The Sun.
London, England, 1846-07-01 00:00:00

SEVERE THUNDER STORM IN

GLOUCESTER.

On Thursday this city and neighbourhood were_ I
visited by an appalling thunder storm. Partial showers
had fallen early in the day, but about noon a mass of
clouds, heavy and black, was. observed approtcehing the
ity, from S.W., and the portentous vapour apparently
gathlnred density as it sailed along. Vivid flashes of •
lightnie sprung from it in rapid succession, and otteUf
lg
the peals of thunder was terrific). A herald fiashteet
the cloi.1(1, and the peal which followed it instantaneously
was so 1-2rofound—near—horrible—that the stoutest =
ring its prolonged roar. The very
th the shod( of the waning elements,
housesspirit cvoiwbrearte'd4 It'd*.ui
while a violent and h: "Y
storm of hail that also raged,
increased the confused ick:
unds pervading the stanosphent.
that the storm did not pass
il We regret being obliered to at,l/41
over us harmlessly. '?he first tat -h owe on the Stroud:sad
was struck by the lightning, and consli;,"rably damaged.
One moment it was safely sheltering a nOnber of per-
sons who had sought refuge there from the violence d
the storm, and the next the front of the house w•Zul burst,
the upper and lower windows being almost converted
into one, all the windows were blown out and shivered ,
to atoms • the crockery on the shelves was broken, the' ,
window lawn twisted off the hinges 'lced. thrown intts
the field on the opposite side, while the inmates were
dashed about the Boor. Confused, sense and sight
reeling amidst the ari-owy, resistless fire of heaven,
none of them are capaNe of giving an intelligible
account of the catastrophe. As far as we can learn,
it would appear that immediately after the thunder
•
crashed, the gable of the house was dashed in, the mate-
rials falling in all directions. Three ckldren belonging
to Mr. Power, and a servant, who were standing near
the stairs, escaped unhurt. The toll-keep:'' Paish,
and his wife were also untouched, while their baby,
only fourteen days old, which was in an old woman's lap-
was thrown out of it, and fell on the floor, but 1414 ILIA
hurt. One woman, however, had her clothes set on fire;
before the flames could be extinguished she was burnt
very badly ; another woman was burnt about the legs,.
and a third was also hurt. A boy was also burnt, and
is now deaf from the shock, and another boy has lost
his hearing. But the severest injury was sustained by a
man named George Johnson. At the time the house
was struck he was leaning against the door ; his protifs:
was actually burnt on the wood by the lightning. The'
outline of the head and face is quite perfect, the space
within it being charred. Johnson sustained a cut under
his eye, his stnock•frock was burnt off his back, and he
was completely paralysed by the shock. The sufferers
were immediately conveyed to the Glocester General In-
firmary, where their injuries were attended to, and they are
all gradually recovering. The lightning apparently was
attracted by an elm tree 50 feet high, which overhangs
the house, and it stripped off the bark as it descended,
and it is supposed that the stream of the fluid divided,
one portion being attracted by the lamp at the toll-
house, while the other shivered the root of an adjoining
tree, and was then lost in the earth. Mr. John Knowles,
of Wotton, was also struck down by the electric fluid,
near Barnwood Turnpike. He was walking along
the road, and it was attracted by a shovel and pick
axe, which he was carrying on his shoulder ; the
handle of the latter was shattered, Mr. Knowles was
prostrated in the road, his clothes shivered into
ribbons, and besides being severely burnt in the back,
his legs were paralysed; he is, however, recovering. At
Minsterworth, near this city, a man and woman sought
shelter beneath a cart loaded with hay, belonging to
Mr. Barratt, farmer, when the horses, startled by the
thunder ran away, and the wheels of the waggon went
over the poor creatures, breaking one of the arms of the
man and dislocating the hip of the woman in a frightful
manner. The sufferers were removed to the Gloucester
Infirmary, where they are now lying in a precarious
state, A horse was struck dead in an orchard belonging
to Mr. George Price, of Thornburg. From every direc-
tion we hear of slighter accidents from the effects of the
lightning.— Gloucester Chronicle.

PRINTERS' ALMS-HOUSE FUND._The annual meeting
. e
of the friends and subscribers was hem in the theatre of the
Mechanics' Institution en Monday; Luke Jas. Ibuisard, Esq.,
in the chair. Mr. J. Dark"
th Secretary, congratulated
the subscribers on
with during the short
extraordinary success they had met
tittle the institution had been in ex-
istence;
iaot the present time they had invested with the
c ers for the Reduction of the National Debt
ommiss
Loooz, and they were in a position to invest a larger
sum. The amount of their present capital, including the
receipts for the past year, and an addition of 201. handed
to the Secretary at the meeting—(Loud and continued
cheers)—was 1,797/. 15s id., whilst their expenses amounted
only to 231., leaving a balance of 1,7741. 15s. Id. The report
recommended that the committee be empowered to lay out.
6001. in the purchase of an eligible plot of ground within rive
miles of the metropolis, on which it was proposed to com-
mence the institution by the erection of six houses, to be in-
creased as their funds permitted. They also recommended
the first stone should be laid by Luke James Hansard, Esq.
—(Loud cheers.) The report was adopted. The name of
the institution was changed to that of the Printers' Provident
Retreat, the officers of the institutiou were re-elected, and
thanks were given the chairman.
GLASS CUTTERS' ANNITERSART.—OR Mondry, this
ingenious body of workmen formed in procession, and paraded
the streets of the metropolis, attended by two military bands
of music, and afterwards sat down to an excellent dinner, at
the Eyre Arms Tavern. Some years ago their procession
consisted of from 500 to 600, but yesterday exhibited a woful
falling off in their numbers.

DECREASE OF CRIME IN HAMPSHIRE.—There have
not been so few prisoners for trial in the county gaol in this
city for the last fifteen years as at the present moment.
Three only are waiting to be tried at the sessions holden
Monday, 6th July; thirty-five males and six females at the
assizes commencing Monday, the 13th of July; but four of
those prisoners are committed for crimes of serious mag-
nitude. On the civil side so few cases are entered up to this
date that many of the long-robe gentlemen must submit to
go briefiess. Debtors' sides: There are only four on the
master's and five on the country or poor sides.
CURIOUS MOTTO.—The pavement of the Church of
Santa Maria del Fiore, at Florence, says a correspondent of
The Builder, is curious, and repmsents the signs of the
Zodiac, with the sun in the centre, surrounded by the fol-
lowing strange line, which can be read either way :
" En giro torte sol ciclos et rotor igne."
SINGULAR SUICIDE.—On Friday evening, an elderly
female, named Webber, seventy-five years of age, committed
suicide in a most determined manner, by cutting her thrust
with a razor, under a clump of trees in Bonner:6-13.1de,
within a hundred yards of the chief entrance gate into the
Victoria Park.