Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 December 1892 — DIDN’T BRING RAIN. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

DIDN’T BRING RAIN.

Texas Clouds Refuse to Weep at the Command of Dyrenforth. In the rain-making experiment at San Antonio, Tex., several charges of rosel-

lite were fired and four shells were sent up from the mortars. The ground charges, according to a correspondent, did no more than shake the earth. The mortars ■ threw their shells in the air about -1,000 feet and exploded prettily. Then Gen. Dyrenforth brought out his grand battery, in the shape of an explosive balloon. It took a long

whlle to fill it with the necessary ingredients. The balloons used in these experiments are made of paper covered with a light cotton netting. There is danger in filling these dreadful things and even greater in letiing them go, for the slightest mishap or carelessness would send everybody to kingdom come. Explosion of the Balloon, It was nearly dark when the balloon went up, but its ascent and explosion was a pretty sight. The hundreds of eyes watching it all at onee saw a blinding flash on the heavens and then came a profound silence for six or seven seconds, then a shock which shook the ground. The balloon had exploded right beneath a fleecy cloud. The cloud kept on its way calmly and serenely, but, as Prof. Ellis said, the cloud was 18,000 feet high, and as the explosion occurred only 4,000 feet nearer, the cloud might have been excused for Its Inattention.

The following day it was fully 8 o’clock before the fusillade finally opened. The sky was greatly overcast in the morning, but everybody said it was not a ra n cloud and the General might go ahead. The breeze was southwesterly and blowing about ten miles an hour. About 3 o’clock Messrs. Dickenson and King, with the president of the San Antonio Board of Trade, waited upon Gene:al Dyrenforth and somewhat sharply said that there was no, use waiting for further favorable conditions. They wanted the test made at onee, and wanted it kept up till some result was obtained. The General waived his military gauntlet in the direction of a battery to the westward which opened with a series of detonations of five and ten pound charges of rosellite. Then on the crest of the ridge could be seen other puffs ofs moke until nearly a semicircle of explosions had been seen, and noted. Then Dr. Rosell opened his mortar battery from the brow of the hill near Dyrenforth’s headquarters and a dozen or more shells were sent up a thousand feet and exploded. These shells contained three pounds of rosellite. While the firing was going on Professor Ellis prepared another gaseous balloon. It was the same as was sent up the day before, but to the relief of the crowd had a longer fuse, for it did not explode until it was a mile in the air. When it did go there was a vivid flash, a puff of smoke visible for an instant, and then a wait of eight seconds for the shock,

No Effect on the Clonds.

It was terrific. Horses and buggies were changed about and all nature seemed convulsed, but again the fleecy clouds against which the balloon had been sent sailed majestically along, seemingly indifferent. The first bombardment was kept up until midnight, when the first battery of 3,000 of rosellite was exhausted. The fusillade will be resumed and continued without intermission for twenty-four hours. This will conclude the first series of experiments.

GENERAL DYRENFORTH