The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1910-05-20
JOLT FOR THIS BALL
LEE SPANGLER SAYS COMET WILL
"SWIPE" THE EARTH.
He is the Man Who Predicted Num-
Der of Dreadful Things: the Big
Astronomical Camera in Honolulu
Is to Photograph the Heavenly
Traveller; the Tail Is But I5,ooo,-
600 Miles Away Today.
(soee!al to The Free Press.1


York, Pa, May l8.-Lee Spangler
of this city, who prophesied the San
Francisco earthquake and fire, the
date of the death of Queen Victoria,
the assassinat ton of President NcKin
ley and the drought last summer, now
declares that the earth will be torn
with earthquakes, that volcanoes will
suddenly appear in the most unexpect
ed places and that drought, pestilence
and great wars will follow the path OF
Halley's comet. Spangler asserts that
astronomers have miscalculated the re
today. He says that the earth will
not merely be swept by the tail of
this celestial wanderer, but will be
side-swiped by it.
Take Photos of Comet.
Honolulu, Hawaii, May lS.-When
Halley's comet completes its 100000,
600 mile-tri around the sun today,
the celestial visitor will be photo
graphed by the big astronomical cam
era when has been set up here for
that purpose by American astrOnO-
mers. This city was selected as the
best place for "mugging" the wander
er.
Head to Cross Solar Disk.
The astronomer in charge said that
the head of the comet would cross
the solar disk and the phenomenon
would be plainly visible in the Pacific
ocean. 1t will take the comet but
fifty eight minutes to cross tine suns
face, and at the time it would be pos
sible to determine how much solid
matter is in the comets nucleus, for
all solid matter ten miles in diameter
would be indicated by shadow spots
! against the suns background. The
comet is today but l5,000,O00 miles
away from the earth and consequently
brighter than at any other time. The
experiments in Honolulu are being
made by the American Astronomical
and Astrophysical society.
No Danger, Says Pickering.
Cambridge, Mass, May 1S.-If Pro-
fessor Pickering OF ''"~-""d knows
h'sto ht 10 toiNuiS, .tboNt, o.'t httt
be afraid to go to bed and sleep sound
| ly tonight, lest the tail OF Halley's
comet should swipe them while they
slumber. Professor Pickering says
that we should expect to be stuck by
the core of Il visible comet once in
about 4000000O years, and by some
| portion of the head once in 1000, 900
! years.
Distribution of the Orbits.
Since comets orbits are more thicllly
distributed near the ecliptic than in
/ other regions of the sphere, the co..
lisions would occur rather more FIRE,
! Quently than this, but hardly as often
as once in 100000 years; and since
I it has been estimated that animal life
| has existed upon the earth for about
Der of collisions, perhaps as many as
fifty, must have taken place during
! that interval in Professor Pickering S
opinion, evidently without producing
any very serious results.
Breathing the Tail of the Comet.
/ AT all events, it may be safely neld
/ that today none of us will be aware
! OF the fact that we are literally breath
/ ing the tail of Halley's comet From
this it may be inferred that the wild
! tales of the possible effects OF poison
ous gases are utterly without FONDA
! ton. 1t is true that comets tail is
composed of poisonous and asphyxia
ting hydrocarbOn vapors and cyano-
| gen; but it is also true that the actual
amount OF toxic vapor is so small that
when the earth is brushed by the tail
of Halley's comet the composition of
the atmosphere will not be so affected
! that a chemist could detect it.