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The Book of the Damned
·
Charles Fort
135
Mr.
Symons
learned
that
in
the
same
street--he
emphasizes
that
it
was
a
short
street--there
was
a
fire-engine
station.
I
had
such
an
impression
of
him
hustling
and
bustling
around
at
Notting
Hill,
searching
cellars
until
he
found
one
with
newly
arrived
coal
in
it;
ringing
door
bells,
exciting
a
whole
neighborhood,
calling
up
to
second-story
windows,
stopping
people
in
the
streets,
hotter
and
hotter
on
the
trail
of
a
wretched
imposter
of
a
chemist's
pupil.
After
his
efficiency
at
Notting
Hill,
we'd
expect
to
hear
that
he
went
to
the
station,
and--something
like
this:
"It
is
said
that
clinkers
fell,
in
your
street,
at
about
ten
minutes
past
four
o'clock,
afternoon
of
July
fifth.
Will
you
look
over
your
records
and
tell
me
where
your
engine
was
at
about
ten
minutes
past
four,
July
fifth?"
Mr.
Symons
says:
"I
think
that
most
probably
they
had
been
raked
out
of
the
steam
fire-engine."
June
20,
1880,
it
was
reported
that
a
"thunderstone"
had
struck
the
house
at
180
Oakley
Street,
Chelsea,
falling
down
the
chimney,
into
the
kitchen
grate.
Mr.
Symons
investigated.
He
describes
the
"thunderstone"
as
an
"agglomeration
of
brick,
soot,
unburned
coal,
and
cinder."
He
says
that,
in
his
opinion,
lightning
had
flashed
down
the
chimney,
and
had
fused
some
of
the
brick
of
it.
He
does
think
it
remarkable
that
the
lightning
did
not
then
scatter
the
contents
of
the
grate,
which
were
disturbed
only
as
if
a
heavy
body
had
fallen.
If
we
admit
that
climbing
up
the
chimney
to
find
out
is
too
rigorous
a
requirement
for
a
man
who
may
have
been
large,
dignified
and
subject
to
expansions,
the
only
unreasonableness
we
find
in
what
he
says--as
judged
by
our
more
modern
outlook,
is:
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