LIGHTNING'S FATAL WORK.

THE TERRIBLE FLUID ALMOST EXTERMINATES A DAKOTA FAMILY.

A Sad Sight That Greets the Aged Parents of the Couple Who Have Just Arrived From Norway—First Report of the Fourth of July Casualty Crop—Disasters of the Day.

Hunter, Dak., July 5—A peculiarly sad case of lightning's fatal work has just come to light through a neighbor, who reports that last Friday night during the storm the house of a Norwegian named Ole Olstad, about eight miles northwest of this place, was struck by lightning. The house was what is known as a sod shanty, occupied by Olstad, his wife and their 8-months old baby. On Saturday, the neighbors, not seeing signs of life about the premises, investigated. Effecting an entrance into the house they found Olstad on the floor near the door, dead, with his head burned to a crisp, the clothing nearly burned from the body, and the flesh in places blackended {sp} and peeling from the bones. Near by lay the body of his wife, badly burned about the face and shoulders, her features barely recognizable. On the bed in the corner of the room, beneath a large feather pillow lay the baby unharmed, kicking his heels in the air and laughing and enjoying itself. An examination of the building showed that the bold entered the house by way of the chimney, passing down and scattering pieces of the stove about the room.

Another and equally sad circumstance in connection with the affair is the fact that Olstad had sent money to Europe to enable his aged father and mother to come and live with him. On Saturday morning the old couple arrived in Hunter, and were driving to the residence of their son, accompanied by an unmarried brother, who lives in Minnesota and had joined them in St. Paul, thinking to make the family reunion complete. The grief of the parents when they arrived at the farm can better be imagined than described.

Jamestown Weekly Alert, 7/5/1888