The New York herald., 1922-08-08
LIGHTNING KILLS 1; :
BILTMORE POLE HIT
Ohio Man Gives Life Trying
to Save Elizabeth,
N. j., Tree.
FACTORIES MADE IDLE
Bolt Wrecks Feed Wire, Cut
ting Off Power in Long
Island City.

A thunderstorm of considerable sever
ity. accompanied by much hail but
only little rain. broke over the city
at 2 80 o'clock yesterday afternoon.
At no place in the city or suburbs was
more than one-quarter of an Inch OF
rainfall reported, but in some places
the hailstones were as large as robins
eggs. Lightning struck In manyy places
and caused one death. The storm ap-
cared to be worst In tho city ana
along the supper coast OF New Jersey.
The furry Of rain and hail lasted
only a few minutes, hut 1t was enough
to send thousands OF persons In from
the streets. There was strong souii'-
west wind while the storm was 1t lie
height. The disturbance was preceded
by morning Of unusual mugginess. Az
8 o'clock yesterday morning the tner-
mometer registered ~ degrees. but the
humidity was 95. At noon the temper
ature had risen somewhat and the
humidity had dropped to ~. At
o'clock, the last reading before me
storm broke, the temperature was u
degrees. The temperature dropped i've
degrees one hour afr the storm broke,
and 1t continued to become cooler as the
day went on.
James H. Scarr, forecaster of the
local Weather Bureau. said he expected
to-day to be somewhat clearer and
cooler.
One man was killed by lightning on
the Julian Kean estate in Morris ave-
nue.. Elizabeth, N. J. He was Fern ].
Holycomb. 10. tree expert. who had
made the trip from Hiram. Ohio. to try
to save a large white ash. tree more
than 100 years old. The tree Is more
than eleven feet in circumference at
the base. and towers above everything
In that vicinity. Holycomb was work.
ing near the top when lightning struck.
He was found swinging. head down.
ward. at the end Of the rope which he
had used to fasten himself to the tree.
Lightning also resulted In thousands
of persons employed in factories In
the vicinity Of Greensboro Bridge
Plaza, Long Island city. being sent
home early. The lightning struck a
pole in Henry street and set 1t on fire.
putting a large feed wire out of COM
mission and cutting off the power In
the factories. An alarm was sent In,
hut before the fire apparatus had ar
rived the rain had put out the fire. It
took come time to repair the broken
feed wire. however. and in the mean
time most Of the factory employees
were sent home
A 16-foot flag pole on top of the Hotel
Biltmore, Madison avenue and Forty
fourth street, was shattered into four
pieces when 1t was struck by lightning.
Two Of the pieces fell into Forty-fourth
street None of the guests on the upper
floor knew the bolt had hit the pole.
The only heat prostration reported
was that OF Miss Vera Lumia, Is, OF
624 East 1s9th street, The Bronx. who
was overcome while standing on the
platform Of the Third avenue elevated
at 101st street and Third avenue. She
was taken to Lincoln Hospital.
A team of horses attached to wagon
in charge Of Dennis McKenna OF 100
Nassau avenue. Brooklyn. became fright
ened by thunderclap yesterday after
noon in East Twenty-first street and ran
down Fourth avenue until stopped by
Patrolman Herbert Faust OF the East
Twenty second street station. He was
dragged $50 feet before bringing the AMI
mails to al aalt. His right arm was broken
and he was cut and bruised in many
places. McKenna was making deliveries
in a building in Twenty-first street when
the horses started.