The Libby herald., 1911-12-07

VVOICT /o'
that day. An extraordinary feature
OF the johnson killing was that the
bolt came without warning. The
heavens were clouded, but there was
no storm, and, like most golfers, the
unfortunate player was not daunted
by the gloom Of a muggy day.
Most wonderful, however, OF all
lightning pranks hereabouts was the
recent attack on miners working 1883
feet underground in the passageways
OF the Hudson river aqueduct tunnel.
If the miner isn't immune, what hui
man creature is? The reader will be
surprised to learn that lightning casu-
alties in mines, though not frequent.
are not uncommon. The intake of air
/ from the surface above sometimes acts
as ready conductor, or the current
descends the metal cable by means
OF which the elevator cage is operated.
The horror Of the possible stroke is
Increased tenfold by the danger OF
its touching off the explosives that
are used in blasting.
aqueduct, near Cornwall l-on- Hudson, on
July 1, plunged the bolt, first follow.
ing the elevator cable, then ripping
Its way through steel car at the bot
tom and dividing into two currents,
each Of which came rolling and hiss
ing down the railway tracks of the
east and west tunnels, respectively. +
David Emery and Thomas Brown
stood at the head of the west tunnel
engaged in blasting. Brown had his
back to the shaft and was in the act
Of dropping a stick of dynamite into
hole. The bolt passed him with a
slight shock, made connection
through his feet with fuse wire in
his hand and exploded the stick of
dynamite. A vast mass of rock was
turned up by the impromptu blast and
bots men We're hurled great distances,
sustaining terrible injuries. The mar
vel of 1t all was that they weren't in
stantly killed by this extraordinary
coming together of unclaimed light
ming and high power explosive.
Franks and Tragedies.
OF pranks and tragedies along elec-
trio wires and to power houses, troll.
ley cars and linemen a volume could
oe written. ~ st2sssiaaaaG1
Lightning pays attentions to man.
kind In a more delicate fashion than
this. 1t has playfully snatched a whip
from f. riders hands, made off with
the knitting needles Of two gossiping
women who were sitting knitting and.
selling the pitchfork from the shoul-
der Of farm laborer, carried it off
fifty yards or thereabouts and twisted
the tines into corkscrew. 1t has
torn the music from the hands of a
singing youth and destroyed it, and
has lighted candle and gas Jet.
1t has caught up the scissors from the
hand of a girl seated at sewing ma
chine and whisked them off, while
1t lifted her bodily upon the machine,
where she found herself when she re-
covered from her experience. It has
melting earrings without killing tho
wearer.
Lightning performs queer pranks In
its journeying toward the earth. The
fully removed by the lightning to a
distance and applied to objects never
intended to receive this style Of dec
Grafton. 1t is reported that the gild-
ing of an altar ornament in a French
church was removed and placed on
a silver vase. On another occasion
lightning came down the chimney of
a house in which a dance was being
held. II entered the room where the
dancers were blotting out fear Of the
storm outside and deposited upon them
all a coat of the SCOT it had brought
down the chimney. 1t did no other
harm.
The English cottage pictured above
affords a good example of the ex-
plosion which follows when lightning
penetrates closed rooms. The down
ward flash entered through the chin
ney and roof and then the explosion
blew out the glass of the windows
and the center woodwork of the door.
The sturdy oak was blown asunder by
the explosion caused by the flash
igniting the gases which its own in
tense heat engendered when passing
through the tree. The tree was
strong British oak. three feet in d.
ameter. yet was rent completely
asunaer.