Jeffersonian Republican. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1840-1853, 1841-07-21
From the Worcester (Mass.) Spy.
Wonderful Escape from Lightning

WOn0er1uI ESCAPE tEOLn AAs AsMtMinS'
A more remarkable escape from death by
LIGHTNING than that we now place on record,
perhaps has never occurred in this country.
On the afternoon of The 30th nit, the children
from our several schools, TO the number OF up
wards of four hundred, were assembled at the
yestry of the Baptist Meeting house, preparato-
ryto pic mic which they were 10 attend TO the
Sd inst. About o'clock small cloud came
ND. from which heavy clap of thunder pro-
ceeded. apparently very near by, in conse-
ousnce of which, and of other indications OF
shower. they were dismissed in the hope that
they would have time TO reach their homes be-
fore il would rain. Itis estimated, however, that
not more than about one third of them had left
the room. when the building was struck by a
discharge of the electric fluid, which spent most
of its force in the lower part of the house, par
ticularly in the vestry where the children were
assembled The scene which ensued may be
imagined but cannot be described. OF the $50
children who were in the room, considerable
portion were struck Instantly 10 the floor. Fif-
teen or twenty who were crowding TO the door
were laid PROSTATE in heap, piled one upon
another. Some were stunned, and others ap-
pear to have been deprived, for time, of their
reason. Some dOzen or fifteen OF them were
more or less injured, but not one OF them dan
gerously! A daughter of the publisher of this
paper, about years old, was bllstered on her
wrist, on her left arm and on the bottoms of her
feet Her shoes were torn from her feet, the
upper leather rent to iatters and hole about
as large as would be made by good sized
buck shot was pierced by the electric fluid,
through the sole of each. When brought home,
her feet were much swollen and looked red and
infamed, as if they had been dipped in water
not quite hot enough to raise blister, except
on the soles directly over where the holes were
burnt IN the bottom of the shoes, where bisters
were raised. She could not stand, and COM
planned of numbness from her knees downward,
except in her feet, which were exceedingly
sore TO the touch. But she recovered so as 10
be about the house, apparently as well as usual,
the next morning, except slight lamsness
from the burn on one of her feet A child of
Lewis Thayer had her shoes torn from her feet
in similar manner Other children were
burnt on different parts of their bodies. All of
them, we believe, were in good degree re-
covered the next morning, except daughter Of
Peter Slater, who was more injured than the
rest, but not dangerously so.
hO " MdS Ohiug ~
unscientiric and defective manner in which the
conductor was fitted. In putting it up, hole
was drilled into rock some three or four feet
deep, into which the lower end was inserted
and there left, instead of being carried to where
il could communicate with some conducting
substance. 1t might just about as well have
been cut off al the surface of the earth AS
might have been expected the fluid, unable 10
escape at the lower end, exploded, and entered
the side of the house about midway from the
caves to the ground, and apparently at SOME
other places lower down. 1t tore off the clap
boards and covering for some extent about
the place where it first entered. Thence it
seems 10 have spread itself in all directions
through the lower part of the house. Timbers
were shlvered and the marks of the fluid are
TO be traced with more or less distinctness over
considerable portion of the vestry floor. The
children who were most injured were at the
end of the room next te the conductor, some of
them standing directly under an open window,
where, it is believed portion of the fluid en-
tered. The door is at the end of the room.
The cloud from which this shock proceeded
was, as we have before said, small; but little
rain fell from it at all, and, at the same time the
house was struck, we believe the sun ahone
bright