Year: 1871

Shadow of Death.


The Chicago Tribune has the following
from Rochelle, ILL.,: On the evening OF
the 10th day of July, 1870, / was struck
by lightning under the following circum-
stances: | am farmer, and had gone to
the pasture, three-fourths of mile from
the house, on horseback to drive home
the cows. A heavy shower had just
fallen, accompanied by much lightning
and loud thunder and little rain was
still falling-we would say it was
sprinkling." While riding through the
! field | discovered a small cluster of
cockle-burrs, noxious weed that infests
many farms in this section of the coun-
try. The cattle were feeding near me.
| dismounted and held the horse with
one hand, and proceeded to pull up the
burrs with the other. While STOPPING to
pull the last one, my hand grasped close
to the root the horse standing with his
head partly over my STOPPING body,
A FLASH OF LIGHTNING


struck the horse, entering his head in
and behind his left ear, tearing two holes
in the skin behind the ear, and though
he was wet with the rain, the hair was
singed from his head, neck and shoul-
ders, and one front leg to the ground;
he, of course, was instantly killed. A
small portion of the electric fluid struck
me on the right temple, singing the
lashes of the right eye, and slightly
burning or scalding the face, rendering
me unconscious for little time, The
following were the sensations and phe-
nomena as ! observed and remember
them. First, / felt myself enveloped in
sheet of perfectly white light, accom-
panied by a sense Of suffocation by heat.
The light could be seen as well through
the back of the head as with the eyes,
and appeared to extend several feet on
all sides of me; then | experienced a
sense of danger, and tried to escape in
jury from my horse. Then followed


TROUBLED DREAM.


in which / was hauling load Of hay in
company with another person, and, in
spite of all the effort / could make to
avoid it. the load of hay was about to
fall on me. When, in the dream, / made
last desperate effort to spring from
under the hay, found myself standing
on my feet. The first thing observed
was that the cattle, in fright, were run
ming from me; and next, that ! stood in
front of the PROSTATE horse, Instantly
| eomptehended the situation, and lis
tened to hear the thunder that should
have accompanied the lightning, but no
thunder could be heard. felt no pain
and no sensation, except mental eX-
ultation, which lasted but Q few seconds.
At first | thought the lightning had
struck near me, and had slightly stunned
the horse and myself Then observed
the water on every hair and the
moisture in the eyes, nostrils and mouth
of the horse to be boiling, having the ap-
pearance and making a noise like fine
drops of water on hot iron, which con-
tinned for several seconds. This was a
phenomenon ! never have heard Of, prob
ably because a person near enough TO
see it is most always rendered uneon-
scious too long to make the observation.
Judging from the distance the cattle had
run, | was probably gneonseiops less
than SIX seconds.


Finding thatthe horse did not breathe,
| proceeded to pull off the saddle and
bride, and then I felt q seyere pain in
my mead, which continued for Several
hours, followed by soreness, WHICH seemed
to be in the substance of the brain, with
an inclination to Inflammation, but at
the end of week no effects of the light
ming were felt,