Page:CAB Accident Report, Pennsylvania Central Airlines Flight 19.pdf/30

 the lightning flash and the sound of the engines by retracing the movements he had made during that period. He later found that this stroke of lightning had struck and damaged his barn and had shattered the butt of a rifle which had been standing inside the barn.

After the hearing, investigators for the Board questioned Harry E. Everhart who lives about 1½ miles southeast of the scene of the accident. He stated that at about 1:30 P.M. he noticed a dark cloud on the west side of Short Hill coming toward the east. At that time it was overcast over his home but to the east broken clouds appeared. At some time after 2:30 P.M. he saw a "fierce flash of lightning" followed immediately by a "fairly loud clap of thunder" and then he heard "a roaring of engines" which was so loud that it sounded as if it were over his house. By retracing the movements he had made while these events were occurring, he determined that the time which elapsed while he saw the flash of lightning, heard the thunder, and the roaring of engines was about 15 seconds.

Miss Virgie Mentzer, who lives almost 1¼ miles southeast of the scene of the accident, stated that a torrential rainstorm began near her home about 2:30 P.M. on the afternoon on August 31. She said that a short time after the rain began she saw a "blinding flash of lightning" and immediately thereafter heard a "terrible crash" which "shook the house". George Pendley, a boy who was working for Miss Mentzer on the day of the accident, corroborated her statement with respect to the lighting flash and the crash. In addition, he stated that he was standing with his hands on the zinc top of a table in the kitchen when "the lighting came in the kitchen" and "stung me three times before I could get them off the table".