THE WAUPACA REPUBLICAN

March 2, 1876

 

THUNDER AND LIGHTNING.

As the Boy Said.

THE FIERY DARTS HURLED AT THE M. E. CHURCH SPIRE.

With a Sadly Riddling Effect.

A SERIOUS DAMAGE.

 

            Last Sunday evening at about 7 o’clock, there was every appearance of a storm, and a severe one. The wind had blown from the east all day, and a sort of sleet had fallen much of the time.  The air was as full of electricity as a battery, and the lightning was flashing occasionally.  About an hour later, the flashes were more frequent and the thunder sharp, with an uncomfortably near sound to it.  A few hardy worshippers were gathered in each of the four churches in town, and were trying to feel trustful and keep their attention fixed on the service.  An occasional heavy peal would make them start nervously, and grow a shade paler, but they retained ordinary composure, and some idea of what was being said.  At the Methodist church, the regular Quarterly Meeting services were being held.  The Elder was just extending the invitation to come forward to the altar and partake of the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, when there came a terrific crash, as if a cannon had been discharged in the room.  Some of the audience hurried out to see what damage had been done, and found that the tower had been struck.  The audience was considerably frightened, of course, but they were reassured by Elder Fellows, who told them the danger was past.  Quiet was soon restored, and the services conducted to a close.

            Next morning, the tower presented a poor appearance.  The bolt struck it about ten feet from the top of the pinnacle, stripped a circle of wooden ornaments off and passed down, splitting the lower end of the pinnacle, thence into the board and plank covering of the tower, where it divided, one part bursting out on the north, and one on the east side, splitting and tearing the covering badly.  The main bolt followed down at the north-east corner into the brick work, tearing out the corner and about two feet back on the sides. The corner beam is somewhat split up, and the brick work around the timbers and braces considerably shaken. Probably one-half of the walls on the two sides will have to come down. It is a good thing for the house that the tower was built at one side, and but partially connected with the main building.  It is also a great piece of good fortune that the spire didn’t take fire.  The damage is so variously estimated that it is hard to arrive at any definite conclusion as to amount.  One man says $700, and another $100.  We shall set it at $500, but will willingly take off any amount of that which may be in excess of the actual cost of repairing.

            It is a bad blow to the church which is not in condition to stand the unexpected expense very well.  If two or three hundred dollars will repair the damages, we do not doubt that the amount could be raised, if a subscription paper were to be passed at once.  The church is the one ornament of the town of which everyone is proud; and everyone has a personal interest in it, as such.  The cost of repairing it ought not to be left to the society alone, and it undoubtedly will not be.

 

-         Dr. Manchester, lives next lot north of the church, on the tower side, and was standing at the window looking out, when the crash came.  He tells wonderful things about the appearance of the ball after it had burst, and fell in a shower of fire.

 

-         Orin Fletcher witnessed it from his house, half a mile away.  He says there appeared to be a cone like pile of fire a hundred feet above the spire, about one rod across the base, and very high.  The ball that struck the spire, he says, appeared to rest for a moment after it struck before descending and then to explode, giving off small bodies of fire, very much as a rocket in its flight.

 

-         Lamps were snuffed in various parts of town, and in many houses explosions were heard. One lady says she saw fire playing up and down on a stovepipe, and in a curtain, where it was distinctly heard.  Another was seated at an organ, playing, and felt a shock like that given by a battery, at several times. Mr. Caldwell, of Lind, was on his way from his barn to his house, where there was an explosion which seemed to be directly before his face, which knocked him down, and blinded him for several moments.  There was a strong smell of powder, or sulpher.  We cold give fifty such experiences, which have been heard of.

 

 

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The insurance on the Methodist Church, unfortunately, covers nothing but damage from fire.

 

 

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The Boss Devil of America

 

Rev. E. D. Huntley needs no introduction to Waupaca.  He will be here on the 15^th of March, at which time he will deliver his lecture, The Boss Devil.  The house will be fuller on that night than it has ever been before.  The lecture will be at, and for the benefit of, the Methodist Church.