Lexington gazette. [volume] (Lexington, Va.) 1871-1962, 1901-08-21
LIGHTNING STOPS BURIAL
ALIVE

nearly two thousand years ago, so di
He speak yesterday at Hanston. vi
lage near here.
No miracle could have been moi
decidedly produced than was the on
in which bolt OF fire from the HEAVIER
opened the coffin OF the little child {
Samuel McPreaz, an humble aancheI
and returned her from the dead to th
father and his grief-stricken wife.
l The little fve-year.-old daughter G
rancher died on Saturday. Th
mother and father had tenderly nurs
ed her through long illness and hat
hrped against hope for her recovery
The seeming death-or was it death
almost broke their hearts. They arc
plain ranching people but have THAI
deep love for their children that is ty-
pical Of the wholesome and sturdy
people of the plains.
GATHERING CT MonNFRs.
All day Sunday the ranch O. the u :
Preaz family was crosse. by the
friends Of the parents who came il
rusty buggies or on their boncos to
give their coincidence to the grief
strickens ones. The little children who
had known and romped and played
with the child came and mingled their
tears with those of the parents and
their warm hearted friends.
The funeral was set for yesterday,
the little body of the dear one being
kept as long as it was possible to keep
it before burial.
The cemetery was several miles
away from TIE ranch and the little
procession started in the afternoon, the
parents driving close behind the rusty
old hearse that has carried the dead
from Hanston for many years.
Crossing the plain that stretches from
the McPeaz raach 30 the copse of
woods where the cemetery is located
the little procession of mourners was
ought in one OF the sudden summer
storms OF The west,
CLOUDS FORM PAIL.
The clouds trooped together in great
black armies, there was the distSnt roll
nf Thunder mill thau had oothnr.d in
solid black canopy. The rain began
to patter down upon the parched
paririe prass and to throw the dust Of
the road in little balls under the hoofs
of the horses.
Then came crash after crash of thun-
der as the batteries of the heavens
opened up and the black skies were
ripped from their zenith ia. the horizon
by the long, thin, binding streaks OF
lightning.
ELECTRIC MESSAGE FROM THE HAAvENs.
The procession kept on its sad jour-
ney until a bolt from above struck the
hearse IN front of tho parents, shatter-
ing it into splinters, knocking the
horses to the ground snd sending the
driver PROSTATE into the road.
The Mortified parents were soon sur
rounded by their friends and everyone
beheld the dead child sitting up in the
coffin crying in fright.
The lightning that destroyed the
hearse had torn open the metallic cas-
ket and brought the child to life. She
was awakened from her death sleep
and brought int as by the Lightning,
unharmed.
CHILD N cAsKET CRIED FOR NOTIFIED
When the mourners reached the
wagon the little girl was sitting up
CRYING for her mother. Her parents
believe the bolt was sent as a miracle.
AS astonishing as was this remark
able denousment to the funeral, as
frightened as were the people attend
ing the funeral, as miraculous as it all
appeared, the humble rancher and his
wife rushed to their child and taking
her from the ruined coffin, covered
her with kisses Of Joy and cried over
her their prayers of gratitude to God.
The PHYSICIANS in Hanston declare
that the child must have been in o
cataleptic condition, The parents say
that God restored their child to them.
The miracle for such it is considered
i, being spoken of in whispers by the
psople in the neiqhborhood.
- 1900
La Faoettee Village, Pa, Aug. Ia. -
Josephine Patterson, a young colored