Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-11-05
FREAKS OF LIGHTNING.
Observations Made in Various
 Parts of the Country.

They Provo That, Contrary to General Be. iof, Beech Trees Arc Struck as Often as Other Trees-Queer Phenom- ena of Natural Electricity. To the question, "Are beech trees ever
 struck by ightninga" H. D. Post, of Hol- land, Mlch., makes answer in Silence as
 follows. He says:
 "In August, 1885, at Mason, Ingham County, Mich, a number of men were at | work harvesting wheat Tn large field west | of the village.
 "A heavy thunderstorm came up, and all but one of them, Aura Hines, fled for | shelter to a saw mill about a quarter of a
 mile distant. He said that his shoes hurt | his feet, and he did not like to run so far; | he would go to the woods, which bounded | the field south, not far distant After the
 storm Accompanied with heavy thunder
 and lghtning) had passed, the men re- turned from the mill to their work, but
 Hines did not appear. They went in search l and found him sitting under and against large beech tree, dead.
 "Without disturbing his position, they
 sent to the village for help, and went and | saw him.
 "rhe tree was Q large and tall one, about
 two feet in diameter, and leaned little
 eastward. A pile of brushwood had been
 burned on the east side, which had killed
 the tree on that side from the roots to the | height of seven feet from the ground. The
 storm came from westward, and Hines sat
 on the east side crouched against the tree,
 which sheltered him from the rain. Two or
 three holes, of half an inch diameter, near the
 right foot showed where the current passed from the earth to his body, partly tearing
 the sole from lis shoe, and passing through
 the crown tof the coarse straw hat on his
 head, making half-inch hole. as if bullet
 had been fired through it, the broken straws pointing upward and outward. ''There was a plain furrowed trace on the burned and dead bark of the tree above his
 head, to the green and living wood, but no farther.
 'The wood of the beech is very close
 grained, and in the living tree full of sap, and the green bark is also filled with sap, while the outer or ross bark is thin and quite smooth.
 Has not such a tree the elements of a
 good conductor, over which the electric
 fluid passes without shattering it or leaving
 trace!
 "If this is true, beech trees are probably
 struck by lightning as often as any others, but it leaves no trace of it's passage over them"
 D. L. Phares, of Madison Station, Miss,
 writes on the same subject! ''During pro- longed summer drought about one o'clock p, m. tho sun was shining brightly, but small cloud came from the southeast, and
 while two other gentlemen and I were
 seated in my parlor conversing a fl; ,h was | seen and Q sharp explosion heard. In few
 moments man came in, announcing that he had been thrown from the wagon, the driver knocked down, also five of the six | oxen, k'three of which were killed by light ning.' fastening to the spot. about two
 hundred feet from the parlor, we found the wagon under the branches of a large beech tree few feet from the trunk, the wheels
 in contact with the roots, the forewheels
 having passed the trunk; the oxen all re- covered and standing, save the farthest one from the tree. He was dead, and never
 moved Q muscle. The messenger was seated on the hinder part of the wagon when struck and knocked down. The driver walking on tho opposite side of the tree
 perhaps ten feet from the trunk, but some of the spreSding branches almost touching his head, was knocked down, somewhat stunned, and, although standing on our ar
 rival, had not fully regained his wits nor his hat.
 ''The tree was tall and thickly branched to the top. On careful and minute exam ination, we found no mark of electricity on trunk, root or branch, but later we discoy-
 cred, perhaps twelve or more feet from the oopt |" SpttSA 0Hodp thISO luCQSS WluS and six or elght feet long, as we
 guessed, from which the bark was torn and the wood grooved. Some
 days later we discovered that strip of
 bark extending from the rent above men toned to the earth was dead and peeling off, and the wood grooved. Our conclusion was that the electricity mostly passed be-
 tween the bark and the wood, there being most moisture at place of contact Not a 6rOr Of rai fa1l d,,ri h.,A
 many weeks before and after the above in- cident.
 "This IS by no means the only instance in
 which have known the beech tree struck
 by lightning, nor the only one in which the electricity seemed, at least, to pass be- tween bark and wood of beech, oak, tulip tree, black gum, Ma0aolta Vrundifora, etc. ''Why was neither man killed in this in stance, and only the OK farthest from the stricken treea The explanation is simple | enough. Here was ridge gently slopiug to the east, west and south. The stricken tree was perhaps twenty feet from the low est western level. One OK had placed
 ans foot the lowest spot of ground, which it is presumed was near moisture beneath (the rest of the land be- ing dried, and on the crest of the ridge to
 such depth as to cause the death of sev-
 eral trees), the circle from most earth through the OK, the chains and iron of the wagon, was completed to tho tree. One of the two oxen nearest the tree did not fall All the phenomena caused me to think that the discharge was from the earth. Having had many extraordinary, very undesirable and extremely dangerous op- portunities of witnessing phenomena of
 natural electricity, ether facts may possibly be given later"
 Found in the Smoker. "The most troublesome of travellers" said one of the oldest and best conductors on the Fort Wayne the other day, ''are always to be found in tho smoker. It generally takes