The Sun.
London, England, 1859-07-23 00:00:00

TEUNDERSTO_RMS.

In Yorkshire and Lancashire, in common with
many other parts of the country, violent thunder-
storms have occurred this week. The lightning was
very vivid, and was accompanied with heavy falls of
rain and hail, the latter in many instances being
little less .than showers of masses of ice, the hail-
stones being so large and numerous. Several cattle
and sLeep are reported to have been killed, and one
or two human beings. The destruction of the grow-
ing crops, windows, and other property is immense.
At Hemsworth, near Wakefield, on Monday even-
ing, the hailstones, or rather small blocks of ice,
were of a peculiar shape, and from two to three
inches in length. Every pane of glass in the man-
sion of Major Vincent, at Hemsworth, Lane Ends,
was more or less broken. Mrs. Vincent says she
could compare the commencement of the storm to
nothing hilt a vast avalanche, destroying everything
in its way. At Painthorpe and Chapeithorpe, also
near Wakefield, the ground was covered with large
hailstones the morning after the storm, and in both
places numbers of windows were shattered. At
Wakefield much damage was done by the rain as
well as the hail, many windows being broken and
dwelling-houses inundated. At York on Monday
night and Tuesday morning the storm was very
~
severe, and an agricultural labourer named Low-
ther, residing at Barnsby, while proceeding to work;
was struck with the electric fluid, and expired '
directly. A companion with whom he was walking
had his clothes burnt, but received no further in-
jury. Considerable damage was done in the neigh-
bourhood to houses, &c. At Pontefract on Monday
the storm was accompanied by a terrific fall of hail,
and a great number of windows were broken—
scarcely a house on one side of the town escaping.
The storm lasted an hour, and several, cornfields and
other crops were literally cut up. At Knaresborough
the storm was terrific. The electric fluid passed
down the chimney of Mrs. Shann's house, in High
Bond-end, and through the Jitchen roof. In its
course it struck Mrs. Shann's son, but did no more
than stun him. The houses in two or three places ,
were inundated, but the storm was not attended
with any fatal result. The crops in the dis-
trict have not suffered so much as was anticipated.
At Bramhope and Otley the storm raged with great
fury, but happily without doing much damage. At ,
Bramhope the house of Mr. S. Cawthrees was en-
tered by the lightning ,the glass of the clock broken
and one of the daughters struck down insensible.
She was restored, however, in a short time. At
Holmfirth, though the storm was very severe, no -
serious damage was done, save the destruction of
several thousand squares of glass in the town and
at Thongs-bridge, Netherthong, Cliff, and other
places. At Doncaster the storm was not so severe,
and passed over without doing much damage. At
Huddersfield the storm, with the exception of a
" down-pour" of rain, was not much felt. At Hill-
house a house was struck, but received little injury.
At Honley a furious hailstorm broke many hundred
squares of glass. At Kirkburton many houses were
flooded, and the thunder was loud and continuous,
but the damage done, however, was trifling. All
around the suburbs of Huddersfield the glaziers
were reaping a rich harvest. Around Snalth the
hailstones were larger than hen's eggs, and win-
dows were broken everywhere. At Malton the
storm continued without intermission from 6 in the
evening to between 3 and 4 next morning. Beyond
the death of a few sheep and the destruction of
some trees, no more serious accident from the
lightning occurred. At Oldham, Middleton, St.
Helen's, and Warrington the destruction of glass
has been immense. At Warrington alone it is said
50,000 squares of glass have been broken by the
hailstones, some of which were four inches in
circumference, and at Haslingden a woman
was killed by the lightning. At Leeds there
was a heavy fall of rain on Wednesday night
with thunder and lightning, and some damage was
done by the flooding of several dwelling-houses,
warehouses, and other places. The same evening
there was a second heavy storm at -Wakefield, by
which the low-lying portion of the town was sub-
ject
to immense damage from the accumulation of
water. All the lower apartments of the houses
were flooded to the extent of some five or six
feet, and the inhabitants lige to take refuge in
the upper storeys. Whet! the usual service
was concluded in St. Mary's Chantry the
clergyman and congregation found their egress
stopped by a swollen stream of water. They were
kept prisoners in the chapel for some hours, and on
a partial subsidence of the tempest had to be con-
veyed away in cabs. In Back-lane 15 yards of a
wall, eight feet high, which formed the northern
boundary of the Unitarian Chapel, was swept away •
by the flood, which broke open the schoolroom doors
in its progress, choking up and destroying the in-
terior. At Cheviot-park, the residence of Sir Lionel
Pilkington, the High Sheriff of Yorkshire, all the
windows and a great deal of the valuable furniture
were utterly destroyed. Sir Lionel estimates the
damage to his house and crops at £6OO. Mr. Ibbot-
son, one of Sir Lionel's tenants, had 30 acres of
splendid wheat utterly ruined, and estimates his
loss at £BOO. Mr. Richardson, of Woodthorpe,
sustained damage to the 'extent of £300; and at
Walton £l,OOO will barely cover the loss sustained
by Mr. Charles Coldweli, Mr. Ellis, of the same
place, has also had his crops damaged to the extent
of £3OO or £4OO. Yesterday (Friday) afternoon
there was a heavy fall of rain at Leeds, with some
lightning and thunder.
WOKINGHAM.-It is now nearly 20
.years since
the neighbourhood of this town was visited with
such an awful storm of thunder, lightning, and hail
as occurred on the afternoon of Wednesday, the
20th inst. The atmosphere had been highly charged
with electricity for several days previously, and
while most people expected a ,storm, no one ima-
gined there was in reserve such an awful fury of
the elements as the inhabitants had to experience
on the day in question. In the morning the clouds
were thick and heavy, and the temperature ap-
proached some Nhat that which people have to ex-
perience in the East Indies. It was about 2 o'clock
in the afternoon when the rumbling of thunder was
heard, and the storm slowly approached the town.
The lightning was continuous and vivid, and the
rain for half an hour fell in torrents deluging the
streets, and carrying almost everything before it.
Hail accompanied the storm, but it was not of such
strength as to do anything but trifling damage in the
town. In a district a few miles hence, and in a direc-
tion from south-west to east, for the distance of
several miles, the storm exceeded in violence that
of the year 1840, when a large breadth of agricul-
tural produce was laid prostrate and most seriously
injured. The storm was not one of ordinary hail,
but of large rough pieces of ice, and it fell with
unabated fury for the space of about half an hour.
Field after field of corn, ready for the sickle, and
in some of which reaping had already been begun
and men wire busy at work, has been knocked
down. Men reaping were glad to hasten away
and find shelter in the nearest hovel or shed from
the violence of the tempest, trembling even for
their own safety. The inmates of houses were
alarmed with the noise of crashing glass, and in a
little time all around seemed to be but one mass of
ice, which lay several inches thick upon the ground.
From the parish of Binfield towards Maidenhead
par-
ticularly heavy and severe. It is impossible
Thicket the storm appears to have bee
done.
Conservatories idea of themischief
give
anything like an adequate
hd ed
privateand
houses, from the numerous broken
nmotroe
windows in the
nCootnhsiezatbourtietshehafrvaembeweeonrkfelawrmfualliynssranas
residences] of the gentry and farmers, present the
appearance
of thearance clergyman of the parishofhavmgbeenriddledb of Hurstymusketry The
house has
most of the windows broken ; house after house in
the same locality has been in the same proportion
damaged. At the house of one gentleman, a magis-
trate of the county, the damage to the conserva-
tory and mansion cannot be estimated at a less
sum than between £2OO and £3OO. On one farm
at Hurst nearly a doien gallinas were killed by the
hail; and in another place a few young rabbits
were discovered by a gamekeeper to be so much
injured that they were unable to move. Geese,
too, were found to be greatly bruised, and their
wings were nearly broken by the large pieces of
ice which fell in the storm. The destruction of
corn exceeds all present computation, the grain of
wheat, barley, and oats appearing to be stripped
from the stalks, and fields so vastly cut about that
the expense of cutting the crop now standing must
greatly exceed the value of the corn that can be
hereafter obtained from threshing. The farmers are
great sufferers, unless they are secured by a new kind
of insurance that has sprung up in the last few
years ; but of this nothing is yet known. It is the
general belief that the storm in this district ex-
ceeded in violence and the mischief done that which
so greatly alarmed the people here as far back as
the year 1839 or 1840.

SERIOUS CHARGE OF SHOOTING AT A GAME-
KEEPER.—About half-past five o'clock on r3unday morning
last, John Donaldson, head-gamekeeper to the winger-
worth estate, and a tenter named Range' were out watch-
ing, when they heard a shot fired in gpeight-hill wood,
into which they enteted and saw a Ar ,an who proved to be
Samuel Turner, of Brampton, iron' tone miner, and an-
other person, run into a clover fielej. Donaldson pursued
and overtook Turner, who threats Led that if he approached
any nearer he would shoot by ,n. Notwithstanding this
threat Donaldson made towards'l Nirnor, who re-commenced
running. Donaldson again app; reached near to him, when
he turned round and said, "It -3 ou come any further I'll
shoot you on the spot." Dons Aldson made a dash at Tur-
ner, when the latter raised his gun to his shoulder • upon
i of the gun and fortunately
trT...gger was pulled instantly and
dthiviser Donaldsonted
Aping the groin of the keeper.
its
s course.str uckThthee e
esc
Rthaensgheorttwheenntcaomff,e just
Turner was secured. The other
man effected his escape.
On Monday last Turner was
brought before E. G. M
aynard, Esq., and committed for
trial at the ensuing af isizes, bail being refused.—. Derby
Reporter.