KILLED BY LIGHTNING

A Bolt of Lightning Strikes William Naze and Kills Him Instantly.

Mrs. Naze, His Wife, Stunned By the Shock But Recovers.

Four Horses are also Killed and Another Escapes Unhurt.

William Naze, a farmer residing about four miles from Montpelier was struck by lightning about 4 o'clock Friday afternoon and instantly killed together with four horses of the five horse team he was driving. He was driving towards the barn, seated on a sulky plow, with which he had been breaking new land when the bolt fell. He was struck on one side of the face, and the lightning glanced down the side of his body to the plow seat. It went through the seat making a large hole through the same. A cap Mr. Naze wore was torn in many pieces, otherwise his body was not mutilated.

Mrs. Naze, wife of the deceased man, was feeding chickens from a header box near by. The shock caused by the lightning stunned her into unconsciousness and she fell to the ground. When she recovered, the smell of smoke attracted her attention. Her first thought was that the barn was on fire. On going around the building she was horrified to find the body of her husband. His clothing was on fire, the lightning having started the flames. She put out the blaze and notified Prosper Naze, a brother of the deceased, of the facts.

Mr. Naze was about 30 years of age. He was married and leaves a wife, and two children aged respectively two and four years, to mourn his loss. He was industrious and had, by careful farming and good management, become possessed of a good farm with improvements and was considered to be in excellent circumstances. He was a good neighbor and popular among the farmers of Montpelier. He has many relatives in the vicinity of his home among them Jules Naze, the Montpelier merchant. He was of Belgian descent. His wife was a Miss Comber.

The funeral of William Naze at Montpelier Saturday last, was largely attended. The unusually sad circumstances of his death, and the sympathy of many acquaintances drew the farmers and neighbors to attend the last rights from many miles around. The clothing which had caught fire after the lightning stroke, had burned severely the skin and flesh of the body. The hole in the temple caused by the stroke bled constantly. Mrs. Naze recovered from the shock without injury. In addition to the four horses, a cold running along side was also killed.

Jamestown Weekly Alert, 6/29/1899