1887.] PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. GOl 



The succeeding issue of the Post, April 8, suggests the meteorite 

 which had beeu found as the probable cause of the explosion. 



Mr. B. Caraway who visited the sjiot for me informs me that the pine 

 tree through which the meteorite fell is 107 feet high, and that the dis- 

 tance from the foot of the tree to the center of the hole made by the 

 mass is 22 feet 3 inches. The limbs on the west side of the tree were 

 broken, and the meteorite lay in the hole with the flat side down. The 

 hole was 75 yards from the house. 



Prof. H. A. Newton, who has kindly interested himself in this matter, 

 says that the data furnished indicate that the mass must have fallen 

 nearly from the zenith. This was the direction of the end of its path, 

 the earlier portion being more inclined to the vertical, as the path must 

 bo affected by gravity and the resistance of the air. The earlier direc- 

 tion must have been from the northeast and more nearly from the east 

 than the north. 



Mr. Shandy sol d the meteorite to Mayor Caraway, who in turn sold 

 it to Col. J. C. Betten,* a lawyer of Eureka Springs, of whom the writer 

 obtained it. Colonel Betten bought it as a business speculation, ex- 

 pecting to realize something of an income from its exhibition. While 

 in his possession it was exhibited at Eureka Springs. Circularst h<>aded 

 '' The Tenth AYonder " were printed and circulated. 



It was also called the " veritable wonder that was seen to pass through 

 the sky, blazing, sparkling," etc. Twenty-five cents were charged for 

 admission to look at it. 



The mass is in general fiat and very irregular, resembling a mass of 

 molten metal thrown on the ground and then pitted. The illustration 

 of the Agram| mass figured by Vou Schreibers could be mistaken for 

 the upper side of this were it not that this is larger. It measures 17i 

 inches (44:°'") by 15i inches (39«"), while the Agram measures 15.} by 

 12 inches. A high ridge, 5 inches high, at the highest point (12.5'™), 

 runs through the center. One-halfof themassisnot over 3 inches (7.5«^'") 

 thick, part of it is only 2 inches (o^""), and around the edge it is only 1 

 inch or less. It is only exceeded in size among the irons seen to fall by 



*Affidavit8 were fnrnislied by the comity clerk .-lud the mayor of Eureka as to the 

 trnstworthiuess of Colouel Betten and Mayor Cara\yay. 

 t The handbill reads as follows : 



THE GKEAT METEORIC STONE ! 



The meteoric stone that fell near Knosville, Johnson County, Ark., on the 27th of 

 March, 1886, is now on exhibition at 



Everybody who desires to sec a real substance from another world than this should 

 not fall to take advantage of the oj^portuuity. 



This wonderful meteor is the finest of metal, entirely foreign to anything known i. 

 exist on this earth. 



Go everybody and see this wonder before it is too late. 



The price of admission is within the reach of all. 



Morton & Maloxc. 



t "Beitrage zur Geshichte und Kentniss mctcorischer Stein- und Metall-Masscn," b^ 

 Dr. Carl von Schreibers, Wien, 1820. folio, platee viii. 



