When rain began falling over the county fair in Indianola, Iowa, men, women, and children crowded into the poultry exhibition tent for shelter.
Then lightning struck the center pole.
The bolt split the timber, tore through the canvas, and spread across the packed enclosure. Four men were killed instantly, six others suffered serious burns, and a dozen more people were stunned.
Thousands of chickens confined in exhibition coops were also killed.
Lightning Kills Four
INDIANOLA, Iowa. — Four men were killed, six were seriously injured, and a dozen more stunned by a bolt of lightning which wrecked a crowded poultry exhibition tent at the county fair here Thursday morning.
The dead are: Ray Anderson, Carl Peterson, Theodore Young, all of Indianola; Blain Wright, Pleasantville.
The seriously injured: Dr. Carpenter, J. McGranahan, E.W. Freel, Early Barker, C. Shellberger, all of Indianola.
The tent was crowded at that time by people who had gone into it to escape the rain, which was responsible for the large loss of life in the disaster. The lightning bolt struck the tent pole and split it wide open, the lightning radiating over the tent and tearing it into shreds.
Four of the occupants were instantly killed. Half a dozen were burned perhaps fatally and a dozen men, women, and children were stunned. Thousands of chickens in the coops were killed.
Source: Warren Sheaf. Warren, Marshall County, Minn. September 28, 1905.
