[meteorite-list] NPA 09-21-1950: Scores See (Murray) Meteor in West Kentucky

[MARK BOSTICK]

Paper: Joplin Globe
City: Joplin, Missouri
Date: Thursday, September 21, 1950
Page: 6A

SCORES SEE METEOR IN WEST KENTUCKY

Flaming Object Streaks Through Sky From Louisville to Paducah Area.

     Louisville, Ky., Sept. 20. - (AP) - Scores of west Kentuckians all the 
way from Louisville to Paducah reported they saw a flaming meteor streaming 
through the early morning sky.
     The object, also visible in Tennessee, Indiana and Illinois, was 
reported to have exploded in the air somewhere between the Paducah area and 
Memphis, Tenn.  A farmer near Murray, Ky. said a fragment of the meteor fell 
on his farm.
     Witnesses said the meteor was flaming red, lit up the sky and some of 
them said it appeared to exploded. Most of the eyewitnesses fixed the time 
at between 1 and 2 o'clock in the morning.
     In Paducah, Desk Sergeant Albert K. Yancey of the police department 
said the meteor lit up a area around there "so you could almost read a 
newspaper." He fixed the time around 3 a.m.
     William Barnett, service station operator at Murray, said a piece of 
the meteor fell on his farm near Kentucky Lake. He said the fragment was 
about the size of a man's head.
     A graphic destruction of the meteor was given by Captain H. J. Garman, 
American Airlines pilot, when his plane landed at Memphis.  He said he saw 
the object about 1:30 a.m.
     "I was flying at 18,000 feet," Garman said, "and it looked as though it 
came right across our nose.  I tell you I never saw such a brilliant flash 
of light before. It wasn't a clear fight. It seemed to be burning with an 
orange, yellow and blue flame.
     "I can't say for sure whether it burned out in the air or hit the 
ground.  I've seen hundreds and hundreds of meteors but that was the lowest 
I ever saw one."

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