Lightning's Pranks At Chelsea

Mrs. M. Schwikerath's 'house and barn on Congdon street, Chelsea, were struck by lightning about 9:45 last evening. The bolt struck a chimney that is on the barn, knocking the top off and passing down the chimney shivered a refrigerator that stood near by and shattered a cook stove that stood Bear the refrigerator. From the barn it went to the house where it shivered the roof and the plaster on the walls. Mrs. Schwikerath and some of the children were sitting at a table in the sitting room, when the house was struck and her arm was numbed by the shock. The house was one blaze of light when the bolt went through it. Passing out of the house the bolt, which looked like a ball of fire, burst in W. R. Lehman's yard with a report like a cannon. Mr. Lehman was looking out of the bed room window at the time and saw the large ball of fire leave Mrs. Schwikerath's house and cross the street in the direction of his house. He was badly frightened, but the bursting of the fireball dispelled his anxiety for the safety of his home.—Chelsea Herald