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 eff by neat iron railing from
the most crowded. Portion of Market
street. says ths. tsew York Herald, stands
the Central .,ietitoa.st CHURCH of New
ark, n. j. Next door is the furniture
store OF James Van Horn. Hetwc,-n the
raining and Iuinlturc Slore the observer
would not be likely 10 perceive any par
tlcuiar connection, but on Saturday even
ing there was d decided connection
which, although not visible to the mater
lai eye, made itself manifest in the most
startling and unmiStakable manner. Mr..
Van Horn is an enterprising man. Ergo,
he had an electric 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. It appears that
the covering OF the wires by some means
was worn of at the iron rings through
which they pass and the electric fluid
passes into the iron beams and thence 10
| the fence. A few minutes after the cur.
| rent was turned on Saturday evening
this innocent looking fence was convert.
ed into first class galvanic battery.
Then an old gentleman came along. He
was venerable looking man and one of
| Newark s 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
| 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 a passer by.
And in front of a church, too" added
| another.
"l'll go and get a policeman" said a
butchers boy in a white apron, as a
crowd began 10 collect. The boy started
OFT and the old man tried TO explain.
Several men seized the railing to lis; the
truth OF his statement, and they, too,
! commenced 10 jump ;Ii cavort around
the pavement, -. .iic t..e air became sug-
gestlVc OF sulpAuf. just tllen the police
man arrived.
! "Ah, what's this?" he exclaimed. "a
fight! And in public street." Who com.
menced this?'
ut vos the old gent, - said the butchers
boy;
ut 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 az
drunk as tom cat"
| At this point number of men whose
character could not be doubted nterfered
and vouched foIthe truth Of the aged
party's statement The policeman gin
gRrly touched the fence with his club.
and that self-same moment the club went
whirling around at the end of his clectri
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 q few words
that the cause of all the tumult was the
electricity which had been grounded in
the fence: The crowd of AT least 2,s,
persons patiently waited and enjoved
the fun as each new arrival touched The
charmed railing and then quoted scrip
ture in fragments. There was i. loud
laugh by each member of tie church