Alexandria Gazette

A melancholy circumstance occurred in Cooke county, Tenn. near Newport, on the 28th of June. Three of the sons of the Rev. Samuel Lotspeich (Benjamin, Elbert, and Hyram) were at work some distance from the house. About two or three o'clock there was an appearance of rain coming on; they left the field and went to a large sycamore tree, which stood on the bank of Pigeon river, for shelter; the tree had a hole cut to the hollow, some ten by fifteen inches in size: the hollow was some five or six feet in diameter.

The account which Benjamin gave was as follows: Hyram, the youngest, entered the hole first, and took his position on one side of the tree: Elbert entered next and occupied the other side: Benjamin went in and took his position between the two. Soon after, the tree was struck by lightning, near the top: it passed down the trunk, tearing a wide column of scales and loose bark from the tree. About fifteen or twenty feet from the ground it seems to have parted and come down in two columns, each passing perpendicularly over the hole through which the boys entered. 'The two boys who sat next to the tree were killed, and the other very seriously injured. It seems almost incredible to suppose that the one who escaped death was in the tree at all or near it: but from an examination of the tree and the manner in which the lightning entered the hole, his account of it seems to be correct. Each side of the tree seems to have served as a conductor: for just where they sat next the tree there are visible signs of its knocking off scales, some twelve or fifteen inches in length.