Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1869-07-14
SINGULAR EFFECTS OF LIGHTNING
An "Upyvard" Stroke.
From the Lexington (Vt.l Gazette. I

From the Lexington tVt.i Gazette
| About two o'clock on the 1st of June 3
| heavy cloud passed over Lexington, from
which sudden and violent peal of th11n
der startled the'whole town, succeeding the
flash of lightning so quickly as to impress
every one with the belief that the ssstroke'
was near at hand. This was soon found
to be true for the 'mysterious AGENT had
visited, in very unceremonious way.
the residence of Mr.. Francis Jinks, who
lives on the northwest border of the town.
The features of the phenomenon were
in some respects very remarkable. /. II
seems to have been what the electri-
clans call san upward stroke, that is,
according to DR.. Franklin's theory OF
electricity, the cloud was in negative
condition, and by its attractive force had
accumulated heavy charge of the "elec-
trio fluid (if it be fiuid) in that part OF
the earth below. In its efforts to reach
the cloud the electricity would OF
course pass off at the point where it
found the least resistance to it's upward
flow, which, in this case, seems to have
been Mr.. Jink's lightning rod. 2. A Second
peculiarly was tie effects upon the ground
in the vicinity of the house. The soil near
the surface was furrowed in four zigzaa
lines nearly at right angles to each other,
and all converging toward the lightning
rod, which stands at the western end of the
house. These furrows were upheaved very
much as if large mole had plowed his
tortuous path beneath the soil, coming
near enough to the surface i'll some parts to
throw the clay entirely out on both sides
of its open track. Two of the burrows seem
TO have commenced at least twenty feet
from the base of the rod in opposite Sides
and to have run in lines nearly parallel
with the end of the house, while a third
one met them, coming distance of fifteen
feet and varying little from a perpendic-
ular to the general line of the first two.
These three seem to have taken their harm
less fight through the rod. The fourth,
however, which had It's origin on
the opposite end of the house and
more than thirty-feet from the rod
behaved in q much more singular
manner-in fact, it appears to have
acted as sort of independent stroke. In
stead of passing on to the rod it took q
shorter route into the atmosphere (or
wherever it went) by running into heavy
locust post on which a cornag of the back
porch rested, and at the point of the build
ing most remote from the lightning rod. =
The post was utterly demolished, it's frass-
menus De1ng thrown on IN every direction,
some knocking the planEs off the yard
fence, and others flying away to the dis
tance of a hundred yards. From the To-
custpost the electricity passed up wooden
pillar which supported the porch roof, tear
ing it into thousand splinters. When the
charge reached the roof it tore up few
shingles near the corner, but after that it
seems to have lost its power; for, although
the house is story higher than the porch,
and intervenes between the stricken corner
and the lightning rod, not trace of cleo
trio action could be found beyond the cor
ner of the porch roof Mr.. and Mrs. Jinks,
who were at the. time in their basement
dining room, were both severely shocked,
but received no permanent injury. The
place was carefully examined after the
storm was over by Professor Campbell of
Washington College, who expresses the
opinion that the lightning rod saved both
the house and its occupants. He thinks
that the violence of the discharge was due
in part to the insufficient size of the rod
(it being a slender iron rodl, and in part to
the want of perfect conducting commune
cation between the rod and the earth.
These suggest important points to De at
tended to in the construction of lightning
rods