The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1915-09-14
BUSY
ASSTORM SWEPT
THIS SECTION
A. {. JepsOn's Barn Burned With
Contents
W. C. ClARK'S HOUSE STRUCK
Queer Freaks of Lighting Without
Much Damage-Rain Fell in
TorrentGE.
W. C. ClARK'S HOUSE STRUCK

Bennington and vicinity Monday
evening experienced one OF the worst
electrical storms in a number Of
years and that more damage was not
caused was remarkable Flashes OF
lightning followed by crashes of
thunder so close together as to indi-
cate that the disturbance was in the
immediate locality followed one an
other for fully an hour. The first
storm which occurred in the vicinity
of 10 o'clock was followed by anoth-
er later in the night The rainfall was
heavy but not of sufficient duration
to cause any damage.
Two barns belonging to A. h. Jep-
son ON the Pownal road were burned,
lighting struck the house of w. c..
Clark at the corner of Grove and
County streets and the piazza at the
Vermont soldiers home, about zoe
stations of the local telephone eX-
change were put out of commission
and two sections OF the village and
one at Old bennington temporarily
lost their electric lights.
At the Jepson farm the loss is es-
timated at about $1l00 with $iO9 in
surance. Two barns, one 60x24 and
the other 2fxlS We're completely de-
stIoyed The larger barn was partly
now, the addition having been bni,t
three years ago The family with the
assistance of neighbors succeeded in
rescuine the horses but the hay
grain. wagon. harness and farming
tools were destroyed About GO haas
and chickens were burned.
Not large amount of damage was
done at the Clark house but the eec-
tricity played some queer pranks.
There ale six holes in the walls IN
the lower floor and one on the see
ond. Two punctures were also made
IN the iron conductors which carry
rain water from the roof. From the
multiplicity of holes it was impossible
to tell where the electric fluid enter
ed and where ii went ont There was
no evidence of trouble below the
main floor of the house to indicate
where the bolt made its exit.
In a sleeping room on the east side
OF the house there were punctures in
the corners at the junction of the
walls and the ceiling, none OF them
large enough TO admit human hand.
From this room the bolt apparently
passed through the wall into the din
ing room where it knocked a picture
from the wall and broke the glass. 1t
also entered the top of china cab
met and passed through into the
kitchen. On the top shelf of the cab
met it broke some glassware and par
TALLY melted four out of five silver
napkin rings. In the bath room it
tore paper from the wall md dropped
it into the tub. The two small holes
in the galvanized conductors are on
opposite corners on the east side Of
tho house.
When the bolt struck the house
there were two lighted kerosene
lamps, one in the dining room and
one in a sleeping room on the second
floor. Both were eXtinguished leav-
ing the members of the family in
darkness.
Marshall Clark, student in the
Bennington high school, was sleep
ing in the lower room where the light
ming made four punctures in the
walls He didn't wake up
At the Vermont soldiers home the
lightning apparently came over some
one of the numerous electric wires. 1t
ripped a board from the ceiling OF the
piazza near the front door and scat
tered splinters over the piazza floor.
Employees of the telephone com
pany are at work today repairing the
damage and expect to have connect
ions made for the useless stations be-
fore night Most of the trouble was
created by the blowing out of fuses.
Residents of School and Gage
streets and on cross streets
running from these two thorough
fares lost their electric lights
through the blowing out of
fuses on the line. The Bennington
Scale Works was also without cleo
trio service this morning and there
was no connection with the residence
of j. c. Colgate at Old Bennington
and with the patrons of the Twin
State Gas and Electric company liy-
ing on the highway west of the Cole
gate house,