The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1912-07-28


into a spiral Although his hair. whis-
kers and eyebrows were on this day
shaved OF by tho subtle 8uid. he cs-
capped without any other injury save Il
sprained ankle. Then In 1889 bolt
, knocked him under his dining table.
rendering him unconscious And final
ly in 1895 while returning from town
with horse laden with provisions no
was stunned while passing under a
chestnut tree. Coming 70 his senses.
he found his shirt. coat and hat miss
ing. the horse lying unconscious. and a
ham from his market pack lodged in a
tree
During an electric storm at south
windsor. Conn, last summer. a fash
of lightning struck the handlebars of a
bicycle standing beside an elm tree.
tore them from the machine drove
them upward along the trunk of tho
tree for twenty feet removing the
bark as smoothly as n knife. carried
them down live feet. and buried them
eight Inches deep in the wood When
cut out they We're none the worse for,
their experience
Lately a bolt struck barn on tina
historic Custer farm. in Prince c;aorpe
county. Va After tearing a hole in
the roof 1t ran along a thrashing ma
chine. knocking down a man and A
horse burned the leg Of one John
Lane and killed a dog at his feet
! severely
and paralyzed on the left side of his
body, his clothing was not disturbed
Lightning In Friendly Role
Lightning ia not at all famed for
saving lives. although 1t takes many
each sumner. An exception to this
rule. however. was noted some time
ago near lie Sueur. MINI. While walk
Ing on the railroad here William
Schultz found loose rail lying across
the track. Dropping 1t loosely in
place. he was about to run to the
station to seek assistance when a
binding Fash Of lightning knocked
him unconscious AS he came to he
saw an approaching train and man
ased TO drag himself off the track
barely in time to save his life. AS
tonished to note that tho train passed
the loose rail without injury. he made
an examination Of the track with
the aid Of the engineer. who had come
back TO see II he had been hurt They
We're astonished to discover that the
rail- had been melted at the two ends
that tho lightning had welded it into
place as securely as could have been
done ny art!ice.
y case even more remarkable is one
where lightning saved criminal from
tho disgrace Of being hanged. a negro
was about to he thus executed for MUIR
Ter IN Kentucky July 90. lsT2 and
mad Just stepped upon the trap OF the
MN dead Tho sheriff regardins the
circumstance as an omen. resigned
Bolt Does Political service.
RMS summer it VIII be- timely t. re-
call how this subtle force also took a
hand in the presidential campaisn OF
1926 In that year the barn of Abner
Milikan was decorated with lithographs,
OF Mckinley and Hobart. During a.
I hcrce thundersust the barn was sew
eral times struck by lightning ana
n ha
after the storm had subsidized Mil'kan
, was amazed TO discover that. although
! ms barn was intact the two candi-
houettes of both Mckinley and Hobart
: were. however. found burned into the
u barn, Just whore the pictures had been.
= Ihunderbolts frequently measure
themselves upon the ground. leaving a
record of their diamet~cs. In the ma
tlonal Museum is collection OF glass
: tubes which lightning has made upon
s striking the sand. The holes through
these representing the thickness of
. the bolts vary from the size of a qulI
t" three Inches in diameter Such tubes
the ground.
/ Thmndcrholts ns Tnttooers
Records Of the vagarI.s OF lightning,
are rcpletc with accounts of tattoo
marks left by thunderholts upon tho
: Invariably in the form OF branching
trees or other vegetation there was
formerly an erroneous notion that they
: We're lightning photographs" of such
, ( objects. In the path of a flash But
experiments upon photographs plates
prove that when a powerful electric
, current darling through the air comes;
in contact with flat body It branches
into myriad forks, resembling not only
, the limbs and twigs of trees but the
details Of the most delicate sea NOISES .
Morbid fear of lightning results not
only from knowledge that Il Is an un-
certain foe giving no quarter and be-
having without rhyme or reason. hut
from the awc-inspiring cnormity OF
the thunderhead with It's fiery forked
narometic pressure preceding n gust.
AS minated. thunderhcads are tho
giants of the cloud family. Tho Wea-
! thcr Bureau has by aid OF surveyors
Instruments measured some as high
: from base TO summit as Mount Everest
> the tallest mountain in the world. But
: even person who is both deaf TO tho
, . Crashing challenge OF an approaching
! gust ana blind to the spectacle of the
i rising tnunderhead and its oInlnous
: pyrotcchnics Viii feel the depression
caused by the sudden addition of hun
dreds of pounds Of atmospheric pres
D surc to his blood vessels. Such de-
preston ls fuel for morbid fears In
tho course Of census % ter.ors made
5 some time ago by our noted psychoio-
e eist G. Stanley Hall. II was discover
ed that lightning excited the chief
e fear of tho majority of the subjects ex-,
amined Yes, according to the govern
g ment stntistcans It causes less "vio-
lent deaths" than any other agency
/ upon whose ravages they keep tab.
, (Copyright, 1919. nv John Elfreth
Watifus)