comets would
cause disturbances Of various kinds in
the conditions OF the earth.
Every great man. we are told by
those who nave Investigated the mat
ter. has been born under a comet
Ta-nerlane, Alexander the Great. Gaze
sar, william the Conqueror. NAPOLEON
and scores Of other great military
feniuses had their comets. and you
wiz md tl<at Theodore Roosevelt,
himself, was born Oct. 81. 1883. just