The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1875-07-31
STRUCK DEAD IN A TwINKLING
DepIOrnbIe Effects of IA Flash oil
LIGHTNING From "a Clear Sky.

From the Sioux City Qowa Journal, July
10.
While the thunder storm Of ycster
terday afternoon was raging at dis
lance of apparently q couple of miles
from this place, a singular freak o
nature took place in the striking OF the
depot, and the striking and killing subse-
quently of J. II. Boyer, the postmaster
and blacksmith Of this place. At about
five o'clock in the afternoon, at which
time not a cloud obscured the sky over.
head, bolt of lightning followed by
deatening peal Of thunder, struck the
wires OF the telegraph office and set it
on fire. The damage done to the tele-
graphic apparatus was most complete,
the wires being torn to pieces and the
different instruments being almost with
out exception distorted and broken and
completely wrecked. Immediately after
the stroke John IL. Boyer, who was in
his shop at the time, ran out III the
street toward the depot where some
boys had been playing. He approached
them rapidly and SAID: "Why, boys, l
thought some of you had been struck.
| was frightened on account Of you
He evidently had it in his mind that the
terrible shock might have frightened
his family, as he started towards his
home Immediately, When within about
fifty wards of his house, from the front
window of which his wife was anxiously
watching his approach, another vivid
flash of lightning dazzIed the eyes OF
all and ere the thunder had ceased rolling
the naked body of the unfortunate man
was seen to be lying prone upon the
ground. a humber of people, among
them his wife, rushed to the spot, and
so horrible was the situation that IL was
not until he had been carried to the
house That full appreciation was had
of the terrible death which nature had
inflicted upon him. An examination OF
the body, from which every vcstisc OF
clothing, not excluding even pair OF
cowhide boots, had been instantly torn
showed that the subtle and terribly iata
fluid had first struck hun on thetOp of the
head. whence, though the skull was lett
apparently intact, the hair had been
burned of for the space Of the size OF n
silver dollar. Thence the fluid had run
down the side of the face, rs was shown
by clearly cut track, to the shoulder,
and thence to hi, heart, where 1t APP
parently had spread all over the body
The terrible power Of the fluid was
shown by the presence in the ground, on
the spot where the unfortunate man
body had been picked up, Of Il hole eight
feet deep by actual measurement. Inc
clothing of the deceased was found to
have been shredded and when first dis
covered was on fire, while the silver
watch he carried had been driven into
the ground, and when lifted up 1t was
found that the works had been fused INTO
lump of shapless metal. The scene at
the house of the deceased, who leaves his
wife and three children to mourn his
loss, was painful beyond power to de-
scribe, and those who had been led to the
spot through curiosity could not remain.
The affair has created the profoundest
sensation in the town, where the deceaS-
ed was both loved and revered by all
who knew him in either public or pri-
waite life.