The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-07-05
STRUCK DOWN
BY LIGHTNING
Idaho Man Tells How Expert
ence Feels.
CLOTHING is TORN OFF
ALMOST TOTAL DEAFNESS RE-
SUITS FROM THE SHOCK

Dug Currens can boast Of having been
struck by a quadruple stroke OF lightning
and lived to tell Of his thrilling expe-
rience. He says he was enveioped BY a
sheet Of whitehead fire, which almost
cooked portions Of his body. The loud
report Of the bolt left him as deaf as
post lie is now under the care Of an
aurict, who feels confident he can re-
store NJ Currens' nearing
Mr.. Currens is a weIl-to-do rancheT OF
May, Lemhi county. ida. a few days after
his experience. not having improved I'M
der the treatment of Idaho physicians. his
wife brought him TO salt Lake The
couple. with their little daughter, are
stopping at 81 West Second South street
For more than four weeks Mrs. Currens
says her husband was so deaf as a re-
suit Of his experience that he could not
hear the report Of gun fired close to
his head. Since NT. Currens has been
IN the city his hearing has so improved
that yesterday he could hear a muffled
sound once in a while. the loud reports OF
cannOns and giant firecracEers discharged
IN honor Of Independence Gay anniversary
Celebration
Story of the Accident.
Mrs. Currens had to relate her hus-
bands experience when asked Yesterday
Tor an account OF it. Telling the story
as nesrly as possible as he had related
II 70 her. Mrs. Currens said:
The accident if you can 50 term It.
happened May L. about 1870 o'clock in
the morning. My husband had gone out
into the field To finish irrfgatfug q niece
OF property. As he was going out an
electrical storm came up. The hired man
warned him not to go. but AIr. Currens re-
Piled that he would be back before the
storm broke.
While at work the stoim came upon
him quicker than ne thought II would
and TO shelter himself. M. Currens went
70 a cluster OF small trees about 60 -
from where he was working on Their
rlgating ditch with long handled shovel.
pom reaching the clump Of trees Mr..
Currens leaned his shovel up against
the largest one. with the blade to the
ground. About four feet from the tree
my husband squatted on the ground and
watched the storm. While ne Wzs sitting
there he saw bolt OF lightning in the
clouds, which seemed to come straight to-
wards him. 1t looked to him. he said
like a streak of cherry red fire It came
too fast for him to lodge. and the next
thing he knew after a report when
seemed 10 split his head open, was that
The storm had passed and the sun was
MY husband must have lain for an
hour and half on the ground where ne
was struck down by the bolt. which was
tree We found it had been STRUCK on the
east and west sides, splitting it in two
and there were two holes IN the ground
sho wing where two other bolts had en-
tered the earth.
One of the bolts struck Mr.. Cur1ens on
the right side of the head. ran around
MS neck and. passing down MS BODY as
Iar as the waist band OF his trousers.
jumped 10 a point an inch or two a bOve
The knee, and then escaped 10 the ground
through the right foot. The right shoe
was torn from the foot no trace OF IT
being round excepting a few pieces of
burned and charred leather, and did not
even SINCE the fleece of his wooden sock.
" hen the bolt struck Mr.. CLlrrens on
the head il cut his hat half in two and
sheared q great lock of hair from his
head. bedly blistering the scalp. We
found the remnants of the hat and the
hair IN the bark Of the tree behind which
Mr. Currens sat They had bean blown
into the tree as though shot from a gun
IN the shape OF wadding.
Freak in Results.
Can you explain to. me why holt OF
ngEtmug that viii cut the hair off q
mans head. and burn the scalp ard YOU
can see the scabs yet II YOU wish to
examine them. and not burn the hair
which was clipped off2 That is She most
remarkable thing I ever heard OF. Had
anyone else told me such d story 1 would
not have believed II. But ar not tell
ing anything but the truth 7 took a
hat pin and picked pieces Of my husbands
hat and pieces of his hair out Of TIE holes
IN the side OF the tree into which they
had been blown.
when my husband came home. walking
half mile after being struck, he was a
sight to behold. Where the bolt had
passed around his neck and down his
breast the skin was almost cooked, being
raised in a large water blister There
We're two bad burns on the right knee
and burn on the back of the head
The front half Of the mans coat. vest
and two shirts had been cut from his
body. while the seat of his trousers was
missing. The drawers he wore were nor
injured excepting I'm two places in the
seat and near the right kuee. The hole
On the seat of Mr.. Currens+ trousers was
larger than your two hands. W. the hole
made in MS drawers was not much larger
than q dollar The hole in the knee was
cloth on fire Before it was put out by
the rain as Mr.. Currens lay on his back.
II almost cooked the flesh.
Hole Made in the Ground.
a little way from where Mr. Currens
was sQGatting when he Nds struck one
OF the bolts dug a hole foot .IeeD In the
surprised 10 find IL fun Of small pieces Of
cloth. remnants OF the pieces torn off my
husband by the bolt. The bits were not
burned or singed. they looked mere like
bits OF cloth chewed up by nILe. 7 do
not suppose there was a piece of cloth
the size of a dime IA the mole
Personally. / think nv husbands es-
cape from death is q wonder. For over
four weeks he could not hear a gun il II
were shot off alongside his car. But since
] have had him down here he has gotten
much better. He can hear the explosion
Of the larger fireCraCkers, but NOT very
distinctly. The doctor tells rne ne Will
IS correct