Democratic Sentinel, Volume 12, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 March 1888 — BALLS OF BLUE FIRE. [ARTICLE]

BALLS OF BLUE FIRE.

Lightning Strikes the Capitol at Washington, Creating a Wild Panic. [Washington special During a heavy thunder-storm, on Wednesday afternoon, lightning struck the Senate wing of the Capitol, but apparently did no other damage than to frighten the occupants and destroy telegraphic and telephonic communication between the building and outside world. The flash was vivid in the chamber itself, and startled every one, but the source was known at once and the proceedings continued without more than momentary interruption. In the lobby of the press gallery it appeared as if a ball of fire dropped from each chandelier to the floor. In the sub-basement an engineer was prostrated. A cab horse outside was knocked down. The report was not louder than a pistol shot, but seems to have been heard in all quarters of the wing. In the Supreme Court every justice, every lawyer at the bar, and every clerk at his desk sprang to his feet, but sat down again very quickly and tried to look as if nothing had happened. Theorists have it that the charge struck the plume of the goddess on the dome, spread over the metal roof in all directions, and sought to go to the ground by the thousand chandeliers, steam pipes, and electric wires in the structure. Similar phenomena were noticeable in the House wing of the Capitol. “Balls of blue fire” played about the corridors, and each occupant of the House or the committee rooms seemed to think he was the especial object of attack. The crash led some members of the House to the belief that the roof was tumbling in. Electric lights in some parts of the wing were extinguished.