Newspaper Clipping of the Day

Via Newspapers.com

This curious little news item appeared in the “Philadelphia Times,” January 30, 1892:

The home of John Grewson, which is situated just west of the Pennsylvania Railroad and south of Lehigh avenue, upon the unimproved tract lying between Nineteenth and Twenty-first streets, was the scene early yesterday morning of a startling occurrence. 

Grewson, who owns a horse and cart and does work for contractors, was awakened about half-past 2 o'clock yesterday morning by the loud and excited barking of a watchdog in the yard. Going to a window facing the stable he noticed lying upon the ground near that building a strange object which emitted a wavy light. 

At last Grewson ventured into the yard and was surprised to find that although the thing was luminous there was no heat. He applied his hands to it and took it up. It was about the size of a coconut, and was wet and sticky.

Suddenly, as Grewson and his wife were handling the object, which was a grayish waxlike mass, it burst into flame, setting fire to Mrs. Grewson's clothing and the carpet, and burning so fiercely that it was with difficulty that Grewson succeeded in quenching the flames, which threatened the life of his wife and seemed about to destroy his property. 

The Grewsons supposed that the grayish mass which had so suddenly threatened them with destruction might be, as they termed it, "a falling star." It is thought by others that some enemy of the Grewsons, contemplating an incendiary act, and knowing that the building could not be closely approached on account of the savage dog, had resort to a mixture of phosphorus and wax, which fell short of its mark or perhaps rolled from the roof. This theory is strengthened by the fact that the substance was wet when picked up by Grewson, it being necessary to keep phosphorus in water in order to prevent ignition.

I couldn’t find any follow-up stories, so who knows what the substance was.  If the ball really was phosphorus, I can only comment that Grewson had someone who really, really didn’t like him.