The Harrison times. (Harrison, Boone Co., Ark) 1876-1938, 1906-06-02
STRUCK BY LIGHTNING
A ThuHderbOIt Crashes into the skylight
at the Kirby Building at 1890
Thursday Night.

al the Kirby Building at lO:jO
Thursday Night
There seemed to be nothing espec-
tally alarming in the rainstorm pre-
vailing as Harrison people retired
on Thursday night last, but about
ten o'clock a thunderstorm develop
ed, and for perhaps thirty minutes
the lightning flashes and rolling oil
thunder were of unusual severity.
About 1899 there came a crash oil
thunder which aroused everybody,
and a minute later when the fire
alarm whistle of the Electric Light
plant sounded, it was a natural
conclusion that the thunderbolt
must have started the damage.
Notwithstanding the rain, large
crowd was soon gathered about the
two-story stone Kirby building on
the east side of the square. whieh;the
lightning had struck, and by timely
work prevented what might have
been a. most disastrous fire.
From appearances it is generally
concluded that the lightning first
struck the large sky-light over the
Office of Drs. Kirby & Kirby Every
glass in the large structure was
shattered and the frame work, bat
tered and blackened thrown to the
floor below. From this point the
current attacked the electric light
wires and fixtures which were total
ly destroyed, entailing a loss of per-
haps $3.50. Toward the rear of the
building the force seemed to have
jumped to the large telephone cable
and thence to the Telephone Central
office where its havoc was greatest.
In DR.. kirhy's office the fire fol-
lowing the stroke burned much OF
OF the skylight and the ceiling, but
the door was forced, and with a
meagre supply of water, from the
roof as we'll as from below, it was
soon extinguished. The damage to
walls and contents however was
considerable.
In the Telephone central Office
which has rooms in the rear upper
story of the building the damage
was greatest. Manager Dodson
says that telephone service will be
interlered with for several days. and
that his company has been injured
to the extent of several hundred dol
lars, Wires and switchboards were
melted, the floors torn up and the
machinery put out OF commission on
every side.
Remarkable indeed was the escape
of Mrs. Leila Albright and her son
Ray who were resting on cots at
Telephone Central office in which
Mrs. Albright is night operator,
The natural insulation of the cots
must have saved them, for aside
from the nervous shock they were
comparatively unhurt a though the
room in which they slept must have
been veritable inferno of electrici-
ty and fire; fully one-half of the floor
was torn to splinters, the plaster
ing stripped from the walls, copper,
iron and other telephone fittings
: w !fT b9q " sd sE paper and on ev-
of the lightning lseyidet1.- seo.e".rs
ately after the shock Mrs. Albright
dragged the boy from bis cot and es-
capped from the building by the back
stairway. Had she been at the usual
post of the operator her death
must have been instantaneous
Erl Johnson, who sleeps in the
rear of the Chicago Store, just be-
meath the central office, congratu.
lates himself on the fact that he had
not retired. He was across the
square when the thunderbolt came,
and was one of the first on the scene
OF destruction.
In the Chicago Store the light
ning's odd tricks are all about; a
large upright showcase at the front
was completely smashed, goods ev-
erywhere thrown from the shelves,
little fires started at a dozen points,
laces and other fabrics scorched,
and the large measuring machine at
the rear thrown Hat to the floor.
Awaiting the examination of the in
surance adjuster, the Chicago Store
was closed yesterday.
The Electric Light Plant suffered
slightly from the re-actionary force
of the shock, its lightning arrestor
was torn from the walls, and all oil
the wires about the corner struck
were entirely burned out.