As reported in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch 3-column, front page report on April 10, 1897 under the headline;
______________________
The period between the mid-1800s and the start of the 1900s was probably the most productive times in the history of mankind. In 1900 Chicago hosted the World's Fair, an exhibition that featured all of the marvels of the age including electric lighting provided by
Thomas Edison
Ii is a fact that during the period of the last 50 years of the 19th century more modern inventions were made than at any other time. A list of the inventions of the period has been compiled and can be accessed on the website, Inventors and Inventions from 1851-1900.
A partial list from the page includes:
Dishwasher (1850), Gyroscope (1852), Bunsen Burner (1855), Rechargeable Battery (1859), Typewriter (1867), Motorcycle (1867), Multiple telegraph (1875), Telephone (1876),
Cash
With an understanding of what was going on in the area of invention during these people's times common sense tells us that if one of these citizens saw an airship they would not run and hide, they would only think it was another marvel of the times. Their curiosity of just how it worked would have been uppermost in their minds and their ability to study the strange object would have been sharpened. Some of their description is remarkable and we'll cover that in detail in the next report.
With that in mind let us continue to delve into the front page of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch of April 10, 1897;
Press dispatch from Omaha; several hundred persons in Omaha are prepared to swear that an airship of gigantic proportions has been hovering over this city at night for some time. It has been seen repeatedly. Six months ago it was heard from in the interior of the State, and since that time it has been seen in various parts of Nebraska. During the past two weeks it has appeared nightly over the city.
Then you have the very straight forward one-on-one eyewitness accounts like the one from Richard Butler.
At this point Mr. Butler gives a very good description of the airship he saw. We'll look closely at his and other such eyewitness accounts in the next report. Mr. Butler continues with his account of the incident;
Now I might stand still and allow someone to try and convince me that the "machine" that left the area "briskly in a southerly direction" as reported by Mr. Butler was just his mistaken identification of a star, but they could talk until they are blue in the face and they will never convince me that those horses spooked because they saw a star. Horses have more sense than that!
The article continues;
Ex-State's Attorney Hunter Rodger of Kankakee, Ill.: I saw the object and believe it was an airship. It could not have been a star.
D.D. Sherman, Kankakee, Ill.: I was attracted Friday night by a phosphorescent glow which seemed to hang 1,000 feet above the earth.
Stanley Dubois, Fairfield, Iowa: Yes, I saw what I believe was an airship. There were two smaller lights of yellowish-green on either side of a large white light which first attracted me. The object disappeared in the west.
Dispatch from Solon, Iowa:
W. J. Martin, Mount Pleasant, Iowa: I am willing to make affidavit that I saw a white light slowly moving through the air in a westerly direction. While I watched it the light turned a dull red, then back to white again.
Of course the first theory that came forth regarding the witnesses was that they had been in the clutches of the grape. The very next day, April 11, 1897, after devoting the complete front page to the mystery the day before the following article addressing that very question appeared on page 4 of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
The Airship Sightings of 1897: A Hard Look
Eyewitness drawing from sighting in 1897
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Research Books |