The daily gazette., 1879-05-19
LusHTSrxe ON A sRxDER.
The Saturday Thunder 0torn...A
Bundle s0f fhunderbOlts end the
Damage They Did In Town.


The thermometer went up to the nine
ties on Saturday at noon, and IL was no
wonder that thunder storm which fol-
lowed was particularly violent. The
storm commenced shortly after 1870
o'clock, and was at It's hight at about ons
O'clock The thunder was very loud and
almost incessant and the lightning blind
ing in Its vividness. The war OF the ele-
ments continued fierce'y from / O'Clock
abated in violence. The rain fel In tor
rents and all the accompanimen.s Of .
genuine midsummer thur der gust were
not lacking.
Many places were struck by lightning
through the town, aud 1t IL surprising
that more damage was not done, as In
nearly every case the places visited
seemed to get of quite easily.
The livery stable Of Kirkman & Sons,
at Tenth and Tataall streets, was struck
IN tha early part Of the storm. The
lightning hit the large wooden ball that
| Is on the flag pole, and running around
| IL came down the pole, tearing it into
| fragments and scattering them In ell ILL
rections. The damaging element on
reaching the foot of the flag staff tore Oh
| the corner of the roof and entered the
office. Here its actions, from appearances
afte:ward, were particularly brisky. The
was burned off all around, pictures eyeu
knocked down In pr0fusion and the
thunderbolt leaped ami danced acr oss the
ceiling and back again in very lively
manner. No one WAS in the OH CO at the
time A piece of the flag staff was thrown
Gle sr across the house top into West
street, aud Delaware Avenue, imme-
diately in front of the stable, was com.
pletely Uttered with the pieces Mr.
| thu w aQ M n a
at that time, and was hit by one Of the
pieces, but was not much hurt.
The stable OF Swift & Courtney, match
manufacturers, on Fourteenth street be
tween Market and Orange streets VA
also visited. Two mules and the cOlOred
hostler, Sam1 Spencer by name. were In
the stable at the time. The bolt came
through the closed window, knocking q
hole several inches in diameter, IN .
large pane of glass 1t passed arouni j the
manger and up along the trough out n
which the mules were eating knocking
them down, but doing no other damage
IT. then hit the wall and passed Ou
through the bricks. Spencer was stand
ink close by the window when the Dol
entered and 1t passed within an inch OF
two Of his head.
A two story brick building at No. I'LL
Lombard street, occupied by Hannah X
quite roughly u, cd The first visit Of .h'
lightning tvre large piece out Of th'
roof and damaged the srouting consid
erably. The second hit the chimney
which II tore to pieces and passing dow
entered the stove which stood In tn,
Kitchen. The was stove torn to pieces
and burning brands were scattered all
over the room. Mrs. Brown herself, wa
Knocked down and the family Ofjuvenil,
| Aat upraam, n ~ iufo the afraAt
This last bolt set fire to the house, bu
The heavy rain, falling at that time, ex
tinguished IL AMI thus prevented dis
astrous conflagration. The house is al
most shaken TO pieces and the damag'
is considerable.
Two doors above This house is that o
Thomas McNee which was struck few
minutes 0etore Mrs. Brown was visite'
the first time. The roof wa
Ripped open from the shingles clea
through to the inside of the ceiling. Th
thunderbolt escaped by passing dow
the rain spout. The house was shaker
all over, as though a terrific explosion
had occurred. The house situated be
tween Mr. McNee's and Browns is oc
, cupied by Charles View which was jus
touched by the lightning and not dan
aged in the least
One of Walton & Bros, ice wago
|, drivers, named Henry Christy, residin
at Twelfth and Walnut streets wa
J knocked down while serving ice o
= Washington street between Tenth stree
e anil Delaware avenue. He was standin
I al the time, talking to MIR. Andre'
' Grow. He was burned slightly abou
, the breast and badly stunned. He is III
, able to work to-lay and is being attent
ed by DIR. Draper.
\. Two workmen of Bower g. Dure
i were momentarily stunned, and the tell
e graph wires at the Brandywine railrOa
bridge we're considerably displaced. l
IS this neighbor hood the lightning appear
# to have been unusually violent Part {
= ON the Philadelphia express leaving hei
u at 1887 say that it was terribly vivi
Y Quite an interesting phenomenon wi
e observed by many people by which u
flashes seemed to explode over marshe
south of the railroad, and send immune
able electric balls flying and rolling
q. all directions, as thick as fl es on Jul
~ night.
y A large tree standing in the yard
Mrs. Elizabeth Dougherty No 822 Ia
=, nall street was shattered considerabl
= This makes the second time the tree b
N been struck.
II The storm also appears to have eet
IN quite seve re in Brandy wine and Chr
"a tiana II hundreds where m any pisces ha
- been struck. The rain was also heavy
. Middletown but only a few drops 4
at Clayton.
of Miss Cleaden's Funeral.
IS The funeral of Miss Eliza A. CIeade
al | took pIac,A from ne1a wara venue RI