The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1904-07-09
Oug Currens Of May, Lemhi County,
..a Idaho
WAS STRUCK BY LIGHTNING
And Lives to TeIl the Tale, Although
Made Deaf by the Shock
Its Queer Freaks.


mer of May, Lemhi County, Idaho,
according to the Salt Lake Herald,
was recently struck by lightning
and lives to tell the story. His
wife tells the following story:
'The accident, if you can so
term it, happened May IA, about
1890 o'clock in the morning. Ny
husband had gone out into the field
to finish irrigating a piece of prop
erty. While at work an electrical
storm came upon him, and to shell
ter himself he went to cluster of
small trees. Upon reaching the
clump, Mr.. Curren stood his shovel
up against the largest one, blade
down, he squatting about 4 feet
from the tree, watching the storm.
While sitting, there he saw a bolt
of lightning in the clouds which
seemed to come straight towards
him. 1t looked to him, he said,
like a. streak of cherry red fire. 1t
came too fast for him to dodge, and
the next thing he knew after re-
port which seemed to split his head
open, was that the storm had passed
and the sun was shining.
When we went to the 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, showing where two
other bolts entered the earth. One
of the bolts struck Mr.. Curren on
the right side of the head, ran
around his neck and, passing down
his body as far as the waistband of
his trousers, jumped to point an
inch or two above the knee, and
then escaped to the ground through
the right foot. The right shoe was
torn from the foot, not trace of it
being found excepting few pieces
of burned and charred leather, and
did not even SINCE the fleece of his
woolen sock.
"When the bolt struck Mr.. Cur
rens on the head it cut his hat halt
in two and sheared a great shock OF
hair from his head, badly blistering
his scalp. We found the remnants
of the hat and the hair in the bark
of the tree behind which Mr.. Cur.
rens sat. They had been blown in
to the tree as though shot from a
gun in the shape of wadding.
"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 rails
ed in large water blister. There
were two bad burns On the righ
. knee and burn on the back of thu
head.
"The front halt of his coat, vest
and two shirts had been cut from
= his body while the seat of his trous
t ers was missing. The drawers b
wore were injured only in two places
in the seat snd near the right knee
The hole in the seat of Mr.. Cur
rens' trousers was larger than you
5 two hands yet the hole made in hi
5 drawers was not much larger thai
= a dollar. The hole in the knee wa
$ burned, the lightning having Sc
the cloth on fire. Before it was pu
, out by the rain as Mr.. Currens la,
on his back, it almost cooked tn
e flesh.
r "a little way from where MI
5 Currens was squatting when he wa
. struck one of the bolts dug hole
foot deep in the ground. When
examined the hole was SURPRISED t
find it full of small pieces of cloth
r remnants of the pieces torn off m.
husband by the bolt. The bit