The sun., 1918-03-08
BRIGHT AURORA
SEEN OYER CITY,;
MANY ALARMED
Unusual Phenomenon Mis-
taken for Zeppelin or "a
Heavenly Sign.
SKY AFLAME WITH COLOR
Thousands View Illumination
From Streets, Windows
and HOusetOps.

I out Of the starlit eastern sky las.
night ball OF lvid flame whred west
ward. showering myriads OF many COL
ored blazing lights. like gigantic
Roman candle. and flowing after II
waved folds OF vermilion. purple and
gold. an awesome spectacle that ap-
, peared as a heavenly angel
- New York saw II and wondered The
magniilcence of the lights struck fear
INTO the hearts OF some. but for the
most part New Workers curiously
watched froM the time the spray OF
huge sparks shot earthward about 10
O'Clock Until it had passed. and
greenish blue, coppery mantle cioaked
the sky and hid the stars before mid
night.
lnstantaneousy there were two
thoughts that caught the mind OF the
thousands who saw the phenomenon.
Was this the sign OF God. that His
prophecy of the worlds end was about
to be fulfilled Or was the other far
away miracle come - a Zeppelin flown
across the Atlantic to bomb terror and
frightfulness into the greatest city in
the world?
4 star Playing Hockey.
And Enthusiastically New York
gazed at the splendor OF the display. and
on second thought assured itself that
neither was the case. but that some
truant celestial body go. sick Of Its
place billions OF miles away from
Broadway and played hockey for an
hour. telling Mars and the other biz
lights that 1t was out for q no stop visit
to zee how Manhattan looks close to
when the sun Is hid
windows to view the wonderful meteor
like fireworks OF the sky Thousands
more braved the windy building tops to
better view it. People stopped on the
street. trolley cars halted. automobiles
stopped, and the comet. or whatever IL
was. certainly held the stage for an
hour
During the time. from 10 o'clock until
after II. THE Sun office telephone was
jingling continually with inquiries from
people for miles around as to the mean
ing of the lights.
The first call came from Ciason Point,
The Bronx. on Long Island Sound There
II seemed the whole sky was afame. ,
The ball. as large as the red sphere
OF autumn sunset. blazed its way sud-
denly from the east, discharaing a pyro-
technic display OF starpoints, in all the
colors of the spectrum. but the fringe
was yellow and gold as the shooting
fire Of whirring Fourth Of July pin.
wheel.
A trolley car was amblns along by
Central Park and Eighty-siXth street,
across what is known as the Transverse
road. when the whole section was H.
Illuminated with green. and then the mas
sengers got out Of the car and saw the
flare Of yellow light and its rain of
trpa In,
All along the shorefron. from Coney
Island 10 Bay Ridge and whitestone. l..
l.. the folk were out Of doors watching
the sky show.
A man standing az l37th street and
broadway saw ii pass southwest and
spiral back. 1t reminded him OF the
lights that illumined the sky when
Black Tom Island blew up. To him the
sheet OF gold drawn by the frehead
seemed like the figure Of an angel. its
wings outspread.
sky Blood Red.
y ScN man wen; atop the roof OF
the Longacre Building. at Forty-second
street and broadway. where THE SIN
branch Office il located. at II O'Clock
and even at that time the sky was
blood red, fringed with a pale green
light. The theatres in that section then
cmptied thousands and broadway was
filled with people looking skyward as
the light faded to dull turquoise and
then jade.
North Of the city. up Washington .
Heights way and in the towns of West .
chester county. Dobbs Ferry. Hastings
on-the- Hudson. and even Tarrytown,
thousands observed the luminous phe-
nomsnon
The Weather Bureau last night is
sued the following statement, declaring
II 10 be the aurora boreals.
The Weather Bureau reports an un-
usually brilliant aurora borealis for
this latitude tonight This llumina-
tion became especially noticeable about
s T. NJ, and was very brilliant at II
j. NJ. being well tinted with strcamers
from the arch.
This phenomenon is not frequent In
this latitude and the present one is
exceptional for so far south. The aurora
Is an electrical discharge chiefly in the
upper air and dependent in some way
on the magnetic conditions OF the earth
and sun. II has period of greatest
frequency every eleven years. corre-
spending to sun spot frequences"
Roprts were received that the phc-
interfered with the telegraph
service IN some OF the neighboring
towns