The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1871-05-13
Struck by Lightning.
now IT FEEIs-A VOICE FROM TIE suAD-
Ow or DEATH.

oW or DEATH.
The Chicago Tribune has the following
from Rochelle, Ill. =; On the evening of
the tenth day of July, 1870, was struck
by lightning under the following circum~
stances: l am farmer, and had gone to
the pasture, three-fourths of mile from
he house, on horseback to drive home
some cows. A heavy shower had just
fallen, accompanied by much Lightning
and loud thunder, and little rain was
still fallng-we would say it was 'sprink-
ling While riding through the field
discovered small cluster of cookie burrs,
a noxious weed that infests many farms
in this section of the country. The cat
tie were feeding near me. l dismounted
and held the horse with one hand, and
proceeded 10 pull up the burrs with the
other. While STOPPING to pul! up the
last one, my hand grasped close to the
root, the horse standing with his head
partly over my STOPPING body,
A FLASH OF LIGHTNING
struck the horse, entering his head in and
behind his left ear, tearing two holes in
was wet with the rain, the hair was
singed from his head, neck and shoulders,
and one trout leg to the ground be, of
course, was instantly killed. A small por-
ton of the electro fluid struck me on the
right temple, singing the lashes of the
right eye, and slightly burning or scalding
the face, rendering me unconscious for a
little time. The following were the SEN
sations and phenomena as l observed and
remember them; First, l felt myself
enveloped in a sheet of perfectly white
light, accompanied by sense of sutfoca>
ton by heat. The light could be seen as
well through the back of the head as with
the eyes, and appeared to extend several
feet on all sides of me then l expert
enced a sense of danger, and tried to es-
cape injury from my horse. Then fol~
lowed
A TROUBLED DREAM,
in which l was hauling load of hay in
company with another person, and in
spite of all the effort / could make to
avoid it, the load of hay was about to fall
on me. When in the dream ] made
last desperate effort TO spring from under
the load of hay, found myself standing
on my feet. The first thing l observed
was that the cattle, in fright, were rum
ming from me, and next, that stood in
front of tile PROSTATE horse. Instantly I
comprehended the situation, and listened
to hear the thunder that should have &C.
companied the lightning, but no thunder
could be heard. l felt no pain and no
sensation, except mental exultation,
which lasted but few seconds. At first
l thought The lightning had struck near
me, and had sligbgtly stunned the horse
and myself. Then | observed the water
on every hair and the moisture of the
eyes, nostrils and mouth of the horse to
be boiling, having the appearance and
making a noise like fine drops of water on
hot iron, which continued for several
seconds. This was phenomenon l have
never heard of, probably because per-
son near enough TO see it is most always
rendered unconscious too long TO make
the observation. Judging from the dis
tance the cattle had run, was uncon-
scious less than six seconds.
Finding that the horse did not breathe,
| proceeded TO pull off the saddle and bril-
die, and then felt a severe pain in my
head, which continued for several hours,
followed by soreness which seemed to be
in the substance of the brain, with an in
clination to inflammation, but at the end
of week no effects of the lightning were
felt.