Litchfield enquirer., 1869-07-15
New Preston, Jaly 9th, 1869 s.. .e.a I.s GOSHEN. .~r

aaAs the account. of the damage done by the showers which visited us on Monday, the 2Sth, was necessarily incomplete in the last issue of your paper, I send you addi- tional particulars. A barn standing near the Methodist Meeting House at West Goshen, owned by MT. Nelson Wadhams, was struck by the lightning. which, with a Lightning glance" passed over it, tearing the ridge boards and rafters in it's course, but doing no considerable damage to the building. A barn on the Lemuel Palmer farm was al- so struck, but did not take fire. It also struck the house of MT. H. G. Smith, known as the Collins house, passing down the chimney, playing it's wild antics in va rious places, tearing the walls, ceiling and carpets. A lady member of the family
 had faint consciousness that the house was struck, and was next found lying upon the floor paralyzed either by the lightning or fright. No one passing the house, could have failed to notice the fine appearance of the house and surrounding buildings sufi- cient in number to constitute a villa, and yet it is singular fact that the house was one hundred years old, the day the light ming played with it. The sound at the time is described as that of @ succession of cannons.o The lightning also struck the house of MT. William Davis, known as the Goddard place, tearing the roof and inside of the house in its passage down the chimney, and paralyzing MT. Davis who sat near it, leaving marks upon his person, and killing two cats, one of which is re- ported as being at his feet, and the other in his lap.9 | Tillotson. an author, says,
 "cMen expect happiness to drop into their laps, 2 but he makes no mention of ex- pecting lightning. A tree was also struck on the farm of Deacon M.a D. F. Smith, the lightning passing down the tree, and following the main roots, tearing them out of the ground, and although number of cattle were under the tree, only one, a val uable COW, was killed. Deacon, two of his sons and nephew were within some twen
 ty rods of the tree when the lightning struck it. Deacon describes the sensation as prostrating and paraly yzing in the Iex- treme,, and although every circumstance connected with the occurrence was very unpleasant, we venture to say the shock to his pocket in the loss of the COW was the pleasantest of the two, and called forth grateful acknowledgements for the safety of himself and family. aa4bTo-7zol' jA5a
 = The morning of Monday the 9th, the day we celebrated our national anniversa-l nm ", was ushered in by the booming of cannon ara "a and the ringing of bells. The weather was delightfully."- cool, and we trust we were duly and coolly thankful Accord ing to previous arrangements, the three sahbatl, Schools and the inhabitants gene- rally. met at I M. in the Center, and hay- ing formed into procession, were escorted by the Marshals to the grove The Corn wall Hollow Sabbath School united with us in the celebration of the day. together with < large number of individuals from other towns. The whole procession when in line. was more than mile in length, and was pleasant and imposing sight. Seve- ral large national flags were carried, be- sides small flags worn upon the horses IL - Y