Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1918-04-26
mile or two high and travelling with

a mile or two high and travelling with
the speed Of a shrapnel horizontally
across the heavens with a slight dip
10 the south. After remaining visible
over what looked like distance oil
hall q mile, the fire seemed 10 con-
sumo itself almost as suddenly as II
hau appeared. there came a distinct
rumbling and q long streak OF white
cloud continued to stand over the
couse through which the meteor had
passed.
one OF the most plausible theories OF
| meteors is that they consist OF me-
talic solids, thrown off from heavenly
bouies. They travel with inconceir-
able velocity and as they approach the
earth they are dissolved into constitu-
ent gases as the result oil the tre-
mendous heat developed through tric-
tion with the heavier atmosphere.
The most striking thing about this
meteor was the long time Visibility oi
its trail. People who had seen numer.
GUS meteors remarked that they had
never seen such a trail before. This
is accounted for by the position OF the
sun. IL had sunk behind the western
horizon, but its light was still falling
on the path OF the meteor, and brought
out the white gases in strange relief
among the slightly darker clouds sur
| rounding.
Scores Of people about iorkville as
well as in the surrounding countr!
saw the ball OF fire as 1t passed
through the heavens and hundreds
watched the white clouds OF gas In Its
| trail until these clouds were broken W
by air currents and until they could
be no longer reached by the light OF the
descending sun.
Various theories were advanced
Some people were sure that II was ar
airplane on its way TO Camp Greene
One man thought II was shell IRON
q large German gun, and another
thought maybe ii was stray shrap'
mel from the batteries at Kings
Mountain. W. J. Cherry. Esq. tried tt
see the head OF the kaiser In the cloud
and John r. Hart. Esq, spelled out
message which said. IF you can't bu!
a bond. buy a thrift stamp"
Dispatches from various points re-
port the meteor as having been seer
over distance OF more than hund'
red miles from points in North Caro-
/ lima to beyond Greenville. and all alonl
the line there were people TO connect
| il with some signal from the militar,
Training camps. Spartanburg say:
that the meteor burst into fragment.
and its breaking up was followed b,
three loud explosions.
| Here il the way the meteor appeared
to correspondent in Spartanburg
| "One OF the most remarkable me
tcoric phenomena Of which local sci
entists have any record. burst OreI
this county this evening at $50 O'CLOCK
land was witnessed by the soldiers n
Camp Wadsworth. Although IL wa:
yet daylight, the illumination In th'
| heavens cast shadows OF every object
| The shadows Of electrical wires over
head were suddenly outlined on TIT
pavement, and red glow filled TIT
heavens. Those who looked up saw
hanging u little 70 the southeast II
| the center of the sky. q floating Whit
cloud, as II q shrapnel shell had burs
and the smoke remained stationary
Three minutes after the bright fiasf
There came the sound of three distinc
explosions Many said II was sigma
sent up from camp, perhaps sta
shell they are trying out. and man!
of the soldiers accepted that explain
alton. At the office Of the sigma
corps II was said that no such thinl
had been undertaken, and that th'
| cloud was too light to have been caus
ell by an explosion sent up from tn
earth. A short while after the explo
sion reports came from many nearb.
towns Of the same experience, show
ing that It had been witnessed thirt.
and forty miles from Spartanburg
Authorities Of local colleges say II wa
| n remarkable meteor