Bloomington (Bloomington, Monroe County, Indiana) Daily Telephone, June 20, 1928, pgs. 1 & 8. Note: Because of the length of the item and its being divided into sections with their own headings, I am dividing the posts into multiple items, using the sections and their headings. The newspaper story covers one full-page column on page 1 and the greater part of three full-page columns on page 8. Under a Wild Cherry Tree The four men were killed under the wild cherry tree or bush and they realized they were in a dangerous place for an electrical bolt. The tree was a small one and the branches were low to the ground-so low that the men could not stand erect under the tree but were sitting down. The men discussed their possible danger, but they made no move, as they had little choice of position, one tree being about as dangerous as another. The fatal place was located between the pike and the care-taker's house, to one side of a cinder drive-way. The wild cherry tree was really more of a bush than a tree and was not over nine or ten feet high, the branches were very low and the ill-fated men were sitting with their heads and shoulders among the low branches. The men were killed at the very first of the storm. Thinking that the rain would not last long they sought protection under the trees while it passed. Six men were under the ill-fated cherry tree or bush-the four who were killed and Harry Hobbs and Ottie Thornton-and three other men, Herman Sims, William Weddle, and "Doc" Deckard were 25 or 30 feet away standing in a wagon which was sheltered to some extent by tree branches. In the immediate vicinity, there were four teams of horses and one team of mules which the men had been using to haul sod to the new football practice field. The first heavy bolt of lightning of the storm made a direct hit on the cherry bush-the bodies of the six men who were sitting on the ground on or their heels were tossed about in the blinding glare. The lightning did not shock or daze Sims but the team took sudden fright and jumped forward. Sims was thrown out over the backend of the wagon and the team ran all the way to the University before it was stopped. The bolt of lightning in running from the cherry tree knocked one mule down but the animal recovered in a few minutes. This mule was one of a team belonging to Charles Matlock and which was being driven by Ottie Thornton, his brother-in-law. Sims, Weddle and "Doc" Deckard ran to the wild cherry bush, frightened and horrified. The four victims of the tragedy were on the ground-all dead-but Harry Hobbs and Ottie Thronton were on their feet and were walking about in a badly dazed manner; they could hardly walk but managed to stay on their feet. Hobbs had been knocked some distance by the terrible bolt and he walked back to the bush as Sims, Weddle and "Doc" Deckard approached it. With four dead men at their feet, two men walking about semi-conscious, one team running away and a mule team evidently struck by the lightning, the three uninjured young men hardly knew what to do for the first few minutes. The storm continued in its fury. It was apparent to the young men that a terrible tragedy had been enacted before their eyes but they had hope that life might not be extinct in all of the four men. Sims ran to the I. U. power house to call help but this phone was out by the time he reached it; other phones in the neighborhood were also out; it was some time before the news was sent through to Bloomington. A call was put in to the Arthur Day funeral home for ambulances; Dr. Frank Holland rushed to the place, also Dr. Rodney Smith, acting coroner. Once on the scene Dr. Holland took Harry Hobbs and Ottie Thornton, the two dazed men, to a nearby house so he could treat them. Dr. Smith set about the sad work of holding a coroner's inquest over the four bodies which but a few minutes before had been laughing talking men.