Colorado Meteorite News- Ode to `Ole John Moore-Johnstown Meteorite 24AUG09

JT Meteorite specimen donated to Parish museum

Posted on Thursday, August 07 @ 00:18:03 CDT
http://www.johnstownbreeze.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2798

(photo in original article; see link above)

Misty McNally, center, smiles as she looks at a piece of the Johnstown Meteorite owned by Sandy Lebsack, left. Also admiring the space rock is Jack Murphy, right, a former scientist with the Denver Museum of Nature and Science who has spent much of his life studying the 1924 phenomenon. Photo courtesy Clyde Briggs

By Ardis Briggs
The Johnstown Breeze

JOHNSTOWN – A piece of the Johnstown Meteorite has again landed in Johnstown.

A small part of the rock from space that fell July 6, 1924, was presented to the Johnstown Historical Society Tuesday night by its owner, Misty McNally.

McNally, a former Johnstown resident who now lives in Kansas City, had the fragment of the meteorite sent to town via the postal service. She marked the package “fragile” and so ensured the meteorite’s second landing was softer than the first.

The 1924 landing startled folks from Johnstown to Mead, as pieces large and small rained upon the area that Sunday afternoon. Small fragments hit roofs like hail, but it was one large chunk that made history. It landed by the entrance of the local cemetery and interrupted the funeral of John Moore. Startled funeral go-ers grabbed the shovel intended to fill in Moore’s grave and ran to unearth the smoldering piece which smashed nearby.

The fact the fall was witnessed by so many and the pieces recovered immediately is a rarity even now. But it was considered as amazing then, and tiny Johnstown became famous overnight. The meteorite itself is a rare type, an igneous cement-looking rock which has fooled seekers for years.

Jack Murphy, an expert on meteorites who retired a few years ago after 35 years at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, told the story of the meteorite Tuesday night. He also told several people who brought pieces of what they hoped were the meteorite they did not have a part of the celebrity rock.

One who did, however, told her meteorite story.

Sandy Wiest Lebsack showed her piece, nicknamed “Chip,” to the group and told how her grandfather, Peter Wiest, kept it for years and passed it to her. That has been the only local documented fragment in this area of the 28 confirmed pieces recovered, said Murphy. The largest piece was sold after its fall to the Denver museum and then to the American Museum in New York, where it is still. But now McNally's gift to the museum can be added to the list of documented fragments and a piece of local history has again come home.

Murphy had a gift for the museum too. He presented a copy of the front page of the Denver Post in July 1924 with the picture of a little girl and recovered pieces of the Johnstown meteorite. That little girl, “little Miss Beth Bailey,” as the article states, is Murphy’s mother. Her father worked at the museum, and she was there when the specimens were brought out to show the press. Therefore, she was added to the photo with the space rocks; rocks her son has spent years researching.

The piece of the meteorite and the front-page picture will be added to the display at the museum telling about Johnstown’s visitor from space.

Editor’s note: According to a story published about a year ago in The Johnstown Breeze, it was reported a 29th piece of the Johnstown Meteorite had been found by a Johnstown resident. After the story was published, the sample was examined by Murphy, who has said he does not believe it is a piece of the meteorite.