STRANGE EFFECTS OF LIGHTNING

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2134, 25 May 1889, Page 3

STRANGE EFFECTS OF LIGHTNING

An English correspondent writes t— "A sad ease has been brought to my notloe during the last week, through an application of a relieving offloer to take a child, •ged 8 years, to tha oounty paoper Innatlo asylum. Ha reported that when tha norse had the ohild on her lap, soon after he was boro, sitting In front of the bedroom fire, a tremendous thunderstorm was In progress, aod the nnrae declares tha lightning came down the ohlmney, and ashes and fire were thrown out oa the floor. She herself felt perfeotly disad, and the ohild seemed kind of paralysed. The bead of the obild wad towards tbe fire. The child baa never epnken, and has developed a atrong desire to bite *nd *or*ioh everything, to oatoh , »nd kill flea, birds, or anything alive, so that the poor parents have been obliged to tie the ohild by a rope for many years to a staple m the wall, until one day they had fonnd he bad gnawed the rope through, had se'zsd on a young brother, put both bands to his throat and tried to strangle him. After this a ohaln waa substituted for tbe rope. The asylum authorities oould not take very young ohildren, but now permission having been obtained, the I ohild will at onoa be sent there, to the great rallsf of the parents and neighbours. Other ohildren of these parents are fine atrong. and bealtby. Whether this Identical ohild waa Injured by tbe llghln n » or oof, the norse, parentr, and neighbours all firmly believe ao, and I oan vouoh tor the state of the child and Its peculiarities. "