SAT ON THE KITCHEN STOVE

May Phelan, a Waterbury Girl, is Shocked by the Lightning.

Houses Are Struck by Lightning, [illegible] Very Severe Damage

The Naugatuck Valley welcomed a thunder storm yesterday afternoon about [illegible] o'clock, notwithstanding that it did some damage, not any of which, however, was of a very serious nature. The crops in the fields have been thireting[sic] for some weeks and the showers of yesterday gave them in a degree a little of what they needed. The showers were accompanied with some vivid flashes of lightning and a heavy wind. In Waterbury the flooding of the streets caused the washing of many gullies and the overflow of sewers. The Naugatuck rose to the dignity of a swollen river, and swirled off toward Union City with an air of importance.

May Phelan, age 1[illegible], daughter of Patrick J. Phelan of 8 Highland Avenue, Waterbury, was sitting on the kitchen stove during the storm, and she was shocked but not injured, when a blinding flash of lightning, accompanied by a thunder crash, shook all the houses in the neighborhood. The girl fell from the stove and for some time lay unconscious. Slight burns on her left arm and hip were all the results she felt from the shock, after she had regained consciousness, except for a dazed feeling.

In Naugatuck three houses were struck by the lightning, but not serious damage resulted. The cupola of the house of Edward Noble was struck and the shingles and clapboards ripped off. On Cherry Street lightning hit the residence of Joseph Hall, tore a hole in the roof, ran through the house into a pantry on the lower floor where the dishes were thrown off the shelves and the and the shelf paper set on fire.

In Union City the lightning struck the house of James Biggin. It also struck a wire of the Naugatuck trolley road. It melted the wire so that it fell to the ground.

New Haven Evening Register, New Haven, CT 18 Aug 1900
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Transcribed by Linda Horton. Thank you, Linda!