Killed by Lightning

By Eilene Lyon

My new book, What Lies Beneath Colorado Pioneer Cemeteries and Graveyards, officially publishes on Tuesday, but it is available now! See link at bottom of the post.

In the course of finalizing the manuscript for publication, I had to omit some material to meet my word count goal. The book contains 24 “sidebars” on various topics. This one did not make the cut. It was to come after a story about Caleb Charman (feature image), who was killed by lightning. I collected some additional biographical material about other people in Colorado who were killed by lightning in the 19th century. Strikingly (pun intended), two of the victims were judges. Hmmm.

Judge Robert F. Long (d. July 27, 1882), of Ouray, went on a fishing and prospecting trip with a friend, but had trouble finding his way. He stopped to speak with a rancher when it began sprinkling. His friend got out of the wagon to cover the mess box with a rubber tarp when lightning struck. Judge Long, holding the reins, was thrown fifteen feet by the strike and killed. The other two men had burn injuries and a horse died. His wife, Mariah, and gravely ill son, Tom, survived him, but not for very long. Burial: Louisiana, Missouri.

Antonio Madrile (d. July 28, 1885), a Ute Indian, was killed at Spruce Springs, twenty-five miles west of Saguache. He was about forty-four years old and worked as a herder. A mid-afternoon thunderstorm overtook him, along with a sixteen-year old companion. The younger man was knocked senseless and found Madrile’s terribly damaged body when he woke. Madrile’s headstone is engraved with “Killed by Lightning.” Burial: Hillside Cemetery, Saguache County.

William McCreedy (d. July 14, 1890), a sixty-five-year-old miner, died while seated in his mining cabin on Mt. Lenawee (present day: Arapaho Basin Ski Area). His son, Frank, was knocked unconscious. William had a wife, Emma, and three grown children, Frank, Ella and Addie. None of the children ever married. Burial: Alvarado Cemetery, Clear Creek County.

Joseph Miller (d. Aug. 11, 1891), another miner, was prospecting with a partner on Pearl Pass near Aspen when “a most remarkable thunder storm passed over that section.” When the partner recovered consciousness, he was able to summon help from others in the area. Miller was single, and had worked previously as a contractor in Wooster, Ohio. Burial: Aspen Grove Cemetery, Pitkin County.

Melvin Crosby, age twenty-eight (d. May 24, 1892), and a companion were riding a load of hay on the Valley Road a couple miles east of Boulder when lightning stuck in front of the horses, to the side of the road. He moaned, “Oh Bill, my God,” before collapsing. His body had no marks indicating electrocution. The shock of the strike apparently caused his death. Survived by his parents and two siblings. Burial: Columbia Cemetery, Boulder County.

Gottlieb Meyer (d. Aug. 22, 1892) was working in a brick yard at the corner of 38th and Clayton Streets in Denver during a rainstorm. Lightning killed him instantly. Burial: Riverside Cemetery, Denver, Adams County.

Dennis E. O’Connor (d. June 28, 1895) was wiring electric lights when lightning struck and killed him in Pueblo. His companion took five hours to regain consciousness. Dennis left a wife and newborn son. He shares a large granite headstone with his father, Frank,who died in 1899. Burial: Roselawn Cemetery, Pueblo County.

John Henry Shackley (d. Aug. 8, 1895), a farmer in his 60s, was harvesting in his field near Burdett, Colorado, when lightning killed him and one of his two horses. His wife witnessed the strike from the door of their house. Shackley came to America from England in 1868 and brought his family over the following year. Burial: Riverside Cemetery, Sterling, Logan County.

Judge W. A. Greenstreet (d. July 2, 1895), of Rio Blanco County, was killed instantly at his ranch near Buford. He was survived by his wife and young daughter. Burial: Fairmount Cemetery, Denver.

John Aubrey Pring and Leonard B. Lee (d. June 13, 1899). The people of Monument, Colorado, suffered a double tragedy when the two boys were killed while working in a hay field eight miles east of town. John, age sixteen, was the son of English immigrants and part of a large family. Leonard, age thirteen, was an immigrant from Brisbane, Australia, and the only son of his widowed mother. They sang together in the choir at Grace Episcopal Church and had been close friends. The double funeral service at the church, with twin white caskets, was held before a standing-room-only crowd of mourners. Mr. Seymour and Mr. A.H. White sang a duet, “Asleep in Jesus.” Burial: Evergreen Cemetery, El Paso County.

Charles H. Abbott (d. June 20, 1899). A storm producing tornadoes as well as lightning killed Charles Abbot while he was milking. He was born in New Hampshire and had migrated across the country over the decades, marrying in Nebraska in 1891. He and Leanah had three sons. Leanah lived another fifty-two years before being reunited in burial with her first husband. Burial: Akron Cemetery, Washington County.

Charles G. Wright (d. May 1, 1900). While camped in Twenty-mile Park to clear sagebrush, Wright and his helpers headed for the tents as a storm moved in. He was about fifty feet from the others when struck and killed. He left a widow, six dependents, and two grown children. The Craig Courier promoted a fund for the destitute family. Burial: Hayden Cemetery, Routt County.

Hattie Davis (d. Aug. 5, 1900). A rash of deadly storms ravaged Logan County in the summer of 1900. Hattie (Landfried) Davis, age twenty, married for just over a year to George E. Davis, was returning to her home in Sterling from her friend’s house nearby. Sheet lightning struck near the railroad tracks and stunned people several blocks away. Mrs. Davis’s body was horribly burned. Her husband was inconsolable. Burial: Riverside Cemetery, Sterling, Logan County.

Feature image: Caleb Charman, born in England 1829, killed by lightning in Elbert County 1874. (Ancestry.com)

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