The Ely miner., 1911-10-13


remarkable in respect to freae-
ISL electrical displays ard tAe
havoc wrought by them.
| Winged death out of the angry skisa
is more terrible now than 1t was %
| the primeval cave dweller. He -four
ished centuries before the metal age,
cons before the time of harnessed
electricity. Neither his clothing nor
his utensils offered an attractive mark.
But severe electrical storm in this
age of universal conduction spells uu-
limited possibility of horrors. The
| lightning bolt is identical with the
force that drives the street cars. that
transmits telegraph messages, that
| works the telephone. that supplies
light and power.
The lawless flash has an avenue
| over every open wire. 1t can deal
death by applying the spark to manu-
factured explosives. 1t cavorts and
prarces with fiendish delight over ard
through the myriad shapes Of metal
within its flel6-metal of universal
necessity in our dress. our house con-
strrction, our sports, our amusemepts
and our business. Moreover, it. travels
for greater distance to slay. Fifteen
miles from the center of a storm the
bolt has stricken lineman mending
wire 1t seeks the bowels of the
earth, and, as in recent wonderful
disaster. not even the miners burrow-
ing far below the ground are safe.
The type of lightning flash shown
above is one which extends hori-
zontally for considerable distance.
A correspondent writing to Nature
concerning a curious multiple-f1ash
photograph which he had obtained
mentioned that he did not leave the
camera shutter open as is usually the
case, but snapped it when he observed
a slight movement of the storm clouds
from which the flashes were proceed
| ing. The impression his letter con-
veys is of slight twittering move
| me1ft in the cloud.
Scalping a HousefuI of People.
In Monticello, N. Y, Charles Garet-
| sky runs summer boarding house,
crowded during the hot spell. He
| had sixty guests the morning Of July
26, when the electrical visitor came
| down throughsthe roof and, neglecting
| to register, entered without ceremony
every room of the house. &5ingeing
| the hair costs Is to 25 cents in the
average barber shop. without money
| charge, but with very decided elec.
trical one, the bolt singud the hair
| and scorched the scalps of twenty
| two men and women gdests. 1t did
therl no other damage. Coquettishly
II woke young woman out of her
sleep by tearing a hole in the wall
beside her pillow. II didn't touch the
beds. which were possibly of the feath-
er sort dear to our grandmothers, and
the late sleepers, es distinguished from
the early birds Who had already got
up and were moving around. escaped
bodily injury.
Lightning altered still more remark.
ably the domestic arrangements of a
| family in Columbus. Ind, when it gave
| back to Mrs. Jonathan Drake her
voicn Two years before she had lost
her speech as the result Of paralysis
| of tAe vocal cords. But when, on
July TO- the lightning flashed and the
| heavens roared, Mrs. Drake, simply
| just had to scream. It was a good
healthy scream, too, and the manner
| of it surprised the good lady even
more than it did her gaping mouthed
friends and neighbors. Having re-
Il 80 Dro lrc
has kept right on talking Sign Ian
guage has been forgotten, chalk and
blackboard have been sent to the at
tic, and, given her choice of two sig
1 nal deprivations, Mrs. Drake probably
shares the opinion of universal woman
kind that they would rather talk than
eat
Lightning in a telephone booth is q
brand new peril Of the age. A Hart
ford man was killed in this manner
last month. He had stayed late in
the office of the Rockville Trolley com
,pany, and about a. m. had gone into
the booth to telephone. Next morn
ing when the other employees came
i and opened the door of the booth
| Lu6y lOuuu LIS UOuy StduuluS Stdrh
ard rigid at the instrument, his lef,
hand still clutching the receiver and
his lips still close to the mouthpiece
According to the theory of the medica
examiner, he had been instantly killed
by current of lightning that hai
flashed in through the private tele
phore wire he had been using.
| Golfers as a Target.
! The golfer out on the links will
his midiron, putter and brassie offers
true mark for the wandering bolt
The lamentable death of Tristan
Burgess Johnson, the former New Yorl
alderman, occurred on the Chew
i Chase links, near Washington. in thii
4 wise: AS is well known, these. ar,
the links that the president uses. ant
1t was rather matter of luck thar
f