Sabina, I think I have your answer. From "Vital Records From the National Intelligencer, 1834" I found these items. pg. 214 BALL, Mrs., wife of Nelson BALL, was killed by lightning Aug. 7 at Newport, Indiana. and pg. 39 HULL, Mrs., wife of Jehiel HULL, died in Newport, Indiana Aug. 7. Even though the dates are slightly off the dates on the tombstone dates of Aug. 13, 1834, I think your answer is that they were struck by lightning. Leslie -----Original Message----- From: Tim and Sabrina [mailto:brinatim@myexcel.com] Sent: Friday, April 25, 2003 7:20 PM To: WAYNE_IN-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Marth Hull, Charlotte Hull, and Esther Ball Hello all, My husband and I have been working to transcribe and photograph many tombstones and cemeteries in Wayne County. While working on New Garden Cemetery, we came upon a mystery that we would love to solve and hope someone out there can help us with. We found the stone of three women Martha Hull, Charlotte Hull, and Esther Ball. The stone is mostly readable, but there are some parts that we can not make out. I assume that Martha Hull was the daughter of " J. & P. Hull", Charlotte may have been the wife of Jehiel Hull, though I can not actually read the words "wife of" on the stone. Esther Ball was the wife of Nelson Ball. The mystery is that all three women share a stone and Martha's inscription and Esther's inscription reads "Was killed by ______". We are unable to make out what killed these women. We are wondering if it was a contagious illness that they all caught or if there was some type of accident. All three died on August 13, 1834. We would love to know what the ! inscriptions say. We have been working on this for some time and have not been able to find an answer. If anyone is connected to these women or may have a clue as to why they died, we would love to hear from you. Thanks, Sabrina Benner