Cunningham - James Willis
Source: Crawfordsville Daily Journal May 23, 1910
The body of James Willis Cunningham, formerly of this city but more recently of Fruitdale, Ind., a small town thirty miles south of Indianapolis, was brought to this city via the Big Four this afternoon at one-thirteen and was buried in the Masonic cemetery. Rev. Wilfley, former pastor of the Christian Church, officiated. He was instantly killed by a bolt of lighting on Friday about five o'clock near the home of his brother, Jacob Cunningham, where he was living. He was returning from the woods on a load of logs and was sitting on one of them when he was killed. The bolt struck him on the head, ran down his body and jumped to a log chain that held the load on the wagon and passed over the chain that held the load on the wagon and passed over the chain to one of the wheels and thence to the ground. He fell to the ground and the team was so stunned that they wandered about in a circle for some time, going back to the woods, after which they came toward the house. When the folks at the house saw the driverless team coming home they went in search and found the victims body. The deceased was a brother of the late Ben Cunningham, who died two years ago on north Walnut street. Both Ben and James used to live in Crawfordsville. The former is a brother -in-law of Daniel Haffa. James Cunningham was unmarried. - thanks so much to Kim H for this one