Morning journal and courier., 1886-07-19
THUNDER AND LIGHTNING.

One of the Severest Thunder Storms
 i'm Years Yesterday AfternOon-Sev-
 eral Places Struck Ely Lightning and
 Two Children Injured - Pleasure
 Boats CaPstzed in the HarbOr.
 About o'clock yesterday afternoon this city was visited by one of the most severe thunder storms seen here for years. About 4 o'clock a large mass of black thunder clouds was seen in the northwest moving slowly towards the northeast. When about back of East Rock Park the clouds broke, and while one-half went back towards the northwest the other kept on towards the east, this being the slight shower experienced about half-past o'clock. The mass of clouds which had gone back to the north west began to approach the city, the clouds growing blacker and more dense every mo- ment As the clouds advanced the air be- came stagnant, and strong smell of sul- phur pervaded the air during the next thres-quarters of an hour and while the shower lasted. The flashes of lightning
 were followed almost instantly by loud peals of thunder, and the intermission between the
 flashes was hardly of 8 minutes duration. During the storm an alarm of fire was sound ed from box 131, on the corner ot Lam berton street and Kimberly avenue, and out into the storm started the members of the fire de- pertinent for the scene Of the fire. The lightning had struck the chimney of the house No. 80 Kimberly avenue, occupied by Henry c. Melius and his family. MT. Melius, his wife and two children were sitting in the front room on the second story of the house, when the bolt struck the chimney on the front
 of the house and followed the wall down into closet in the room where the people were | sitting, setting fire to some clothing and l throwing the inmates to the floor, the young children being badly in ured by the shock, but not seriously. The bolt then followed | the wall down through the front parlors into | the cellar and from there into the ground. When the department arrived the fire was easily e1tinguished, the damage being very slight.
 Just previous to the alarm the lightning entered Mo- Is engine house on Howard ave nue, the bolt entering by private wire com ing under the stairs into the main room Of the engine house, and settling in one corner of the room began to blaze, where it was ex- tinguished.
 Another bolt struck the cross on top of the tower of the St. Francis (R O. orphan asylum on Highland street and entering the tower tore off several timbers and threw them across the street, the bolt then coming out and following the lightning rod to the ground. No one was injured.
 The store occupied by John Schanzenbach
 at 113 Goffe street as a grocery store was also struck. The bolt passed through the awning of the store, setting it on fire, and then passed through the easement of the front door of the store and following the front wall destroyed picture and came out of the building, settled on the sidewalk, looking to
 passer by on the opposite side of the street about like peck measure of molten iron. After resting there for nearly minute 1t disappeared into the ground, leaving no hole in the walk. Where the bolt came out of the L. silver dollar on the inside and on the out side one of the clapboards was pushed out of place.
 The telephone in Chief Hendricks office was melted out, but besides this there were very few wires broken or melted, a won- derful ching for a storm of this kind.
 In the telephone office the use of the wires was cut off for over two hours, and over five hundred enunciators were let down by one flash of lightning.
 The lightning struck in the meadows over back of the Cedar Hill car stables on State | street, and snapped and cracked around the l wires at No. S's engine house at lively rate. l
 In Fair Haven the shower was reported as 1 being very heavy and was accompanied with | 8 shower of hail stones. One man walking l on Ferry street was so charged with electric l ity by the lightning striking the l sidewalk his feet to require 1 the services of doctor.
 Dr. c. A. Lindsley, who was at the end of | Long Wharf during part of the shower, | also reports hail stones in that locality.
 A police officer who saw the shower from | the top of East Rock park reports it as being | one of the grandest sights ever witnessed. ; The Cook mansion at Double Beach was | struck by lightning during the storm, the | bolt entering near chimney at the west end l of the house, and passing down through the | second and first floors to the ground, setting 1 fire to the house and tearing off the plastering l I,i,N fIo4 Mr. orI hiot son, who were in the house at the time, were struck by lightning and seriously if not fatal ly injured. Dr. aylord, of Branford attend ] ed them.
 Three large trees i1 front of Dr. Sheppard's residence in West Haven were struck and felled to the ground by the lightning, but be- sides this no damage was reported in West Haven. The shower was apparently very heavy in the towns adjacent to this city, but owing to the telephone wires being heavily charged with electricity it was impossible to talk with people out of town.
 EXCITEMENT ON THE wATER-PLEAsURE
 BOATS CAPsIzED.
 A sailboat which had been left with her sails set was capsized during the storm yes terday afternoon off the end of Long Wharf. No one was aboard at the time. She was righted soon after without having incurred any damage.
 A cat-rigged sharpie was upset in the storm yesterday afternoon in the harbor. A man named Nettleton was the occupant of the boat. He was rescued by passing craft.
 Quite number of boats were capsized during the storm in the Sound waters. The wind at the commencement of the storm came from the northwest, but suddenly chopped around and came from the other way. No drowning accidents have been re- ported.