The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-08-13
KILLED FROM A CLEAR SKY.


! pareuGly couple OF miles from thi
place, singular freak of nature tool
place in the striking by lightning of tn,
depot, and the striking and killing
subsequently, of J. 81. Boyer, the post
master and blacksmith of this place
At about 5 O'Clock in the afternoon, a
which time not a cloud obscured SlA
| sky overhead or stood between the SUI
and the town, terrible flash of light
ming followed by deafening. peal O
thunder, struck the wires Of the tele
graph Office and set it on fire. The
damage done to the telegraphic ap
paratus was most complete, the wires
being torn to pieces and the different
instruments being almost without ex
ception distorted and broken and com.
pletely wrecked. Immediately after
the stroke John 81. Boyer, who was in
his shop at the time, ran out in the
street toward the depot, where some
boys lad been playing. He approached
them ganid1y, and sssd, G' Why boys, ]
thought some of yc lad been struck.
I was quite frightened on account OF
you" He evidently had it in his mind
that the terrible shock might have
frightened his family, as he starte
tO"dLO 11o " hCA
within about so yards of tie house,
from the front window of which his wife
was anxiously watching his approach,
another vivid flash of lightning da1zled
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 number of
people, among them his wife, rushed to
the spot, and SO horribls was the situa-
tion that it was not until he had been
carried to the house that a full ap-
probation was had of the terrible death
which nature had inflicted upon him.
An examination of the BODY, from which
every vestige of clothing, not excluding
even pair of cowhide boots, had been
instantly torn, showed that the subtle
and terribly fatal fluid had first struck
him on the top of his head, whence,
though the skull was left apparently in
tact, the hair had been burned off for
the space of the size of silver dollar.
Thence the fluid had run down the side
of the face, as was shown by clearly
cut track to the shoulder, and thence to
the heart, where it apparently 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 mans body had
been picked up, of a hole eight feet
deep by actual measurement. The
clothing of the deceased was found to
have been shredded, and when first
discovered was on fire, while the silver
watch he carried had been driven into
the ground, and when lifted up, it was
found that the works had been fused
into lump of shapeless metal. The
scene at the house of the deceased who
leaves a wife and three children to
mourn his loss, was painful beyond
power of words to describe, 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 deceased was
both loved and revered by all who knew
him in either public or private life.
The Marvellous Eex Motor.
While Kelley and his Philadelphia
friends have been talking and writing
about his great invention of a motor
that is to do the work of steam at
small fraction of its cost, John A. Hoe
tor, of Rochester. n. Y, and his back
ers, have brought the newly discovered
vapor to the test of utility for hauling
trains of loaded cars on a railway, and
driving balls and other missiles frori
guns, large or small, employed in war;
We find in the Rochester Union over
two columns of details of these inter
esting experiments, the material facts
of which we shall state in fewer words.
AS steam is kind of vapor generated
in one metal vessel called boiler, and
useG in another acting on a piston, 80
this new machine has two metal globes,
in one of which vapor is generated of
prodigious tension, and passes into an
other globe by connecting tube for
service as a motive power. The first
in the presence of many
witnesses were made with globes about
the size of an orange applied to drive
the ball OF an Enfield rifle 500 yards
into target of three inch plank, backed
by plate of iron one fourth of an inch
in thickness. The small generating
globe contained about a wine glass full
of water. When the gun was to be
fired, Mr.. Hoctor breathed air into the
globe holding water and the volatile
from which the vapor was
evolved, so much more expansible than
that of water, through an India rubber
tube. This breath of air with no ex-
plosive chemicals, discharges the gun.
On examining the target there was found
q clean cut hole through the three inch
plank and the thick plate of iron be-
hind it. AS there was no report from
the gun bystanders did not believe the
ball had left it. When several shots
had been fired with like result, the
target was removed 100 yards farther
from the gun, which was elevated, to
suit the range, and fred again. The
ball passed through the plank but not
the iron. Without once re-
charging the wineglass of water with
material, over fifty shots
were made by count, and the inventor
all day and use nothing but balls and
air in the operation, except the little
water and vapor in a globe no larger
than IN orange!
Several gentlemen breathed into the
globe through the rubber tube and fired
the gun repeatedly, satisfying them
selves and all others present that moth
ing more was necessary to develop the
wondeful force which drove the ball
from the rifle With such weapons war
must be wholesale murder, and civil
lied nations will be compelled to find
better way to decide and settle their
Mr.. Hoctor proposed to take a train
of cars at the speed of mile minute
over one of the railroads coming into
Rochester, and the Ontario Lake Shore
railroad was rendered for the purpose of
an experiment. The metal globe in
which the vapor was generated held
bucket of water, and air was forced into
it by bellows worked by foot freddie.
The little engine had hardly weight
enough on the track to start the train,
which consisted of two passenger cars
and baggage car, well loaded with
deeply interested spectators. Our
namesske says:
At first the motion was slow and
ierky, but as the momentum increased
the pulse of the engine became more
regular, and in a few moments it was
moving as steady as a locomotive. BY
the end of the first mile the speed had
increased to such an extent as almost to
take the breath out of those that were
facing the cool morning lake breeze.
The second mile the train seemed fairly
to fly, the run being made by several
timers present in FIVE seconds less than
a minute. At theeommencement OF the
third mile the cock was gradually turned
opI 1I,o 5000 .I0xuoH Gown until a gtOn