Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1886-06-18
A Mountain Adventure.

One can fancy the courage of the
man who first ventured to "interview"
the lightning; and Barlow's sonorous
tribute, in his poem of the "Colum-
biad," to DR.. Franklin, on the clark
ening height" tempting "heaven's
awful thunders,' is not overdrawn.
Franklin would have needed even
greater daring to walk into q thunder.
cloud; no man, in fact, would be fool
hardy enough to try it. But Ernest
Ingersoll tells the readers of the Buffalo
Express how, nolens volens, he once
did that very thing. 1t happened to
him while climbing one of the highest
peaks of the Sierra San Juan (Col)-
His first warning, when being sur
rounded by the awful electric mass, he
says, was "a ticking that played ON
his fingers" and tickling at the roots
of his hair, which soon grew SO intense
that the whole hair of his head
"hissed as though being fried in hot
fat" His further experience is thus
described:
1t twas only when the lightning strokes
apart, and thin advance mists began
to be blown quite close to ME, that I
suddenly realized the danger I should
presently be exposed to.
1t was high time to escape, but when
rose up and seized my gun it began
to hum in a most alarming way; turn
ed itself into sort of electrical rattle
snake, and my arm buzzed in feeling
quite as angrily.
I was now fully awake to the need
for haste, yet felt that l must not
abandon the valuable gun if it were
possible to save it. Holding it by its
stock, thereiore,in spite Of the tinglins
numbness in my fingers, tried to hur
ry down the mountain; but after 8
few steps dropped almost helpless into
q crevice between two large stones, and
to make the long descent with the rife
barr singing and my arm half-parar
lyzed seemed impossible; so resolved
to risk waiting here, where thought
myself somewhat protected, until the
next stroke Of lightning should giveme
a moments freedom from strain to
take another run.
It was d terrible situation. The air
was thick and close with chilling vapo-
The gun was producing terrible hum
ming, which, added to the noiscs
evoked from thousands Of vibrating
blocks of lava and my own sizzling
crown, made such din Icould scarce
ly think. wondered whether could
endure the fast-increasing electricity
until the discharge came-hoped for,
yet with an awful fear that I might be
LETT there forever its withered object
Utterly powerless to avert my late.
hardly thought of rejoicing when the
flash showed the bolt had fallen at a
safe distance away.
Taking instant advantage Of the
slackened strain, seized my rifle and
dashed headlong down the slope, heed
less of falls; but, though only q few
seconds had elapsed since the dis
charge of the cloud, SO swiftly was
a strong electric shock, marked by q
pain as if g. sword had pierced my
shoulder where the gun.barrel had
touched it. Nor had gone more than
thirty yards, when a shattering, stun
ming crash burst into an explosion ut
sound about my ears, and a Jagged
dart Of fire leaped upon the peak.
The very rock upon which l had
been sitting a short time before few
to pieces. My blood turned chill, and
the world swung black before my stag
gering eyes as saw how narrow had
been my escape!
| This proved to be the final bolt out
OF that cloud, and it was followed by
a furious down-pour of hail and sleet,
through which ! now slowly and pain
fully made my way back to camp.