Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1899-06-01
lie STORM.
The Greatest Electrical Storm in the
History Of the City.

tue uI6dt6St LltCNlCdi otOilH tll tH6
History Of the City.
About two O'Clock central time We'd
nesday afternoon he~vy storm was
seen to be approaching from the north
west which did not give evidence Of
Carrying so much destruction and htvoc
before it as was found to be the case
when it had finally subslded after
about an hour.
The rain was exceedingly heavy, the
clouds were Of the peculiar greenish
hue that is told of In storms at seayand
the wind was fierce. though not doing
any great damage as compared to 9TH
er storms of recent years. The water,
which came down in torrents, was
driven in any direction which the wind
CHANGED to take, and seemed to be go
ing that way because II was natural
for 1t to do so and not because Ut was
forced uphill.
A lot of damage was done in various
parts of the city by lightning and some
slight damage was done by wind. A
few awnings were torn from their fas-
Jennings and thrown ruthlessely into
the street The lightning seemed to be
of a peculiar red hue, which at times
looked nearly purple, but never seem
ing white as 1t sometimes does. Sew
eral buildings were struck, among 9TH
ers the Court House suffered slight
damage to the pillar on the left hand
side of the door on the Second street
side of the building.
The Willard school house was struck
on the south corner OF the tower the
bolt tearing up the roof and throwing
out the bricks which filed space of
about a foot or eighteen inches square
in one corner of the pillars supporting
the tower The children were badly
frightened and the teachers
were also somewhat unnerved by the
force of the awful crashing thunder
The Catholic church steeple was
struck just below the cross, the cur
rent taking spiral course around the
upper part of it, tearing off a large
part of the slate with which it is roof
ed and badly wrecking the timbers of
lie frame work.
The old Spaldlng house on Gilman
street had chimney pretty badly dam
aged and lady who lived in the house
was somewhat shocked by the force,
but not seriously.
Some windows were broken in the
Washington street school houses and
the children there were badly frighten-
ed causing the teachers no end of
trouble to keep them quiet and inside
the building. A peculiar freak OF the
lightning was shown at the Washing
ton street school. An umbrella had
been left in the water closet by one OF
the pupils and was found to be COM
pletely burned up, nothing being left
but the steel frame work and the
charred handle, There was no evil
dence to be seen that there had been
any other current at work there.
So far as learned, there was no place
where as much damage was done as In
the city, thus seeming to show that we
were right in the center OF the storm
The only damage heard of outside the
city last evening was the burning oi
an oil tank in the Waverly field, but
we could not learn to whom it belong
ed or how large ii was.
Beside the one fatality we mention
elsewhere, several persons were more or
less shaken up by the severe electrical
discharges. A Mrs. Curtis was doing
some washing for family on Wash
lngton street and was so badly injured
by shock that it required some time
to resuscitate her. A Mrs. Wendelken
of Seventh street, was reported to be
badly shocked, but Just how badly
could not be learned. Some of the pup
lis of the Willard school were reported
to have been badly shocked, and un-
conscious from the effects, but this re-
port proved to have been only rumOr
as there was none of Them unconscious
at any time, and the worst effect OF the
storm among The pupils OF the various
schools was caused by fear and excite
ment A lady in Wiliamstown was
slightly shocked, but the effect was on
Iy for a few minutes.