The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-09-06
BOLT HITS BASEBALL CROWD.
LIGHTNING KILLS A BOY AND
BURNS SEVERAL OTHERS.
A Dozen Men and Boys knocked Flat At
Crstona Park-P. r. W. Barrews. Sen
o. Tunnel Foreman. shocked Dead
Ono hey and Man Long Senseless.

CrotonA R1fk-P. r. W. DarroWe. Zen
o. Tunnel Foreman. shocked Dead
Ono Boy and Man Long Senselsss
A bolt Of lightning struck. yesterday
afternoon. In the very centre Of q group Of
thirty or forty men and boys who were
running In the rain from the crowded base
ball grounds at Crotona Park In The Bronx.
The bolt knocked ten or fifteen Of the fleeing
throng fat, killed one boy and soorched
seven or eight more.
The boy who was killed was seventeen
year-old Percy 7. W. Barrows OF 1881 Steb-
bins avenue His father Ia John W. Bar
rows, the foreman of part OF the Rapid
Transit tunnel work In The Bronx. and
the boy was studying surveying 30 az to
enter his fathers business.
The most severely hurt Of the burned
was Barrowss chum. fifteen-year-old
Charles Goetz. the son OF George Goet2
Of 1854 Stebbins avenue.
AZ far a. tho police learned. all who
were struck were spectators. Young Bar
rows and Goeta cert ainly were.
The two boys we're in crowd Of several
hundred who had gone to watch the Y. M.
C. A. nine Of West Farms play the Suburbans
Of fremont. The diamond was right back
Of the Borough Hall at nth street and
Third avenue.
At the end Of the second inning tho rain
began to come down and the spectators
and players ran for shelter. Barrows and
Goetz we're In crowd Of thirty that started
across to l7eth street on the way to Third
avenue. Behind them ran several hundred
others.
The advance crowd had reached the cor
ner OF the lot when bolt Of lightning
crashed into the centre OF the group.
Barrows dropped flat and Goetz fell I'M
conscious over him. All around the two
boys others fell, but all but the two soon
got up.
Those who had been knocked down but not
rendered unconscious were 30 blinded by
the fash that it YVES several minutes before
anybody went to the aid of the two young
fellows who still lay on the ground.
The half blinded crowd staggered around,
and many Of them had to sit down to re-
cover their stunned senses.
From the crowd which surged up behind
those who had been struck there were
many willing to help and they carried the
two boys, one still unconscious and the
other already dead, to the shelter Of tree
nearby. In twenty minutes DR.. Cunnifl
got there with an ambulance from the
Fordham Hospital.
The doctor saw at once that Rarrows
was dead. There was not mark Of burn
on him except that his hair had been singed
DR.. CunntH brought young Goetz around
in about half an hour.
where am I?' asked the boy when he
was brought to consciousness. X can't
$780,"
The doctor rushed the boy to the hospital
and after an hour or two Goetz recovered
the use of his eyes His chest, arms and
neck were badly burned but he WAS strong
enough to be taken home in a carriage
last night,
While all this had been happening a
doctor had been called to attend anot her
who had been stunned by the bolt that
killed Rarrows. He was Frederick Dyke
who lives in the house at 4O70 Third avenue
near the ball grounds.
Dyke was looking out of his back window
when the lightning crashed into the crowd
and he was knocked senseless. 1t took
his doctor half an hour to restore him tc
consciousness.
Seven or eight men and boys were burned
slightly by the bolt and their injurieswers
treated by DR.. CunniY. In none Of these
cases was there any severe injury and the
police didn't get the names OF those hurt.