This was posted today on the Berks County, PA list.
Mike Ziegler
----- Original Message -----
From: "Diana Quinones" <audianaq(a)msn.com>
To: <PABERKS-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Wednesday, July 09, 2003 10:59 PM
Subject: [PABERKS] Killed by Lightening - 6/4/1895
>From 6/4/1895 Reading Times and Dispatch Newspaper, Reading PA:
'Killed
by Lightening'
'Plow Tavern struck by a bolt and many persons affected':
During the storm of Sunday night, lightening struck the Plow Tavern,
between
Morgantown and Beckersville, and killed Webster Ziegler, aged 15,
and George James, aged 45 and married. John Hoyer, a school teacher of
Brecknock, Harrison Ziegler, a carpenter; Owen Ziegler, by whom he was
employed; John Eshelman, aged 10 years, a son of the proprietor of the
tavern, and Jonas Hartz, residing with M. H. Eshelman, merchant, in the same
building were stunned. During the height of the storm George James, who,
with his wife and several children had been visiting John Bingaman, a truck
farmer, who lives a miles and a half away, and were on the way to their
home, at Goosetown, drove up to the tavern to remain until after the storm.
Mr. James took his wife and children to the tavern to the sitting room, and
there came out and engaged in conversation with the others, most of whom
were sitting outside on the porch, watching the storm.
When the lightening struck the building it entered the roof,
down
through the second story to the bar-room, and out through the door to the
porch. Mr. James was instantly killed. Webster Ziegler, who was sitting in
a large armchair close to the window, was found dead, his shoes torn from
his feet and his legs scorched. The others mentioned were struck to the
floor and were unconscious. The women and children in the sitting room and
Banks Eschelman, who was in the bar-room, were uninjured. It was fully two
hours before those who were stunned revived.
Webster Ziegler was a son of Harrison Ziegler, residing near the
Plow
Tavern and a well-known farmer. George James was an estimable citizen of
Caernarvon. He was a son of Hunter James, who once lived in Reading and
died several years ago, and was a nephew of Evan James, the blacksmith. Two
brothers, residing in the South and one sister in Schuylkill county, are the
only survivors of his father's family. Deceased was an exemplary young man,
noted for his honesty, industry, and sobriety, and was a very worthy
citizen. He d'vined his own property, a very comfortable home of several
acres, was a successful tobacco farmer and carried on lime burning at
Kurtz's kilns at Willow Glen. His heart-broken wife, with two small
children, sadly mourn his demise.
Diana in AL
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