THE TROUP, TEXAS, METEORITE. 



By J. A. Udden, 



Of the University of Texas, Austin, Texas. 



This meteor was secured soon after its fall by Mr. T. M. Coupland, 

 of Troup, Texas, and by him donated to the University of Texas. 

 It fell close to a negro boy, who was ploughing in a field about 3 

 miles north of Troup on the morning of April 26, 1917. The boy 

 heard the meteor and "saw it smoking" after it hit the ground. He 

 did not investigate the fall, but an older person, Forrest Lawson, 

 went to the place indicated by the boy and found the meteor about 

 6 inches below the surface of the ground. It was later during the 

 day brought to Mr. Coupland who first identified it as a meteor. 

 In a letter of the same date to Prof. H. Y. Benedict, of the University 

 of Texas, Mr. Coupland related the circumstances of the observation 

 of the fall as given above and said that the meteor weighed 2 pounds 

 and 4£ ounces; that it was "black on the outside, but about the 

 color of lime rock after the surface was removed. It also appears to 

 have some flakes of bright metal scattered through." 



A few days after the fall Mr. Coupland addressed a circular letter 

 to some people in Smith and adjacent counties. In this he inquired 

 for observations on the fall of the meteorite and secured some infor- 

 mation worth recording. At Nacogdoches, some 47 miles south- 

 southeast from Troup, one man reported to have seen the fall and 

 two persons reported having noted the sound it produced. The 

 noise the meteor made was also heard at Big Sandy in Upshur County, 

 about 30 miles north from Troup ; at Arp, in Smith County, about 7 

 miles northwest from Troup; and at a pump station located about 17 

 miles southeast from the same point. At Troup Mr. Coupland states 

 that many people heard an unusual and intense noise on the morning 

 that the meteor fell. A weekly newspaper, the Jacksonville Progress, 

 made mention of the fall, from which it has been inferred that the 

 fall was also heard at this place, which lies about 15 miles southwest 

 from Troup. 



It was a fortunate circumstance that this meteorite chanced to 

 come into the hands of a man whose education and whose interest 



Proceedings U. S. National Museum. Vol. 59— No. 2383. 



471 



