St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1893-07-06
TWO SEVERE STORMS.

Saturday night.
TWO SEVERE STORMS.
Seldom has this village been visit
ed by two severcr thunder showers
than those of Friday and Saturday
The first storm came about 7 O'Clock
in the evening and was accompanied
by a brisk shower. This storm could
be seen coming up in two directions,
and when the heavy clouds met there
were continuous flashes of lightning
and a perfect cannonading OF thun-
der. Lightning struck in halt a
dozen places. The old pine above
Underclff was struck by a bolt and
the bark stripped from the northeast
side of this famous landmark. One
of the COWS belonging to E. q /.
Fairbanks & Co. was killed by a
bolt which struck in the pasture
near the fish pond. Another bolt
struck big tree between the houses
of Mr.. Foye and Mr.. Pope above
Fairbanks village. A big splinter,
several feet long and nearly foot in
diameter, was severed from the tree.
Lightning also struck in 7. Testers
pasture towards Waterford, where
three COWS were killed. The closest
call was undoubtedly at Robert
Mackinnon's house on Boynton hill.
There the lightning struck the tee-
phone wire, cutting it in two. The
fluid followed the wire into the
house, and when it entered there
were several sharp reports at the
telephone, accompanied by cloud
of smoke. 1t seemed to the occu-
pants of the house as if the whole
room was full of lightning. 1t was
all over in an instant, and thor
ough examination of the house salts
fed Mr.. Mackinnon that the danger
was past. The only trace left by the
bolt was a big black spot on the
wall where it had entered the house.
The bolt had entered the house and
passed into the ground without set
ting the house on fire. 1t was re-
markable escape. During the shower
considerable damage was done to
both the fire alarm and the electric
light circuit. The alarm box at the
head of Main street was demoralized
and a number of fuses in the electric
lights were burned out. Supt. Frost
says that Fridays storm did more
damage to the elect ric light circuit
than any previous storm. 1t was
certainly an excellent test OF the
safety of all the wires in the village,
no serious damage being reported
from any section.
Saturdays storm came on at 4
o'clock in the afternoon. A great
quantity of rain fell in a short time,
but the lightning was not so severe
as the day before, and did not strike
anywhere as far as can be learned.
The highways were badly washed by
the rain.
Possibly the electricity in the at
mosphere was responsible for the
beautiful sunsets of Friday and
Saturday. On both nights the west.
ern sky was fringed with bright
pink glow which lasted long after
the sun had dropped below the
horizon. Those who failed to see
these sunsets missed a beautiful
sight.
A careful examination of the big
pine shows that the bolt struck neal
the top, splintering the trunk slight
" for short distance. Then tn,
fluid circled the tree, passed dowr
quite a distance vertically, circleC
the tree once more and jumped to {
small tree near the foot of the bis
pine, destroying the smaller tree il
the passage of the fluid into thu
ground Mr.. Borland intends t.
cover the scars with tar and think
the tree can be saved. The damag
was confined to the trunk of the ire
but as the scars are so far from tn
ground it is difficult to ascertain jus
how deep they are.