212 8. W. McCallie—The Pitts Meteorite. 



body about the size of a man's head, appearing in the sky 

 in a northeasterly direction. At Moultrie it was referred 

 to as a brilliant body moving downward in zigzag course, 

 looking as if it might fall in the northern part of the city. 

 At Sunny Side, more than a hundred miles from the place 

 where it fell, it was seen in a southeasterly direction, fall- 

 ing nearly perpendicular at a rapid rate. 



(2) The dense smoke in the wake of the flaming fire ball 

 was referred to by the Albany and Moultrie witnesses as 

 a luminous trail following the flaming ball. Colonel Dor- 

 ris, who was in the vicinity of Pitts, speaks of the smoke 

 as a zigzag trail, lingering for some minutes and assum- 

 ing various shapes. These shapes were thought by some 

 to be in the form of letters. Several persons in the imme- 

 diate vicinity of the fall described the smoke as white or 

 gray in color, and in the form of puffs and very dense. 



(3) The first sound heard was compared to that of 

 thunder, and to many it was the first warning that any 

 unusual occurrence was taking place in the sky above. 

 At Cordele, 15 miles west of Pitts, the sound resembled 

 that of a heavy explosion, distinctly heard by several peo- 

 ple on the street. In the country, four miles east of 

 Cordele, two terrific explosions were noted, louder than 

 thunder, which so terrified the farm hands that they ran 

 frightened to their homes. At Hawkinsville it was 

 thought that an aeroplane had exploded above the city. 

 In the immediate vicinity of Pitts the sound was described 

 as several loud explosions, causing the earth to trem- 

 ble, followed in quick succession by a number of lesser 

 explosions. 



(4) The roaring and whizzing noise and the impact, of 

 the falling fragments were heard only in the immediate 

 vicinity of the fall. 



Description of Individual Fragments. 



The location and relative distribution of the points at 

 which the fragments (four in number) of the Pitts meteor- 

 ite fell are shown on the accompanying diagram. The 

 largest piece weighing 57 ounces fell within less than 75 

 feet of Nancy Brinson's house where it was dug up a few 

 minutes later still warm, but not red hot as first reported. 

 The fragments entered the freshly plowed sandy soil to a 



