Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-12-26

How stray electric current caused
some odd doings in front of Newark
church.
Fenced off by neat iron railing from
the most crowded portion of Market
street. says the New York Herald, stands
the Central Methodist Church of New
| ark, n. j. Next door is the furniture
store of James Van Horn. Between the
railing and furniture store the observer
would not be likely to perceive any par
| ticular connection, but on Saturday even
ing there was decided connection
which, although not visible to the mater
| ial eye, made itself manifest in the most
| startling and unmiStakable manner. Mr.
Van Horn is an enterprising man. Ergo,
he had an cletric light hung over the
door of his store. The wires conveying
| electricity to the lamp hung down the
| the side Of the building and ran through
| several iron rings behind the signbOard.
These rings are fastened to an iron beam
which rests on iron posts and the latter
| joins the fence in front of the quiet look
| ing Methodist Church. 1t appears that
| the covering of the wires by some means
was worn off at the iron rings through
| which they pass and the electric fluid
! passes into the iron beams and thence to
the fence. A few minutes after the cur
rent was turned on Saturday evening
| this innocent looking fence was convert.
| ed into a first class galvanic battery.
Then an old gentleman came along. He
was venerable looking man and one of
| Newark most reputable citizens For
a moment he stopped in front of the sa-
| cred edifice and leaned against the invit-
| ing railing. The next instant he uttered
a wild whoOp and danced around the
! pavement while his hat rolled into the
| gutter.
Its disgraceful for an old man like
that to be drunk, " said passer by.
| And in front of church, too added
| another.
| "Pll go and get policeman, said !.
butchers boy in white apron, as a
crowd began to collect. The boy started
off and the old man tried to explain.
Several men seized the railing to test the
truth of his statement, and they, too,
commenced to jump and cavort aroun,i
the pavement, while the air became sue
| gestive of sulphur. Just then the polio,
man arrived.
".Ah, what's this?" he exclaimed. "a
fight? And in public street." Who COM
menced this?'
at vos the old gent" said the butcher
boy;
at was the fence" explained the old
| gentleman, Indignantly.
You've been drinking, SIR" said the
guardian of the peace sternly, why
don't you keep sober? You ought to be
at home in the bosom of your family in
stead of gallvantin' around the streets as
! drunk as a tom cat.'
At this point number of men whose
character could not be doubted interfered
and vouched forsthe truth of the aged
party's statement. The policeman gin
| gerly touched the fence with his club,
and that self-same moment the club went
1 whirling around at the end of his electri
fed arm, while the crowd scattered on all
| sides to avoid contact with it.
| ''Eureka!"
An operator of the Mutual Union Tele.
graph company, attracted by the crowd,
came forward and proved in few words
that the cause of all the tumult was the
electricity which had been grounded in
the fence: The crowd of at least POO
persons patiently waited and enjoyed
| the fun as each new arrival touched the
charmed railing and then quoted scrip.
'ture in fragments. There was loud
laugh by each member of the church