DEATH FROM THE CLOUDS.
A curious case of death resulting from a discharge of atmospheric electricity occurred in the Island of Fariguana, at which place a telegraph and telephone station is situated at an altitude of something like 1000 feet above the sea level. During a rain storm sparks were seen to pass between the telephone wires to the iron walls of the building, and shortly afterwards a lineman observed that the lightning rod was melted off at a point where it came in contact with the building.
According to Modern Light and Heat, this lineman carried in his hand a hammer which had two metal strips reaching from the head down the handle and parallel with it. With this hammer he tapped the ground end of the melted lightning rod, and immediately fell over dead. It is suggested that as the building stood on a rock, and the lightning rod was grounded in a deep well there may have been considerable difference of potential between the place where he was standing and the grounded lightning rod.
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