The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1904-09-22
LIGnTNING'S
STRANGE FREAKS,
They Set at Naught All Laws, Theories
and Superstiti0ns.

| all oil the best authenticated accounts COM
ing under his eye of the pranks of light
ming throughout the world. One of the
facts TO be deducted from the great mass
of stories about the electricity of the
heavens is that lightning can not be lodged
or avoided There are many accounts of
lightning striking and killing timid wom-
Ell who had taken refuge under beds and
| In closets. In most of these cases 1t is
shown that the persons who have remained
IN the rooms abandoned by the victims
thus killed while seeking safety have es-
capped unframed.
| The State of Kansas seems to have the
palm for the ferceness of it's electrical
storms, with all of the States of the Mis-
close behind. An army officer riding from
Leavenworth to Fort Leavenworth, Kans..
in August, 1889, was shocked three times
by bolts striking near him. He saw nine
huge trees riven by separate bolts. His
/ horse died later from the electrical shocks,
while the officer himself suffered no in
jury of any Importance.
| There are stories of three women, one
in Kansas, one in Arkansas and the other
in Missouri. having been struck dead by
lightning while carrying infants in their
arms. the young ones escaping unframed
IN each case.
young man in central Illinois was
/
progress OF an electrical storm. The dog
was struck dead by a bolt, nearly all of
the hair being burned from its body. while
| the young man was only mildly shocked.
\ farmer was kissing his wife good-by
before starting for the county fair when
ne was struck dead by bolt of lightning.
His wife's hair was consumed by the same,
but she was otherwise uninjured.
Three drunken farmhands returning
from a dance. all arm in arm, in eastern
| Nebraska, were Overtaken by an electrical
storm on the road. The man in the mid
die was killed by bolt. His two COM
panions were knocked senseless, but quick
~ recovered. They found themselves COM
pletely sober when they came to.
A letter carrier in Kansas City was
handing woman servant letter at the
basement door when a bolt of lightning
struck between them. They were both rem
dered unconscious by the shock, but both
| were brought around all right. The let
| ter was consumed.
Two farmhands engaged in blowing in
lbO-acre plot in South Dakota were
| killed by lightning within three minutes.
Three young kittens playing in a back
yard in Independence. No., were struck by
| lightning. One of them was killed, the
other two being only singed.
German named Bitten (which means
lightning in our language) was struck and
killed by bolt while talking about his
| queer name with a party of friends in a
tavern in central Arkansas.
The shop of a bird fancier in Chicago
was struck by bolt. Of two parrots in
one cage one was killed and the other
permanently blinded, besides being render
ed deaf and dumb.
| A gang Of circus hands were trying to
| roundup an escaped tiger in Missouri
town, when the tiger was struck dead by
| lightning.
During a running race at an Illinois
| county fair, in which II horses were COM
| peting for the purse, the winning horse
was struck dead instantly after having
won the race by head on the wire. None
OF the other horses. most of which were
close up at the finish, were hurt at all.
An Indiana fiddler was playing at a
| country dance, having a seat on the porch
for the sake of the GOODNESS thereof. His
violin was knocked into kindling wood by
only mildly shocked.
chicken-hawk was struck dead while
Just in the act of swooping upon flock
of hens on an Iowa farm. None of the
hens was hurt.
A locomotive engineer was struck dead
while seated in his cab making a short
freight run in Colorado, his fireman not
even being shocked.
A dozen girls in an Ohio seminary were
| ocked by a bolt ofJightning while seated
| in the parlor. The same bolt killed one
OF the teachers at the other end of the
building.
A Tennessee farmer was feeding his
hogs. standing in the middle of the pen,
and instantly killed. The hogs were not
| injured at all.
An elderly woman praying all alone in a
little chapel in small Kentucky town
was struck dead by lightning. The chapel
| was set on fire and consumed
Memphis woman was curling her hair
with curling irons when a bolt of light
ming came through the window and
knocked the curling irons out of her hand.
She was rendered unconscious. When she
came to she found the curling irons at
the far end of the room. They were
! almost red hot, and had burned a hole in
the carpet where they rested.
| A bolt OF lightning penetrated a cyclone
cellar in Kansas in which a family of
four had taken refuge, and all were killed.
A captive balloon, the largest ever
manufactured, was struck by lightning in
Chicago about eight years ago and two of
the aeronauts were killed.
Circus tents have been hit by lightning
with a comparatively small loss of life,
com idering the size of the assemblages un.
der the tents.
| A man who was struck by lightning in
western New York State while walking
through forest had the outlines of two
perfect trees indelibly stamped in red on
his back, but he was not seriously hurt.
To all intents and purposes the lightning
branded him.
! A pressman employed by job printing
house in Omaha was struck by lightning
and knocked into a mass of machinery.
which mangled him to death.
| A gang of boys were playing ball on a
field in an Ohio town when an electrical
storm came up. The boy at the bat was
knocked down by the shock of bolt that
struck near, but not seriously hurt. The
boy who was catching was taking them
off the bat" right back of the boy at the
bat, but he was not even shocked.
A Russian oil steamer was struck three
| times in succession within seven minutes
on the Baltic Sea and was burned. None
Of the crew was hurt.
A wheat ship on Lake Huron was struck
| twice amidships, almost in the same spot,
| the bolts coming within three minutes of
| each other. The second bolt set the shin
| on fire and she went down.
A Washington girl living on Thirteenth
street, near Ii, was struck by lightning
| while sitting at a sewing machine good
| many years ago. The machine was placed
at low window and the girl was knocked
out of the window. She was not seriously
| hurt.
| Annfhap Wachipptan u,o,,or