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This article was published in the daily newspaper Dallas Morning News, Dallas, Texas, USA, April 16, 1897.
Warning: the airship stories must not be taken at face value as "UFO sightings." Evaluation of such stories is under way here.
Corsicana, Tex., April 15. -- Various and truthful citizens of Corsicana today declare that the airship, which has received not a little mention in the press this week, passed over the city last night [April 14, 1897].
It was described by one who is emphatic in the statement that he saw it, as being a bright light a long distance from the earth and was moving at rather a fast speed across the firmament. It was said to have been seen at about 8:30 o'clock, came from the north and was moving in a southerly direction when first noticed. The light was described as being about the size of a water bucket and gradually assumed smaller proportions until it vanished and was not observable to the eye. It remained visible about ten minutes. No messages were left behind by the aerial tourists.
The object or whatever it might have been was viewed by a party of eight or ten persons at the home of Judge Sam H. Frost on West Third Avenue. Dr. Wills had his attention called to it and says that it was certainly not a meteor, for the reason that the light was intermittent, appearing to come and go, but that the object was too far from the earth for him to be able to see anything as to its form or shape. The light, he says, was the only visible part of the strange flyer.
