The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1897-07-21
FREAKS OF LIGHTNING.
THEY HAVE SAVED AS WELL AS DE.
STROYED HUMAN LIVES.

son - Feud Settled by h Fluid.
A paragraph in an inland paper Of
recent date, says q Cedar Bayou
(Texas) letter to the st. Louis Globe
Democrat, calls to mind Lucky"
Lawson, q well-known sea captain on
the Texas coast several years sgo. lie
was a big, blue-eyed Swede, and about
the most profane man that ever trod q
ships deck. But the ship owner who
could secure Lawson to rup his vessel
was considered fortunate, for it made
no difference, it seemed, however hard
the wind might blow Of in whatever
direction it might be, when he was
ready to sail the weather was good
enough, and the wind had ut least q
slant in it, if it was not exactly fair.
But Lawson was wickedly profane,
and the thunder and lightning, espe-
cially, called it forth in all its hideous-
ness more often than anything else. 1t
was no uncommon sight, when the
thunder pealed the loudest, when the
lightnings rent the black sky above
him, and the water foamed with phos-
phorescent light all around him to see
him stand ~bareheaded, his broad face
turned upward, his clenched hands
uplifted, cursing everything, and roar
ing defiance at the disturbed elements
and the rulers of the universe.
The newspaper paragraph men
toned gives the ending of "Lucky"
Lawson's life as follows:
"Peter Lawson, a resident OF this
place for several years past, and
known far and wide as Lucky Law
son, met with q sudden death Monday
evening last. Mr.. Lawson had been
attending the big camp meeting and
revival at Elm Grove, where he was
converted last week, and was return
ing home. On his way home, during
the thunderstorm of that evening, he
was struck by lightning and instantly
killed."
The accounts of the notorious Dick
on-Burnham feud down on Big
Bushy filled many newspaper columns
q few years ago. It was said then that
it had cost the two warning factions
over twenty lives. It came to a sud-
den end last summer. At that time
only two males Of the factions re-
NAMED, the others having either left
that part of the country or been killed.
The last of the Dicksons was an old
man, over seventy, and the only re-
naming Burnham a youth of eighteen.
A week before the final ending of the
feud these two had met at the store,
and only for the timely Intervention of
some mutual peaceful friends their
differences would have been settled
then and there. and would perhaps
have left one survivor to claim the VIC
tory. As it was they were prevailed
upon to part, and each went his way,
vowing to kill the other.
It was Saturday. Early that morn
ing young Durham rode across the
country to intercept old man Dickson
on his way to the store. The road the
old man had to come lay partly
through the timber along Big Bushy.
The timber had a dense underground
of twining vines end high palmettoes,
q good hiding place, and there young
Burnham tied his horse and lay in
waiting. At his back vas o tall cot
tonwood tree, in front of him was an
opening among the vines and pal
mettoes, giving O. good view of the
road, and across his knees lay the old
Winchester rifle which had been his
fathers, and which, it was claimed,
had slain nearly a dozen Dicksons,
ready for use. There were sounds of
distant thunder and faint flashes of
lightning in the air, but rs the time
passed both increased in volume and
vividness. Presently there came the
sound of a horses hoofs, then a horse
and rider came in view. It was old
man Dickson. Young Burnham raised
the Winchester to his shoulder, waited
o moment, and then pulled the trigger.
Simultaneous with the fash of the
gun there was a vivid flash of light
ming, and a clap of thunder that Jared
the ground. Dickson's horse ~galloped
away riderless, while in the middle Of
the road the old man lay dead,
shot through. the heart. With his
back still against the cottonwood tree,
young Burnham was sitting, his face
black and scorched, his eyes staring
wide, and on the ground beside him
lay the gun, it's barrel bent and twisted
out of shape by the lightning.
In one of the churches in Nechez
City a few years ago there was a
stormy meeting between the members
and the preacher in charge. The
meeting broke up at last, and the
preacher was the last one to leave the
church, and alone. When he reached
the street, however, he was joined by
one of the members, who had Jagged
behind to try and persuade him to give
in for the sake of harmony. But the
preacher was obdurate, and would not
recede an inch from the ground he had
taken, maintaining that his cause was
just. Then the member became dis
couraged and disguised. "Parson,"
he exclaimed, sit would not surprise
me if the Lord caused a thunderbolt
to strike our church and rend it from
dome to foundation" The preacher
smiled disdainfully, but the next mo-
ment there came a binding flash Of
lightning and a %deafening crash Of
thunder, and when they looked back
at the church which they had just left
they saw that the lightning had struck
it, and that its steeple and roof had