Subject: 1899 meteor Richard,
I finally tracked down the source for the 1899 "meteor" which fell in
Vincennes. I attach the article as a .txt file to this message. It mentions
a May 2, 1899 press release, you might check the Vincennes paper around
then to see if you can find the original report. If you do I would like to
have a copy of it.
The Monthly Weather Review is a U.S. Goverment publication, so quoting from
it should not be a problem.
Later,
Paul A. Roales From THE MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW, April 1899, p. 155
It is frequently the duty of the Editor to enter into correspondence with those who contribute to the daily
press circumstantial accounts of remarkable phenomena, such as ball lightning, falling meteors, tidal
waves, earthquakes, hail storms, showers of fishes, frogs, pollen, and numerous other quasi meteorological
phenomena.
It would surprise the uninitiated to discover how many of these newspaper items are misleading
exaggerations, and an intelligent man can but wonder how it is that so many sensational accounts of
ordinary meteorological phenomena come to be published. Apparently the fault is not always with the
editors of the newspapers, but lies with the news agents who have authority to write or telegraph to
headquarters whatever they think will interest the readers of the paper or benefit the town that they
represent. Thus, on May 2, a press dispatch from Vincennes, Ind., flooded the whole country with the
announcement that--
Councilman --- and Contractor --- picked up the pieces of a snow-white flinty meteor whose external
surface was of orange or yellow color. The meteors, for there were two of them, had struck some
large stones in their fall and broken to pieces.
At the request of the Editor the voluntary observer of the United States Weather Bureau at Vincennes
kindly obtained a piece of the stone and some further description of the event. The stone proves to be
merely a fragment of a quartz boulder that had been discolored on the outside by red clay soil. If it fell as
described, it must have been thrown from a distance by blasting or some other method. A fairly intelligent
news gatherer or press agent might easily have seen that it had none of the characteristics of a meteoric
stone and might have saved the people the bother and expense of telegraphing, printing, and reading his
interesting little item. Our public schools generally teach enough science to enable a news gatherer to
avoid being duped. There is no excuse for one who willfully or ignorantly misleads his readers. If one pre-
petrates a fake or hoax in these small matters how shall we know when to trust him in the more important
items of political and financial history ?
While the Editor of the MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW desires to secure interesting items, yet he does
not wish anything fictitious or misleading. The voluntary and regular observers will confer a favor if, in
sending him important newspaper items, they also add such criticisms of their own as will show the
amount of credence to be given to the articles.
Date: Thu, 18 Sep 1997 15:12:08 -0500
From: "Paul A. Roales"
To: rking@indian.vinu.edu
Geologist
P.A.R. Consulting Service
http://www.ionet.net/~paroales
NEWSPAPER FAKES.