Richard Butler, a young colored man about 24 years old, who lived on the John Douglas place, near Gift, was found on the side of the public road Friday morning dead. Butler, it is thought, had started through the wire fence which encloses the road at that point when he was struck by lightening. It is said that every bone in his body was crushed and that his trousers were torn by being caught in the wire as he fell. One foot was hanging in the wire and the other was pressed up against the wire.
[The Covington Leader, Covington, Tenn., Thursday, June 14, 1917, Pg 7]
Family of Richard Butler
Father: Jack Knowlton
Mother: Mary Butler
Spouse: Lizzie Dyson
Richard was born on July 26, 1894, in Shelby County, Tennessee. His parents were Jack Knowlton and Mary Butler. He married Lizzie Dyson on September 30, 1916, in Tipton County. This was just shy of a year before his death.
Lightning Strikes in the United States
Lightning kills about 20 people each year in the United States and hundreds more are injured. Some survivors suffer lifelong neurological damage.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1292499/leading-states-by-total-lightning-count-us/
The state with the highest lightning count across the United States in 2022 was Texas, with a total sum amounting to nearly 27.7 million lightning events. Texas always has a higher lightning count than any other state, partly due to its size and location. Ranking second was the state of Florida, where some 18.7 million lightning events were recorded that year.