Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1917-06-09
LIGHTNING BOLT
TAKES ONE LIFE
Austrian Killed Walking Under frees
On Fourth Avenue In East
End Of City.

Anfrezv RauouluG. AZ years Of age.
enaulayad by Deere g CO.. during 1ae
f,-f eys wears. was killed instantly at
5.s0 last evening when as was ~. . ..-
hv a bale Of lightning while walking
under trees Un Railroad HftA-@ -7--
Fourth street, }u Moline.
The belt II lightning la8ped iE0n1
the trunk af tho troes which II Aa1
struck, tn tho mau's head burning ITS
way through hiH Rk0I, passing thT948a
hlz badr and coming out 1t mss Ael~
knee. 5s sHa0 power was tho 91+-
that tHu mans cost. trousers and Ha.
,rero tara 4uta ahreda ana scattered
about the aeana go the tragedy.
peraans living iu th8t ueiEAbcraooa
rushed ta she side cf the stricken H3tt1.
They found life extinct, Several per
Hona hurried 10 telephones TO summon
physician. bat 81 was discovered .A'+l
ali phones Ga the neighborhood had
been pat oUt DC commission by me
electrical disturbance.
Finailv someone ran to "a store sew
rral blocks away Here d phone that
was not made useless by the lightning
was found. and the police were nou-
fed. This was about eight minutes
after the tragedy had occurred The
notice ambulance was Immediately
rushed to the scene and pulmotor
taken afong But when the police ar
rived. about twelve minutes after the
man had been struck, LOuonl1A was
beyond aid.
The body was taken 10 Barnard's
Undertaking parlcrs. Until nothing
was learned as to the mans identity
For two hours after the lightning had
struck people came and went 10 the
: a. Er.tE
euspectlnE that perhaps the man nlisht
be a friend Numerous calls were made
to the police, making inquiries about
the man But uomouin6 lay tn The
undertaking room All during the two
hours. 40 one knowing or suspectog
who he was
shortly before g, G. X Wilson Of
the employment department OF Deere
& Co. pb0ued 10 Bernard g asking what
the mans check number was, He was
told that an envelope bearing the num-
Der 5045 was found on R0montnks
clothing After referring to the files
of Deere * Co., & was discovered that
the man who received hts pay under
number 50z5 bore the name Of Andrew
Rom0nink,
But no one was positively able 10
identify the body uuttI this morning.
At 10 This morning Frank Solo, for
merly foreman Of The grinding shop
at Deere g. Co called az Barnard 5 and
positively Identified the body as that
OF Andrew RomoninE. Romonink5 he
said. had worked under him for sew
eral years, Solo did not know R0-
moninks present address. His wife
and five children live in Austria, ne
said At IL today no friends or Tela-
tives Of the dead man had been found.
rs.F 80 $40
home Of Mrs, Elmer Olson and Mrs.
Lars Anderson. her mother. The shock
OF the bolt and tragedy caused Mrs.
Anderson 40 lose consciousness She
is now under "a PHYSICIANS care Mrs
Olson and Mrs. Anderson were sitting
on the porch Of their home when the
lightning struck Romouink.
The tree under which Eouonink
was walking was slightly damaged
Marks of the ljEhtning's course were
plainly visible. however. The tree ap-
peaTed 20 have hecn scratched by some
animal These scratches we're visible
from along the entire trunk of the
tree The bolt evidently struck near
thu top and travelled along the tree
trunk until t. hit Rom0nink.
After reaching Bomonink the cur
rent passed along the ground in a
westerly direction, scratching the sur
face in a manner similar 10 the tree.
Tt finally grounded beside fbe fence
fronting the Olson home A window in
the house adjacent to the Olson home
was shattered Several pieces were
broken from the fence.
Coroner T. e, Miller was so h0ld an
inquest into EcmaufnE's death this
afternoon EuDeT>f services for Nr
Rouonfnk VIII he &eld in the Holy
Trinity Catholic church At $50 touor-
row afternoon Father Stanjslaus ku-
hiak viii ofciate Burial will be in
s. MarTs Catholic cemetery. East
Moline.