Evening star., 1947-08-09
Lightning Kills
Man in Street.;
Church Is Hit
Morning Fog Delays
Airline Traffic;
Showers Tonight


the District this morning had
lifted by noon, but the Weather
Bureau said there was "some
chance" of thundershowers this
afternoon or evening.
The morning fog was an after
math Of last nights freak electrical
and rainstorm, in which one man
was killed by lightning, property
was damaged and parts of Alex
andria and Arlington were plunged
into darkness.
Inbound aircraft could not land
at the National Airport for more
than three hours due to the fog,
airport officials said. Five passenger
planes were forced by the low visibil-
ity to land either at Philadelphia or
Baltimore.
The storm caused the fog by cool
ing and saturating the air, the
Weather Bureau said. Early morn
ing automobile traffic was slowed to
a snail's pace by the heavy mist.
The lightning victim was Other
Christmas, colored, 46, of 80 P street
NE. He was running through the
rain to reach his home and was
about 10 yards from it when the
lightning bolt hit.
Struck While Running.
Mrs. Eva Robinson of % P street
NE. said she saw Christmas sprint
ing along the sidewalk when there
was binding flash and he dropped.
She summoned police. Mr.. Christ
mas was pronounced dead on arrival
at Casualty Hospital
The lightning temporarily halted
q wedding rehearsal at the Calvary
Baptist Church, Eighth and H
streets NV, when it struck the
steeple. The bolt, firemen said, pos
sibly bounded across the street to
713 H street NE, where it set fire
to three paint cans in a closet of
William M. Tarnal, doing slight
damage.
The wedding rehearsal of Eliza
beth Suydam, %, of 1920 Clydes-
dale place N. w. and Ernest Miller,
26, of Detroit was halted while fire.
men removed shattered bricks from
the church. It was resumed byI
the Rev. Pierre Tangent after the
firemen left. No one in the we'd
ding party was injured, but they
said the church treplbled when hit
Also struck was a food store at
Connecticut avenue and Newark
street NV. About 20 people who
were in the store escaped injury.
Damage was slight.
The blackout in Southern Arling-
ton and adjoining Alexandria was
caused by lightning which struck
q 22,000-volt switch at Courthouse
road and Columbia pike and a.
power line near the Pentagon on
G road at about pm, Virginia
Electric Power Co. officials said.
Residents and merchants brought
out candles as substitutes for the
electricity that was lacking. Pur-
chases were made by candlelight
in drugstores, as were meals eaten
in restaurants and homes of the
affected area. All the lights were
back on by 1890 pm.
Lightning also struck a pole at
Columbia pike and South Glebet
road, but caused only slight damage.
Two Arlington homes were dam
aged, but no one was hurt. They
were the homes of Howard Payton,
1923 South Eleventh street, and
Charles P: Bogert, GIG North Lin
coin street.
A. 30-foot mast and weather vane
atop the 12-story tower of the
S son1an Institution was
smashed by lightning. So was
chimney at the Colonial Fuel Co.,
1915 First street NE.
Farmhouse Burned Down.
At La Plata, Md, firemen re-
ported a two-story, unoccupied,
frame farmhouse burned to the
ground after it was struck by
lightning.
A freak pre-storm thunderbolt
cracked without warning over down.
town Washington shortly before 5
pm, causing a rush of false reports
that an explosion had occurred at
an apartment house at 1889 I street
NV.
Police and Fire Department
switchboards were swamped with
calls and several pieces Of equip
ment were sent to the address. A
crowd of several hundred persons
gathered and traffic was blocked for
several minutes.
Meanwhile, reports said heavy
hail pounded the earth from Ches-
tertown, Md. to Delaware, causing
possible heavy crop damage on the
Eastern Shore.
From Chicago, the Associated
Press reported heat wave starting
In the midwest. The toll of deaths
from last weeks heat wave there
had grown to 145. Temperatures
began to soar again.