G. J. Brush on the Alabama Meteoric Stone. 241 
“The meteorite fell Dec, 5th, 1868, four miles south of Frank- 
fort, the county town of Franklin County, Alabama. The 
country around Frankfort is broken and hilly, being the termi- 
nation of the western branch of the Cumberland Mountains, 
Frankfort is sixteen miles southeast of Tuscumbia. 
“Mr. James W. Hooper witnessed the fall and describes it 
in a note to Dr. T. D. West, which I copy. ‘About 8 o’clock, 
burst, apparently, over the heads of twenty men, who were at 
work felling wood, one and a quarter miles from Mr. Hooper’s 
- One piece appeared to go southeast, another southwest, 
and the third northwest. There were afterward heard the re- 
ports resembling the bursting of shells. One piece was heard 
to fall some distance from Mr. Hooper’s, making a loud, crash- 
ing noise and frightening a lot of hogs near by.’ 
oe reports resembling artillery were plainly heard for 
twenty or twenty-five miles east and west of Frankfort, and 
from fifteen to twenty north. I have no information as to the 
South. Mr. Hooper deserves much credit for noting the partic- 
ulars of the fall, and for sending the meteorite for analysis 
and description. He refused with scorn, money offers that 
must have been tempting to a person of limited income, pre- 
ts. 
‘In a personal interview, he told me that he was sitting by 
a fire with his family when he heard the first noise, He in- 
Stantly arose and walked forty or fifty yards from the house be- 
fore the meteorite fell, His sister, Miss Hooper, living near, 
