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farm near Vernon, Kansas, sometime in the middle of April. “It was occupied by six of the strangest beings I ever saw,”’ he declared. ‘‘They were jabbering together, but we could not understand a syllable they said.” He described the object as being 300 feet long with a transparent glass carriage underneath. ‘“‘It was brilliantly lighted within, and everything was clearly visible. There were three lights: one like an immense searchlight and two smaller, one red, the other green. The large one was susceptible of being turned in every direction... Every part of the vessel which was Not transparent was of a dark reddish color.” A “great turbine wheel about 30 feet in diameter” revolved underneath. As his little group watched, the machine began to buzz and rise upward. Then it paused directly over a three-year-old heifer, which apparently was caught in the fence. ‘‘Going to her,’’ Hamilton said, “‘we found a cable about half an inch in thickness, made of the same red material, fastened in a slip knot around her neck, one end passing up to the vessel and tangled in the wire [fence].”’ He tried to free the calf but couldn’t. So he cut the wire and watched helplessly as the ship and calf rose slowly into the air and sailed away. The next day the branded hide, legs, and head of the animal were found on the property of Lank Thomas, who lived about four miles away. Farmer Hamilton not only signed an affidavit, but he collected the town’s most prominent citizens, including the local sheriff, justice of the peace, doctor and postmaster, and had them all sign a statement testifying that they had known him for from fifteen to thirty years ‘‘and that for truth and veracity we have never heard his word questioned and that we do verily believe his statement to be true and correct.” (Yates Center, Kansas, The Farmer’s Advocate, April 23, 1897). This case is significant not only because of the detailed description of the transparency of the object, but because it was the first of a long line of cattle-rustling reports concerning UFOs. The theft and mutilation of dogs, cattle and horses have become unpleasantly commonplace in flap areas. Texas had more than its share of sightings during 1897, and many of them were concentrated in the region where John Martin had reported seeing a flying saucer in 1878. On April 22, 1897, Mr. John M. Barclay conversed, allegedly, with a man from an oblong machine with wings and brilliant lights “‘which appeared much brighter than electric lights.’’ He had been awakened about 11 P.M. by his furiously barking dog, and when he looked outside, he saw the object hovering stationary about 15 feet 76 / Operation Trojan Horse