Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1882-05-29
WILD ~THUNDsRBOLTS.
Freaks of the Kind OF Electricity
Which Man il unable 10 Harness.

Which Man il unable 10 Harness.
Three cyclones of terrific violence cut
their paths through portions of the In
dian Territory on the 9Th, eth and Sth OF
this month. Thelas ofthetornados, that
of Monday, the Sth was remarkable for
its electric phenomena, lightning play
ing freaks the like of which no person
in the neighbOrhOod of Paris Texas
ever had seen. Bolt after bolt decend-
ed, and many trees were rent asunder
or scattered into splinters. The cyclones
track was about fifty yards wide and
three miles long. Among those killed
by lightning in this track was Wallace
Hill, who had just driven into Paris
with a load of telegraph poles. HllPs
death was instantaneous. When the
body was examined by the coroner that
officer was startled to see the picture OF
n tree photographed in fiery red upon
Hilps chest just over the heart. The
picture was in outline and in detail or
branch and leaf a true miniature of an
oak that stood a few feet from the spot
of death. Vines clung to the original
and the vines were to be seen in the
blood picture. The delicate veins of
some of the leaves were visible also and
microscopic examination showed that
the natural act of photography was
much nearer perfection than an artifi-
cial act would have been. The portion
of the skin containing the picture is
preserved by HIPS family.
During a heavy thunderstorm that
swept over H~arveysburg, Ohio a, few
days ago, Frank Oyler, a lad of sixteen
wears, sought refuge, with his blowing
team, i'm a barn. While he vas caring
for his horses the building was struck by
lightning. The bolt passed through the
building, hit the boy fairly between the
shoulders and running down his back
passed around in front across the groin
thence down the leg to the knee, where
it forked and sent both prongs to the
barn floor at the points where the
prongs struck and in q few minutes the
building was in ashes. Franks younger
brother saw the barn in flames and
fighting his way in dragged the insensi-
BILE lad to the house. Young Oyler re-
manned unconscious for nearly an hour,
during which time his father traced the
course of the bolt by means ola blistered
streak running from the shoulders to
the left knee. Upon recovering, and at
last accounts he was nearly well, the boy
said: "Quick as she went l could feel
the darn thing all the way from neck to
my knee
Lightning came down from a cloud
that overhung Atlanta, Ga, on Satur-
day, the 18th inst, and did more
damage than a shell thrown from a
siege gun the heart ofthe city would
la.-~ lN~A Tho hnlt mr. InN-a'S hnnH-
full of bolts, killed a horse, a'mule, and a
second mule, tearing the latter from the
side of its mate, which was untouched.
Then running through the wall of the
Harden dwelling, on Northern avenue,
the lightning killed little May Mitchell
and Frustrated Miss Eliza Mitchell and
Mrs. Harden. The latter regained con-
s~ciousness in q short time, but she was
blind, her eyelids being turned inside out.
Several other persons in the vicinity
were knocked down and clocks and
windows were shattered.
On Tuesday night of last week light
ming struck q telephone pole lea RoX-
bury, Conn. After shivering the pole
into a thousand fragments the current
ran along the wire to RoXbury station
and Bridgewater, melting telephone
bells at each station. The thunder clap
that accompanied this stroke caused
Mrs. Wells, who lives near the RoX-
bury depot, to leap affrighted from her
bed. Looking through a window she
saw a large map in the depot framed in
fire and the alarm Immediately given
by her saved the building from distruc-
ton. At n point near Bridgewater
the telephone wire hangs near the
ground. a few inches from the wine a
cow was switching her tail. The cur.
rent left the wire and killed the cow.