Kiowa, CO area Storm and Lightning, Sept 1910

LIGHTNING KILLS SEVEN IN COLORADO

COLORADO SPRINGS, Col., Sept. 22 – As the result of the electrical storms yesterday and last night, seven persons were killed by lightning in the mountains east of here, according to advices today. The victims are six men and one woman, only three of whom have been identified.
MRS. GUS KRATZ, wife of a ranchman living near Elbert, and JAMES BLAND, of Plattsburg, Mo., and CHARLES LOLCAMA, a ranchman, are the three identified dead. C. BETHEL, of this city, who brought BLAND'S body here early today, also brought the news that four other men had been killed near Kiowa in El Paso county.
BETHEL said he and BLAND were driving to a ranch near Eastonville when the storm came up. They reached the ranch in the midst of the storm and the ranchman, LOLCAMA, asked the men to step in out of the wet. BLAND stepped from the buggy and he and the ranchman entered a barn, while BETHEL remained in the buggy. An instant later there was a blinding flash of lightning, partly demolishing the barn and instantly killing BLAND and LOLCAMA. Both bodies were badly burned.
The death of MRS. KRATZ was no less dramatic. She was driving across the prairie with friends when the storm broke. She stepped out of the buggy to open a gate, when lightning struck her, causing instant death. Her companion was not injured.
Telephone reports from Kiowa say the names of the four men killed near there have not been ascertained.

Lincoln Evening News Nebraska 1910-09-22
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!