[meteorite-list] NPA 08-26-1948 (Norton) Meteorite's Digging Completed, Theft

[MARK BOSTICK]

Paper: Nebraska State Journal
City: Lincoln, Nebraska
Date: Thursday, August 26, 1948
Page: 13


Meteorite's Digging Is Completed
Guards Posted After Theft

     BEAVER CITY, Neb. (AP) Scientists Wednesday disclosed that a piece had 
been stolen from a three-ton meteorite discovered recently on a farm near 
here.  They promptly dubbed it a case of "celestial larceny."
     The theft occurred the first night after the find was reported. Since 
then guards have been stationed at the site each night.

     SCIENTISTS from the University of Nebraska, New Mexico and California 
Wednesday completed the task of digging out and encasing the meteorite in 
plaster of paris.
     A Cambridge trucker, Louis Dixon, is to transport it to Albuquerque, 
N.M., where it will be divided.  The Universities of Nebraska and New Mexico 
have purchased the specimen, described as the largest fragment of an 
achondritic meteorite ever found.
     The meteorite fell on the farm of Mrs. Helen Whitney, south of here, 
last Feb. 18.  It was not discovered until Aug. 16, however.

     THE METEORITE hole was about six feet in diameter when discovered 
during harvest by Arthur Hahn, Norton, Kas., farm operator, and E. O. Gill 
or Wilsonville.  The hole was about 31 feet deep.
     Dr. Lincoln Lapaz, director of the institute of meteorics of the 
University of New Mexico, was the first to investigate.  He had been 
conducting extensive research work along the southern Nebraska and northern 
Kansas borders.

     DR. LAPAZ said that study of fallen meteorites "is very valuable," and 
is closely related to rocket study.  It is believed the meteorite is a small 
part of the outer boundary of a disintegrated planet, originally moving in 
the region between Mars and Jupiter.
     The New Mexico man pointed out that the consistency of the meteorite is 
unusual in that it can be easily broken or crushed.  It contained unusually 
large deposits of nickel iron, from 50 to 60 times larger than any deposits 
heretofore found in fallen meteorites, he said.
     The Cambridge area has had more museum scientists working in the an 
attempt to uncover historic finds than any other area of the United States, 
Dr. C. Bertrand Schultz, director of the state museum at the University of 
Nebraska, said.

(end)

Clear Skies,
Mark Bostick
www.meteoritearticles.com