The Savannah morning news., 1904-07-01
LIGHTNING HIT
IN MANY PLACES
KNOCKED BOOK FROM HANDS
OF SHEPARD HARRIS, WHO WAS
READING 1.-THE SCARLET LETTER"

Rourke's New Building Struck and
Badly DumaEed-Residence of An
drew Paul Also Hit and Family
Fled in TerrOr-POIes Were Struck
and Some Telephones, Lights ana
Police Call Boxes Were Put Our
of Business.
During the two electric storms which
struck Savannah early last night, a
number Of lights and telephones were
put out Of business, several poles were
demolished, two houses were struck
and man reading had book burned
in his hands, though he himself was
not hurt.
The first of the storms came be-
tween 6 and Z o'clock and the second
between s and 9. Neither of them last
ed very long, but the electrical dis
play during each was brilliant and the
rainfall heavy.
Shepard Harris was laying on his
bed reading The Scarlet Letter" when
the first storm came up. He continued
to peruse the story, paying no atten-
ton to the storm, until bolt of light
ming struck the book in his hands. The
book was badly scorched, though Har-
ris felt no shock at all. His escape
is regarded as almost miraculous.
Demolished RourLe Tower.
The second narrow escape was at the
home of Andrew Paul, at East Broad
and President streets. The house was
struck by lightning and the weather
boarding on the side that was hit was
splintered for a long distance about
two feet in width. The entire family
was at home at the time, and the
members fed panic stricken into the
street
The lightning apparently hit the
house a glancing blow, as the weather
boarding was splintered into the finest
shreds yet the laths and plastering
were not touched.
The worst damage was done at the
big new building of John Rourke &
Sons, which is being erected on Bay
street, where the old one was Destroy
ed by fire. The lightning struck the
tower and completely demolished it.
One side of the building was also bad
ly damaged. The flag pole and weather
vane were likewise torn to pieces.
VIII Delay the Work.
The building is now in process of
construction, and the damage by the
lightning will delay it's completion
some time. 1t was impossible last
night ITO tely estimate the dam
age. One of the foremen on the work,
however, said he believed the lightning
would put the work back two weeks
A number of braces were knocked out
and the full extent of the damage can
not be ascertained until a thorough ex-
animation is made.
Lightning struck a wire near No 5
Fire Station and sounded the gong
there. The horses were released from
their stalls and they leaped to their
places under the harness. No regu-
lar alarm had come in, and the firemen
understood at once what caused the
gong to sound. The horses We're not
hitched up.
struck "A Number of Things.
An electric light pole at Liber-
ty and East Broad streets was
struck and still another at East
Board and York lane. The poles
were not knocked down, though
one of them was badly shat
tered at the top. A small tree at Price
and Liberty streets was also hit and
badly damaged
Several lights and telephones were
put out of use by the storm Some
of the police boxes connected with
the Gamewel system were burned out
and it is feared some of the fire alarms
may have been put out of commits
sion.
The rainfall during the two short
storms was 80 of an inch. The storm
was worse down town. A number of
persons in the southern section of the
city and some few down town did not
notice that 1t was a particularly Sc
we're storm.