Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 152, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 June 1911 — Downey Family Have Close Call; Parsonage Struck by Lightning. [ARTICLE]

Downey Family Have Close Call; Parsonage Struck by Lightning.

Kankakee Valley Review During the terrific thunder and lightning storm Sunday afternoon the M. E. church parsonage was. struck by lightning and Rev. Downey and family had a close call. The building was struck twice, the second bolt following close after the first. Mrs. Downey was rendered unconscious for several minutes. The first bolt struck a tree near the house and done some damage to a window which Mrs. Downey had just closed upstairs on account of the heavy rain which prevailed throughout the storm. The second stroke of lightning struck the chimney, wrecking it to the floor, tearing the floor and joists to splinters and separating the northeast corner of thq buiUUng over a foot wide from the foundation to the roof. It also damaged the stoves In the house. The fluid burned a space in the carpet on the floor the entire width of the room, and places on the stove had been partially melted. Mr. Downey said when the shock came he was sitting in a chair just in front of the stove, holding two of his children on his knee. The stove door was blown open and a stream of fire seemed to rush out of the doorway. When he recovered from the shock and saw that none of the children were injured, he thought of Mrs. Downey and rushed up stairs and found her lying on the floor, just recovering from the shock. The family certainly had a miraculous escape, from the fact that they were in the building at the time. The lightning did more or less damage in all parts of the house.