Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1871-03-02

How q Fssls 10 n Sraccx n Lsssr.
xrsa.-6eerge Mills writes as fa!lsxs:
o. the evening Of the l0eh of July, 1910.
I was struck By lighenisg. under the fol-
lowing ciresmsAancss: I an afarmcr. aud
had gone 10 the pastass. three -fourths Of
o mile from the house. o. horseback, 70
drive home the cows. A heavy shower
had just fallen. accompanied by much
lightning and load thunder. and Q little
rain was ssill falliag-vs would say Il
was ..sprinkling." While riding through
the Geld I discovered small cluster sf
eoekle-burrs. noxious wssd that insesss
many iAruas in shis secsjsa q he country.
The czstis were feeding ssae -. I dis>
mounted ord hed the horss u sas haaa.
and proceeded to pull up the barr, with
the other. - y
While STOPPING 70 pun he iast one. my
hand grasped close 10 The root, ths hone
standing With his head partly over nv
s.copinS body. dash Of lightning struck
the horse. entering his head in snd Be.
bind bis leA ear. tearing two holss IN The
skin behind The eas. and though hs vas wes
with the rain. the bair Was sinssd from bis
head, neck, shoulders. and one front Leg
to the ground; he. of course, wss instan:.
ly killed. A small portion Of the cleo
,ric fuid struck me on the right temple.
singeiug the lashes Of the right sye and
burning or sealding the face. rendering
me unconscious for little time. The fol-
lowing were the sensations and phenom.
ena. = I observed and remembered tAsu
First. I fels myself enveloped In . sheet.
Of perfectly white light. accompanied hy
. sense Of sutfocstion by heat.
The light could be seen ss well through
the back Of the head a. with the eyes, ssd
appeared to extend several feet On al
aides Of me; then I experienced . sense
Of danger. and tried to escape injury from
my horse. Then followed Q troubled
dream, in which wss hauling q load Of
bay in company With smother pssoa. aad.
in spite Of oil the effort I could make n
avoid it. the load of hay was about 10 fall
on me. When in the dream made
last desperate effort to spring from under
the hay. I found myself standing on ~
feet. The 6rst thing I observed was that
the cattle. in fright. we're running fron
me, and next, that I stood in front of he
PROSTATE horse.
Instantly I comprehendsd The sitas-
ton and listr ned to hear the thunder that
should accompanied the lightning. but no
thunder could be heard. I felt no pain
and no sensation. except q mental sxul-
.sasion.- which lastsd bat 6ss saoanAa-
At drss I Thought the lightning had struck
near me. aud had slightly stunned the
horse and myself. Then I observed the
water on every hair and tho moisture In
the eyes. nostrils and mouth Of tie hosss
to be boiling. having the appearance and
making . noisc like fine drops Of water on
= hot iron. which continued for several
seconds.
This was q phenomenon never have
heard Of. probably because . person near
enough TO zee it is most always rendered
unconscious too long to make the obser.
vatiou. Judging from the distance the
cattle had run. l was probably unconscious
less than six seconds.
Finding that the horse did not breathe.
I proceeded to pull of the saddle and bril-
die. and then l felt severe pain in my
head. which continued for several hours,
followed by soreness. which seemed 10 hs
in the substance of the brain. with An in
clirstion to Inflammation. but At the cad
Of wssk no effects Of the igh:nioS vsro
felt.