Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1893-08-02
ANTICS OF LIGHTNING
SOME OF ITS QUEER FREAKS IN
PENNSYLVANIA AND OHIO.

Anything He Had Seen at Home-Hayoc
Among the sheep-In Big OIL Valley.
WAS once driving over the Martic hills,
In the lower part of this county, with my
wife and baby, flying from q thunderstorm
that was coming up rapidly in the valley,
but only did not escape from the storm,
but ran right into another one equally
heavy on the very summit Of the ridge.
When the two storms travelling in opposite
directions met directly over our heads,
streaks and balls of fire began playing
around like the splitting and exploding off
shoots of a miscellaneous collection Of
Fourth of July pyrotechnics. Lightning
danced and flashed on every bit Of metal
there was in my horses harness, whirled
around with the tires on all four wheels
and ran about and xignagged everywhere
about the buggy frame, until We were lit
Z orally sitting In fiery chariot drawn by
horse incased in flaming harness
Neither myself. my wife nor child suffered
the slightest physical injury or inconven-
fence from that awful play of electricity
about us, and the horse seemed to be i'm
proved BY 1t, but the nervous strain on rs
all was terrible. That extraordinary cleo
tSical disturbance lasted at least q quarter
Of an hour
sort Of an experience with lightning that
any one ever had or was likely to have, butt
have Just come back from visit to Ohio and
want to say that that experience Of mine
might have been the boss queer one up to
this summer, but it isn't any more. ran
across some others in Ohio that can beat IL.
Take the one, for instance, at Bailyville
l got to Bailyville mt about noon one day.
A thunderstorm had just passed over that
locality, and the clouds had nearly all
broken away or rolled to the southwark.
The sun had come out and all uneasiness on
account of the storm had passed away-for
thunderstorms in that region are nearly al
ways attended by more or less damage
when the most terrific thunderclap ever
heard there or elsewhere, so close to the
earth that the earth trembled as if from an
earthquake, and preceded not more than a
second by a flash of lightning of binding
sharpness, broke from the cloudless MONDAY
sky. The sudden appearance and terrible
nature of the startling phenomenon par
alyzed the farming community with alarm,
and it was several minutes before any one
ventu' = iorth to see what damage had been
done by the thunderbolt.
Some very amazing things were discov-
cred. In field on the edge of the village
large flock of sheep were paSturing The
sheep had all huddled together as sheep
will during a thunderstorm, and were still
huddled when the surprising clap came
When the owner of the sheep went to the
field to see if anything had befallen his
flock, he found every sheep standing Just as
they had huddled in the storm, but out
| of the 40 in the flock IS were dead. Not
one of the dead sheep had fallen to the
I ground. That was strange enough, but the
| IS dead sheep were black sheep, all the 9TH
ers being white and unhurt. Each dead
sheep had hole in the back of its neck
| around which the wool was burned away
On a farm short distance from the vii
! lage big flock of sheep had gathered in a
circular bunch during the storm, and every
| outside sheep was killed, 20 in all, and all
white fleeced. On that same farm. but in
another field, was small flock of sheep,
all white except one which was big black
| ram. The ewes all huddled about the ram
while the storm ragged, and when the thun-
| derclap came the ram was killed, no harm
| Detailing one of the other sheep. More than
| that, the rams fleece had been turned by
| the shock as white as that of any other
sheep in the flock. That was all the dam
age that was reported during the hour !
was in Bailyville, but it was enough to con
vince me that Ohio lightning knew a few
| tricks that Pennsylvania lightning hadn't
learned yet.
My friend Simon Frey lives at Big Oil
| Valley with his wife and 1-weeks-old baby.
| One day Simon was hurrying home from
the valley trying to get there before q
big thunderstorm that was coming up
caught him. The rain began falling before
| he got there, and was coming down for GER
tain when he drove into his barn. Simon
| CT in no hor fo,-{ bn ~,
to slack up, when his house was struck by
| lightning. 1t seemed to hit both chimneys
at once, and streak of fire ran from one
chimney along the peak of the roof, and
midway between the two chimneys it met
| another streak of fire that was flashing
| along the peak from the other chimney, or
| rather, where the chimney had been, fol-
| both chimneys had been knocked into brick
| dust by the lightning. When the two fiery
currents met in the center of the ridge pole
| there was an explosion like the discharge
| of n cannon, and fountain of blush flame
that threw off swapping and zigzagging
sparks and jets of fire, shot up into the all
at least 10 feet. Then all was over, the
whole exhibition lasting not more than
three seconds.
Simon was only three rods away from the
house, but felt not the slightest effects OF
|
not knowing what horrifying sight might
await him there, as it seemed impossible
that his wife and baby could have escaped
death beneath that terrible electrical bonn
bardment But they had, and after the
first shock of his fright was over Simon
couldn't do anything else but lie down and
almost burst with laughter, the lightning
had brought about so ludicruus situation
in the house Mrs. Frey was sitting on the
kitchen table, her head resting against tn,
wall. In one hand she held a rolling pin
while the other was buried to the wrist il
a roll Of dough. She was covered with f1oul
from head TO foot. The baby lay in
basket of newly washed clothes in fal
corner of the kitchen, yelling at the top O
its lungs. The baby's cradle was turned
upside down in the center of the room
Aside from a severe nausea that troubled
I've OILY h. - 81 A.. z.kt-