| dc.description.transcription | Trip of 1948, Sep. 4. At Snyder we met L. C. Drum who said his brother Ira Drum now lived 15 miles N of Ft. Sumner, New Mexico, and thought his brother had found the meteorite on some other farm than the one occupied by Marley. He had hauled it out while he was cutting posts. (This would indicate a site not on the High Plains.) We next visited George H. Marley, Route 1, Fluvanna, who thought he had some scraps in his garage, perhaps the biggest thumb-sized; he will hunt for these. We made a brief Inspection but the quarters were very dirty and messy. Marley is a bachelor and inveighed against some children of relatives, fearing they had found and scattered the chips. Whether they were oxidized fragments that broke off or pieces deliberately broken off by force he did not know. He knew the spot where the rock had been in a road just east of his house, but the road (from the field or pasture) and a nearby fence had since been changed, and it was hard to identify the exact location now. It seemed hopeless to look for scraps here, tho we went to the spot. Apparently this was the first and only spot ehre [where] Marley had seen the meteorite. I suppose Drum had unloaded it here. Marley did not know where Drum had found it. There seemed to be some feeling between them, probably because Marley realized later he could have sold the rock and never told Drum anything about it—i.e., he begrudged Drum the proceeds. He seemed to think Drum would not tell me where he had found It, but wanted to return and search for more. Marley said that O'Brien had met Leo Morris in Martin County and thus first learned of the rock. Morris had worked for Marley and had fragments of the meteorite; he is now at Elide, few Mexico. His mother lives with him; Marley didn't know where the father, Alva Morris, lived. Apparently at that time they lived with Geo. W. Lee In Martin County; I believe he wag a brother of Mrs. Morris, the mother; perhaps all now live at Elida. Marley said a Charlie Taylor, now dead, had lived In Gail and said he had picked meteorites up for 40 years (concretions?). His son, Martin Taylor, still lives at Gail and may know of them or have them. [Wrote 1948 11-28] On Sep. 6 I met Ira Drum (spelling with only onem [one m]) at the drug Store at Ft. Sumner. He was quite communicative about the meteorite and said it was found In 1937, not on the Marley place which he was then leasing, but in the pasture just north of Marley. It was on the high plains (above the cap rock), In grassland, about half sticking out of the ground, and he prized it out with a crowbar and hauled it in a wagon. He has watched for such rocks ever since but never found any. He has several sections near Ft. Sumner now. The meteorite was east of the road running north from Marley's, but Drum did not know just on what side of the county line. 1941, Nov. 18 H. M. O'Brien said that he originally saw two samples of the meteorite in a group of rocks outside a house on the road bt [by] Stanton and Lamesa, probably in Martin County, the collection being at the home of some people named (Morris?). There were 2 pieces, totaling some 2 or 3 pounds. The location is probably in Martin County. They were very reluctant to tell him about the location of the main mass, and he does not think they will part with the samples. They finally directed him to the farm or ranch now owned by Marey or Marley, about 3 miles north of Fluvanna. Take the highway from Snyder to Post and there is a road which branches off to Fluvanna. Marley did not claim the rock, and took him to the home of Ira Drumm [Drum] about midway between Fluvanna and Gale (in Borden County about 12 miles from Fluvanna), where he bought it from Drumm [Drum] in the presence of Marley and Drumm's [Drum’s] mother in law. Drumm [Drum] had formerly lived on the Marley place, which may have been a larger farm or ranch at that time. O’Brien found the rock not so very far from the house on the Marley place, but Drumm [Drum] did not specify just where he found It (whether on that place or on some one else’s). He did state he found it on the cap or in a draw leading down off the cap--probably the latter. O'Brien offered Drumm [Drum] $5 to begin with and finally paid $60 for the meteorite. Smithsonian offered him $150 plus an indeterminate bonus, but he was to pack and ship to Washington at his expense. [Wrote Ira Drumm, Fluvanna, 1943 9-12. Wrote Mr. & Mrs Morris “” - grandfather of Leo Morris Morris mentioned alone?] Married 60 Years Mr. And Mrs. J. W. Morris of Lamesa, Dawson County residents since 1914, who recently celebrated their sixtieth wedding anniversary. Tel 1941 11-18 Scurry County, Tex. Trip of 1941, Oct. 22, to house 6.5 miles out Beattie Road from Ni corner or' square at Comanche, Tex., to home of H. M. O’Brien, Sr., on the left. H. M. Jr. is son about 30 who got rock from X in some other county. X was holding it for Y, and apparently X and Y split proceeds of what O'Brien Jr. pd them. Whether they bought it from the landowner in Scurry or have good title is not clear. The stone is well pitted over much of its surface with moderate sized thumbmarks, and is relatively compact in not departing greatly from a sphere or cube. A break in late flight took off a piece from one side, and the plane surface exposed is not as beautifully pitted. Not much material has been broken off and preservation is good, tho there are some cracks. There are evidently at least two parallel veins, shown by depressed melting zones or chains of pittings, as well as incipient cracks. The weight at Denny's scales In town was 258 3/4 Ibs., where O'Brien has Just weighed it a few days ago. The University of Texas thru Parkinson knows of it but will not pay anything for it. The Smithsonain [Smithsonian] Insitution [Institution] heard of it and has written an inquiry; a sample has been submitted to them. | |
