The New Hampshire Gazette And Historical Chronicle

Brookfield, in the Massachusetts, June 17, 1769.

On the ninth of this instant June, a little before sun-set, a small, but very black cloud arose out of the north-west, with not much lightning or thunder, till it came near over the house of Deacon Samuel Ware, of New-Braintree; when, on a sudden, a large bar darted perpendicularly from the cloud, till it came nearly on a horizontal plane, with the top of the chimney, then it appeared to the eye placed at a proper distance, to refract, as if it entered a denser medium, and light on the west side of the kitchen chimney, about three inches below the top; then it gently glided down the outside of the chimney, about ten feet, marking its way in serpentine form, about six inches wide, of a milky colour till it come on a level with the ridge of the roof, then it turned the corner of the chimney, tearing away about half a dozen bricks, then it entered the roof, where two rafters and a ridge pole, that united this roof with another met; here it divided into three main branches: one took its course west, down the rafter, till it came to the foot, which rested on the plate, right over a post: it entered the tenon, and took the post all away for about two feet; then it left the post, without injuring it any farther, and formed a right angle moving horizontally behind, or along the breast-work of the kitchen chimney, in a direct course to a large quantity of old iron, till it came to, or against a son of the Deacon's, of about 21, who stood leaning with his left arm against the breast work; then it made another angle, and poured all its force on this poor youth, and laid him instantly dead, on the hearth, without a struggle, scorching his skin to a crisp; singeing his hair, and tearing his clothes into a thousand pieces, but did not set them on fire; at the feet of this young man it entered the hearth, & threw up several large stones, and took its course out of the house south-westerly; in this direction a swine was found dead in the sty, without having any marks of fire or violence upon it; beyond which no effects of this branch of the lightning could be found; there was a daughter of the Deacon's, who stood near her brother who was killed, whose face, hands and arms, were very much burnt, and she very much affected in her nerves, but like to recover; a Negro man-servant also, who stood nearly over the place, where the lightning left the house, had his legs bruised, and very badly burnt, so that the skin of one of his legs came all off the next day from his knee to the ankle, and the other was burnt about half round: Now we must ascend to the ridge, where the lightning first entered the house, and follow another branch, which took its route eastward, not in the other rafter, but down the roof without marking any particular path, but by general circuit; till it came to the plate of another roof, which was a half roof, or in the form of lean-to, and united that roof, where the lightning entered with the main body of the house: Here the lightning entered the plate, about five feet from the end, all which it shivered, then it turned the corner and went down the post, taking out a few grains of wood from the top to the bottom, where it entered the pavement, which was with large flat stones, and marked its path on the under side of one about an inch wide in crinkling course, with a pewter colour, on another the path was marked with a black leaden or rather sooty colour, then it rose above the surface, and continued its course about three rods to the foot of a white oak tree, and then ascended to the top, marking its path, in winding form slightly in the rough bark, beyond which no traces of this branch can be found. We must once more revisit the ridge, and follow the other branch which made the tour of the ridge pole which extended about half way up the lean-to roof, and rested on a middle rafter of this roof, where it entered the rafter, having thrown off the roof on each side of the ridge, and continued rending and shivering the rafter till it reached the plate (of the best or main body of the house) on which the upper end of this rafter rested; here instead of entering the plate it found its way under it, into a closet, that opened into a west chamber, here hung womens clothes, gowns petticoats; &c. which were considerably burnt, scorched and rent, then it made its way thro'a partition into an adjoining closet, which opened into an east chamber; here hung mens clothes, which were also burnt, rent, scorched and some buttons melted, others, to the top taken off, its course seemed to be horizontally to the muzzle of a gun, that stood in this closet; here it light, and melted the muzzle about one eighth of an inch on one side, then it took its course down the barrel, leaving some slight traces, till it got to the breach pin, then it turned about half round, and seized on the guard, which was iron, which it melted from one end to the other, leaving it rough & ragged; then it continued to the breach-plate which was also iron, and on which it had a similar effect; at the breach it entered the floor, and burst into a closet below, which opened into an east room; here was found no particular traces, but general ruin, bursting the door, beating down the partition, into an adjoining closet, that opened into a west room, where it had the like effect; but upon a more critical search, we found it entered the chimney, out of the closet, that opened to the east room where it made a hole of two brick in the side of the chimney, about five feet from the floor, and forced its way thro' about 18 inches above the mantle tree in the breast of the chimney that looks into the east room, then it turned north horizontally, rending the breast work till it came to the corner, then turned perpendicularly down the moulding on the jamb till it came to the head of a pair of small polished tongs, here it melted a small hole in the top of the head, then seemed to flow over it, leaving it rough and sooty; at the foot of the tongs, it entered the hearth, and communicated itself to a short girt, which extended from the chimney, along the head of the cellar stairs, to the front ell of the main part of the house, near the front door, at which, after it had shivered the girt, and broke thro, the under-pining, it took its final leave of the house, which it left in ruins, and in the wildest disorder that can be imagined, and in several places on fire.—The old and less valuable part, a perfect wreck, almost every door closet and window, in the new and better part, burst, and broke, and as it was at the time of the evening prayer, (Sabbath evening) the whole family were assembled into one room, I think to the number of fifteen; but no one suffered any great injury, except the above mentioned, though every door was burst, the floor ripped up; the breast work over the mantletree shivered all to pieces, and thrown across the room, with such violence, as to beat holes through the wall on the other side; the west end of the room bilged, and chiefly carried away. But in the midst of all this wild consternation, the good Deacon took up his dead, and laid him aside, and called to his family, and said, all is well, come, we must try to save what God has left; and went to putting out the fire with great composure, which he with the assistance of another son, happily soon extinguished. The damage done to his house and furniture, is judged, can't be less than 130l. lawful money, On the Tuesday following, the funeral of the young man was attended, where was a vast concourse of people, so that it was thought best, to have prayers in the meeting house, where also, a sermon was preached on the occasion, to an attentive and affected assembly, from Rev. xv 3. 4.

And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works. Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways thou King of Saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord and glorify thy name; for thou only art holy : for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.