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Surnames: Ziegler
Classification: Death
Message Board URL:
http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/VOYBAIB/516
Message Board Post:
[Note: I am not researching any of these families. Just posting this article because it
was on the same page as an obit I tracked down for an RAOGK request.]
The Morning Call
Allentown, PA
Tuesday, June 4, 1895
Page 1
Deadly Lightning
A Fearful Storm Passed Over Southern Berks Sunday Evening
Two Young Men Were Killed
And Six Stunned--A Bolt Struck the Plow Hotel, at Plowville-Webster Ziegler and George
James Were Fatally Injured
The severest thunder storm that has ever visited the lower section of Berks county passed
over that section Sunday evening at 8 o'clock. Plowville was in the centre of the
storm and the Plow tavern struck by lightning. Two men were killed and half a dozen
stunned. Those killed are Webster Ziegler, aged 15, single, and George James, aged 45,
married. The stunned: John Hager, school teacher, of Brecknock; Harrison Ziegler, a
carpenter; Oscar Ziegler, a brother of Harrison; John Eshelman, son of the proprietor of
the hotel; Jonas Hertz, merchant in the same building. All day the heat had been
oppressive. At 8 o'clock a storm broke, in the midst of which George James and wife
and several children, who had been visiting near by, drove up to the hotel. Mr. James
took his wife and children to the side sitting room, and then came out and engaged in
conversation with the others, most of whom were sitting outside on the porch watching the
storm, which increased in fury with ea!
ch minute. James' team had been tied under the shedding near by and he was standing
near the end of the porch. He remarked that he wondered how long it would last, as he was
anxious to get home. In the meantime the lightning became sharper, the thundering more
deafening, when suddenly it appeared as if the entire heavens above were ablaze. Then as
if a hundred cannons had been discharged, followed by a deafening roar, the thunderbolt
burst over them. Death and destruction fell upon that group on the porch. James was
found lying at the edge of the porch. He had been instantly killed. The hotel is a
two-story building, and the lightning entered at the roof. It then passed into the second
story, shattering a window and casement. Then it tore down into the bar-room and through
the open door leading to the porch. The casement of the lower story window was splintered
and the boards torn up. The whole building shook, and it seemed as if the earth was in a
tremor. Webs!
ter Ziegler had been sitting in a large arm-chair close to the window
when the bolt struck the building. He was found in the chair dead, his shoes torn from
his feet and his legs scorched by the lightning. His head was hanging back, and the bolt
apparently struck him as it passed down the building. John Eshelman, the young son of the
proprietor, was lying near by apparently dead. Outside on the porch were all the others,
except one, stunned by the terrific flash, lying at full length, unconscious and
immovable. It was fully two hours before those stunned had all been revived. The hotel
caught fire, but the flames were extinguished by Miss Alice Eshelman, daughter of the
proprietor, and her brother. George James, one of the two killed, was an examplary young
man and carried on the business of lime burning. He was married to Miss Mary Drumheller.
Webster Ziegler, the other one killed, was a young farmer, a brother to Harrison and Oscar
Ziegler, who were stunned.