A violent summer storm swept over Worcester, Massachusetts, on a Saturday night in June 1910, leaving behind death, injury, and damage across the city.
At South Worcester, Fred Livsey, a 38-year-old brakeman for the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, was working on a freight train when lightning struck. The force of the bolt knocked him from the train, breaking his neck and killing him instantly.
Elsewhere, Orville L. Ford, a 55-year-old freight office clerk, was struck when lightning entered the railroad office. The bolt left him completely paralyzed, and early reports said he was not expected to survive.
By the time the storm passed, a dozen homes had been hit, roofs and shingles had been torn loose.
Fatal Lightning At Worcester
WORCESTER, Massachusetts. — One man was killed and another was paralyzed by lightning during a heavy storm Saturday night at Worcester.
Fred Livsey, 38, a brakeman on the New York, New Haven & Hartford railroad, while working on a freight train at South Worcester, was struck by lightning and fell from his train. His neck was broken and he died instantly.
Orville L. Ford, 55, a clerk in the freight office of the New Haven Road, was completely paralyzed by a bolt of lightning, which entered his office, and he is not expected to live.
A dozen houses in the city were struck by lightning, and roofs and shingles torn off, but no fires were set.
Source: The Barre Daily Times. Barre, Vt. June 20, 1910.
