Evening star., 1934-05-18
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

Dark days" such as are being ex-
perienced in various parts of the
United States due to the wind-raised
dust resulting from the extremely
parched conditions in the North
striking natural phenomena in his
tory.
In the past they have almost al
ways aroused superstitious terror and
have been looked upon as the fore
runners of great disasters.
Ten Million Tons
Deposited in England.
Perhaps the greatest dust cloud In
history lay over the British Isles. Bel
GUM. Holland and Western Germany
in February, 1903. On England alone,
it is estimated. about 100000 tons
of dust was deposited. At few places
there was a rain Of blood"-the rain
water being made the color Of blood
by the red dust. Over everything was
dense, reddish-yeilow haze. The
dust settled in thick blankets on roofs
and trees. Some Of the fragments Of
dust were two millimeters in diameter.
This cloud was traced to a dust storm
in the Sahara Desert.
The earliest occurrence Of such a
dust storm was in 1877 AID, when the
sky was darkened at Rome, comet
was seen and a pestilence ragged. In
252 AID. "a preternatural darkness"
was experienced for three days over
the south Of Europe There were con-
vulsions of the earth, subterranean
thunders and a terrible and protracted
pestilential period began. Forty-four
years later, it is recorded. the Sam
mites made an attack on the Roman
lines during a remarkable darkness
caused by dense fog or vapor."
Such phenomena, usually given a
supernatural explanation, continued at
intervals through the Middle Ages and
usually were considered omens of evil.
Phenomena Often
Caused by Smoke.
Great dust storms causing clouds
over wide areas have been rare in the
New World, but frequently an even
weirder phenomenon has been ex-
perienced due to the smoke of forest
fires carried for miles. 1t is the same
thing, only the dust particles are
finer.
Such was probably the explanation
of the black day" and the yellow
day" of colonial New England
Weather Bureau experts are inclined
to attribute these occurrences to
smoke rather than dust, because eye
witnesses usually spoke of blood
red SUM-" Through dust cloud the
sun is dirty yellow.
Some of the American dark days"
are recorded as follows:
Candles were lighted at midday in
Massachusetts, on october 81, IT'S.
One James Jaques of Newburyport
recorded in his diary: "On the Sab
bath day, about II of the clock in
sermon time. it grew so dark one could
not see a person from one end of the
meeting house to the other, except 1t
was against window. 1t continued
nearly half an hour. Some ministers
sent for candles, some sat still until
it lighted and some seemed to think
the world at an end"
The frontier fort of Detroit on
October 10. 1852, experienced what
was described in a letter from SOL
dier stationed there to the Boston
Gazette as the most extraordinary
dark day ever seen in the history of
the world. At 9 in the morning it
was scarcely lighter than at break OF
day and so continued until about IL
o'clock, the air being very full of
smoke At 1:30 it was so dark can
dies were lighted to dine by. At this
time II rained little, with which
fell a quantity of black particles like
ashes, turning everything it fell upon
black
There was "an extraordinary dark
ness for a day and night over New
England" on May 10. 1880. The effect
was fel. as far south as New Jersey.
"The heavens were obscured," relates
a contemporary, "by a vapor or cloud
Of yellow color. In the greatest OBJ
scurity candle was necessary to read
by. For some days before the atmoS-
phere had been filled with vapor."
For three days In October, 1785,
there was a strange twilight over
Eastern Canada. On the l4th the
atmosphere WAS oA Acry, AuiHAuouS
appearance" The phenomenon cul-
minated on October 16, when "the
darkness of midnight fell over the
land the Canadians dined in all their
.ses by the light of candles. and
general fear pervaded most minds"
Kentucky was ''enveloped in thick
darkness for half an hour" on October
19, 1898. Montreal was enveloped in
dense black clouds and a greenish
vapor" on November 8, 1919. The sun
was first a dirty orange, then blood
red. then brown, and there was awful
thunder and lightning. On Ash We'd
nesday, 1861, there was a remarkable
darkness" over Western Massachusetts,.
There were three hours Of terrible