The San Francisco call., 1905-05-27
LIGHTNING STROKE CUTS
SOME CURIOUS CAPERs
Roof, Chimney and sides Of a House q,
New Orleans Are
SharferNE

With her head buried between rTo 5fI-
lows and iying prosuzra on a feather
mattress Mss Catherine Su-gf OF Der
o1gry and Lapeyrouse streets passed
through one q the uOst remarkable and
thrilling lightning experiences recorded In
this city The house was struck at rs
o'clock on the afternoon OF January II
while the rain and wind storm was at IL
height. and the bolt. after following 4
house wire. shattered the roof and CHM
ney over a rear upstairs room and also
hlled the house with broken plascering
and destroyed several triukets On the
manrelpisce- After going through all this
Mss Surg1 emerged from her place OF
shelter and calmly called for assista1ce.
as she believed that the building had
been set On fire BY the bolt
The SUrgi residences was struck after
series OF vivid lightning flashes had
startled the entire neighborhoOd IN the
vicinity OF rhe ST Bernard market Cap
tain P J. GaTlfciO OF chemical engine No
10 was IN ths engfne-h0use when be saw
a blaze start from a wire leading IN ths
direction OF Mss SsrgFs home He
watched the sparks as they rapidly ap-
preached the corner Of Der1fguy and
Lapeyr0use streets. when suddenly the
circuit Jumped from the wire 20 an elsc-
trfc signal button On the front 0f the
Surgi place
The impact was 50 great that the 'front.'
door was knocked on its hinges and the
glass panel broken into fragments The
side OF the house where the hinges were
fastened was torn into splinters before
Mss Surgi realized what had occurred
The trfnkets on the mantslDiece were
knocked on and broken. but a large pla<s
mirror suspended over the manrsl was
found On the door upside down. without
crack. one OF ths many freaks played
BY the lightning The plasrertng n The
rhar ~ - al nh
room which was occupied BY Miss surg.
was torn from the walls and ceiling
The lightning. according TO Captain Cal
Hcf0-S exars1nztion followed the bell wire
through three rOoms and the kitchen 70 .
small shelf used for the storage cells
These were found intact. but the eurrent
continued down another wire 70 the rear
OF the house Tt must have been inter-
ruptsd- for three boards IN a feather
edge fence were broken on as II ths
work was done BY a carpenter
After demoItshins the fence the power
again followed the bell wire. going - ths
, steps 70 a room on the second d0or.
Here the most startling work was done.
for every slate was torn on the roof and
[ the brick chimney scattered IN zIuosr
every direction some OF the broken
brick were hurled for half a square while
the flying plaster was converted into
dense cloud The walls were disc0nnecE-
was a wreck
/ Mss Surgi explained that she went
through the whole thing without a
scratch She attributes her escape from
death 10 a remarkable combination OF
circumstances first among which was
prssentinsnt that lightning would strike
L the house. and the other was thar she
[ suddenly became afraid and protected
herself BY getting into bed
= was never afraid in my hfe before
/ this storm came up. declared Miss surg
in relating her experience -bur somethtng
I tcId ne 70 leave NY sewing machine and
X take 10 the bed as I know that a feather
. mattress fs q u0n-c0ndCct0r. had hard
L Iy covered my head with the pillows when
L heard a loud report accompanied BY a
binding fash ! knew II was Hghtnfnz.
but 1t was all over so quick that did not
/ know WHAT had actually happened until 7
got up and saw she house He'd with plas-
rering and The ronr door torn from IT.
b fasrenIngs Then I rushed 70 the side
walk and called for help. as I was under
the impression that the house was on
are-New Orleans PicayIne-