The Sun.
London, England, 1868-06-01 00:00:00

THE GREAT STORM.

The storm of Friday last is proved to have been more
destructive in its effects than was at first supposed. Not
only has it occasioned a lamentable loss of life, but many
persons have been so injured by the lightning that in three
cases serious doubts arc entertained whether they will ever
recover. In various parts of Essex it is reported that so
heavy was the rain that in less than half an hour large
tracts of land were under water, and cottages were flooded
to such an extent as to be rendered uninhabitable. While
the storm lasted the signalmen employed on the various
metropolitan and suburban railways, and more especially
those whose boxes are placed at a great height from the
ground, had a terrible time of it, many of them stating
that in all their experiencelhey never before witnessed
such effects as the storm produced. Many of the boxes
are fixed, as most persons know, on the tops of wooden
piles, and as the roofs are generally covered with zinc, and
the working of the signals is carried out with iron handles,
the men are on such occadons greatly exposed to the action
of the lightning. One man, who was found insensible in
one of the boxes, has not yet recovered. Most of the trains
were delayed during the prevalence of the storm, some of
them being half an hour behind time. Fortunately, how.
ever, no accident of any kind occurred.
Among the terrible accidents which occurred, one
happened at Poplar. Mr. Kelly, newsagent and stationer,
in Blackwall•cross, was in his bedroom in the act of comb-
ing his hair in front of a looking-glass, when the electric
fluid entered the window and killed him on the spot. The
heavy fall upon the floor alarmed his wife, who was below,
who on entering the room found her husband a corpse.
The medical aid which was called in traced the electric
fluid, penetrating the head and descending downwards.
Not the least damage was done to any portion of the
furniture in the room. _

Between nine and ten o'clock on Friday night three
men employed in a brickfield between Birchington and
Margate were struck down by the lightning. Two were
only rendered insensible for a time, but the third man,
named Clarke, was killed on the spot.
Morville Church, in Shropshire, was struck by lightning
during the storm, and sustained considerable damage.
The electric fluid first struck the south-west pinnacle of
the tower, breaking it in pieces, and scattering the frag-
ments of stone in all directions. One piece, weighing
201 b., was hurled the full length of the church, and
fell upon the roof at the end of the nave, breaking the
tiles. The lightning then flashed upon an iron pipe near
the vestry chimney, and passed into the vestry, where it
got into the nave of the church. Then it ran along the
stone floor of the aisle, turning up in a peculiarly regular
manner the cocoa-nut matting with which it was covered,
its pathway being marked by a scorched line. Branching
off finally towards the north, it appears to have exploded,
turning completely over in the process a large piece of the
flagstone flooring of the church. The earth beneath
the flag was not disturbed in the slightest degree, nor
were the pews in the vicinity, thimgh the books were all
found scattered about on the floor.
On Friday evening the lightning, which was extremely
vivid occasionally, struck a barn on the farm of Mr. G.
Allen, of Capel, in Essex. The barn immediately took
fire, and four men who were in it at the time had a narrow
escape. The barn was entirely destroyed, as well as a shed.
The wind shifted almost immediately after the fire broke
out, or the house, which was situated in close proximity to
the barn, must also have been destroyed.
From North and East Yorkshire accounts have been
received of the visitation of thunder, lightning, and rain,
but no accidents are reported. AtDoncaster, Mr. Bingley,

a gardener, who was in the open air, was struck by the
lightning, and only slightly hurt, but the windows in a

cottage near him were broken. About nine o'clock in
the morning a house was seriously injured in Gladstone-
street, Chesterfield. The roof was completely lifted up,
and slates, ridge tiles, and spars were shivered. to bits
like pieces of paper. The lightning then passed through
the ceilings of both back and front bed-rooms, peeling the
plaster off the walls close to the bed, then on to the stair-
case, which was also damaged, and afterwards escaped by
the back window. Considerable damage was done. There
were nine persons in the house at the time, but fortunately
they were downstairs, and received no injury. At about
the same time, a large oak tree a short distance off was split
in two by the electric fluid.
Two more of the girls employed at the fog-signal manu-
factory near Birmingham, where the explosion took place
on Friday, have died, leaving alive only two of the six
girls who were in the shed when the accident happened.
Very little hope is entertained of the recovery of one of the
survivors. Mr. Poole, the coroner for the district, corn.
menced an inquest on Saturday on the two girls who were
killed at once by the explosion and the fire. Evidence
having been given corroborating the facts we have already
published, the inquiry was adjourned to the 23rd inst. To
add to the melancholy nature of the catastrophe, it is
stated that one of the victims—Elizabeth Reynolds, aged
23—was to have been married this week.

BATII AND WEST OF ENGLAND EXHIBITION.—
The annual show in connection with the above society corn.
mences at Falmouth to-day. The JVcstern Moraing Noes
states that the programme is a model of its kind—a " bill
of fare of the utmost variety and completeness—a perfect
bewildernient of entertainments. Every effort has been
made to make this meeting the most successful the society
has ever witnessed, and, with fine weather, this result wiL
mitiastbibithilfittgiOsik.

town,

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