Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1925-01-24
Ten Million, People
See Moon Pass OUey
.S1s,1, Bring Darkness

| ~ vanishing SlIedh OIL udrkHeSS was
daubed today over 10000 square miles
of the most densely poplated section
of the United States
In the path Of celestial shadow
! brush formed frequently by the sun and
the moon, there were this morning for
the first time in the modern aspects,
the largest city in the counry, much Of
/ the empire state, pa is of eight other
states-Minnesota, Michigan, Wiscon-
| sin, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massa-
| chusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Is
land-and part of the Canadian prov
ince of Ontario.
| The solar eclipse affected the activi-
| ties OF more than 100000 people liv-
! ing in this totaEty area. With an hour
Of daylight being succeeded by twilight
| few moments of darkness, then twi-
| light and daylight again, the phenome-
non was not greeted with terror, as was
| the wont Of the untutored ancients, but
| with enthusiasm for naure's = eatest
! spectacle.
Business Stops.
/ The hustle of business was deferred
| for a sight of celestial wonders and
study of things of the cosmos that are
mysterious in many respects, despite
! the progress of science.
Striking the earth at RedLake, Mimi,
the moon shadow 100 miles wide,
swept eastward in curve at the rate
| of 30 miles minute to the Atlantic
ocean, blackening such places as To
ronto, Buffalo, Niag.I Falls with its
frozen cataract, Rochecter, N. Y, Scran-
ton, Pa, Paterson, n. j., half of New
York City, New. Haven, Hartford and
New London Conn, Newport, r. L., Bed
ford and Nantucket, Mass, across the
Atlantic it moved to disappear into
space near the Shetland Islands after
striking the earth for 5000 miles.
Two minutes was the longest time
any one city was covered, yet to an
observer in the far heavens with vision
strong enough, were such a thing poss-
ible, the drawing of the black mark
would last one hour and AZ minutes.
Twilight Over $500 Miles
ither-side- ef--the-- path, -blackness
was a twilight zone, some 4500 miles
wide, extending as far north as Labra-
! dor and as far south as the Amazon
| River The untold millions living in
the area had vision of the phenome-
non depending upon their proximity to
the path of da kness. There was about
95 per cent totality in Philadelphia,
Chicago, Boston, Washington, Pitts
burgh, Cleveland, Detroit. Toledo, OF
| tawa and Montreal but unless one was
| in the totality area he was deprived OF
| an opportunity to witness the greatest
glories of the eclipse, the halo, beads
" .isnt ana SHADOW bands at the mo-
ment Of obscuration Of the sun.
There was a great heglra to nature S
free show New Workers did as they do
for ball games-went north. The SOU
thern limit Of totality was Central Park,
| the borough of the Bronx was in the
| totality area. There were extra guards
at the Bronx Zoo. Extra uptown sub
way service was provided. Street lights
north of the park wace ordered on de-
spite the protests of astronomers who
thought the glare might interfere with
amateur observations of the show. The
| opening of the stock exchange was post
F! poned As minutes.
Run Special Trains
From cities near the, totality zone
thousands entered the zone with the
TdllTOduS IuHHiHS opSNioi e-eAiAS'
Radio and aviation did much to I'M
prove the study of the eclipse OF 1873.
| Hitherto scientists have travelled far
to study eclipses only to be deprived OF
good telescope views by clouds. Sew
eral dozen army planes from Mitchell
Field, L. L., rose above today's clouds,
some with cameras and some with radio
equipment to send the details to thous-
ands at home. AT sea, somewhere near
the Island of Nantucket and above any
possible obscu tation, was the navys
airship Los Angeles, bouyed up by
helium, a gas discovered in tie sun by
study of an eclipse in the past Sci
entIsts were aboard looking for new
discoveries today and the sky ship nam
ed for the angels was equipped to SEND
word via the heavens of how the phe-
nomenon appeared.
In all, 13 fixed observation stations
trained telescopes, studying such things
as the exact course and diameter Of the
moon, the Einstein theory, the materials
composing the corona and seeking new
| comets and new elements in the sun.