Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1900-06-12
A FAMILY'S NARROW ESCAPE.
Lightning Struck tho Residence Of A.
Simonet This Morning and the Family
Miraculously Escaped Injury.

S1mOuet 1QO mOIuAuS &u0 tue army
Miraculously Escaped Injury.
Lightning plays some very strange
pranks, such as knocking the heels
offa PERSONS shoes without injur-
ing the wearer, but OF all strange
and peculiar results from a stroke
of lightning, none could be much
more strange than the results OF the
bolt of lightning that struck the resi-
dence of A. Simonet this morning.
How a building occupied by a large
family could be SO badly demolished
without some member Of the family
either being seriously injured or
killed seems but little short of a
miracle.
Mr.. Simonet states that at about
$3.50 saturday a. m. he was awakened
by the thunder storm then raging.
Mrs. Simonet was awakened before
him and had arisen to close their bed
room window. This done she in
quired if Mr.. Simonet had closed the
parlor " indows before retiring, AMI
having received a reply that he
guessed he had not, she turned to go
to the parlor to see to the windows.
just as she turned loud crash was
heard and for an instant the whole
room seemed to be one sheet Of
flames. Mrs.. SimOnet fell to the
floor, and Mr. Simonet states that
the first recollection of console BUSINESS
on his part was when he heard his
children, who sleep in the same room,
crying. His senses came back quick
~, although he says it seemed that
he lay Is or 20 minutes before he could
rise. AS soon as he could move, he
got up. Finding Mrs. Simonet on
the floor he picked her up and placed
her upon the bed. He thought she
was dead. He then went to the bed
where the children slept and found
that they were alive, though very
badly frightened. When he again
turned his attention to Mrs. Simonet
he found that she was recovering
consciousness and was soon fully
restored. AS soon as he was salts
fled that his family was safe Mr..
Simonet Investigated further to as
certain If his sister and the hired girl,
who slept in another part Of the
house, had been hurt, and found
them uninjured. Then he went
through the building to see If it had
caught fire, and finding nothing to
indicate that there were any flames,
looked through the building again
to see what damage had been done.
That one stroke OF lightning could
make such a complete wreck seems
almost Incredible. The lightning
struck the building at the top OF the
roof, passed through the family bed
room, tearing off the plaster and
ripping up the floor. Only four
rooms escaped injury. The dining
room, kitchen and the bedrooms
of his sister and the hired
girl were apparently untouched.
The bath room was com
pletely wrecked. The large glass In
the front parlor was broken, and
every piece Of wood in the path Of
the electric current was J, either
shattered or blackened and charred.
1tfs indeed strange that the house
was not set afire, but as we stated
before, it is much more strange that
someone was not killed or seriously
hurt. ~''S: ,''.2 - : q. '..',,, 80,
The falling plaster struck the Oldest
boy, Stephen, INJECTING a cut on his
forehead, but it is not q serious In
jury. ,xr, ;..'.<.i.A -.45;' =: :. ~: A. r.
Mr.. Simonet attributes the FORUM
ate escape Of the family to the electric
light wires. He says every light
globe III the house popped like a can
non, and he thinks that when the
lightning entered the building 1t
spread out on the electric light wires,
and in this way the lives OF himself
and; his wife and children were
spared. He estimates the damage
to the building at between 500 and
$500, which is covered by insurance.
Congress closed with songs
and rejoicing Thursday. All
the members feel good natured
when their work is done.