Lightning laced the sky at Pekin, Ill. (pop. 22,000) one night last week as a thunderstorm rolled over American Distilling Co.'s plant outside town. At 2:30 a.m., a lightning bolt crackled into a rack house full of 100-proof whisky and started a fire that quickly spread to three other buildings. In all, 40,000 barrelsequal to 8,000,000 fifthsof Good Old Guckenheimer, and Bourbon Supreme and other brands were destroyed. Firemen stood helplessly outside a ring of flames so intense that a coal pile 100 yards away began to smolder.
As they watched, the fire became a disaster. Without warning, another warehouse...