To Benjamin Franklin from [Philip?] Keay, [June 1782?]
From [Philip?] Keay5
AL: University of Pennsylvania Library
Rue Ne. des Mathurins Friday [June, 1782?]6
Mr. Keay presents his Respects to Mr. Franklin, & takes the liberty of enclosing the relation of the Accident at Philadelphia. The Person who mention’d it to Made. de Cheminot had seen Conductors upon the House, & had hastily concluded, that they had been put up previous to the accident, which they certainly were not— Madame de Cheminot presents her Compts. to Mr. Franklin & his Son.
5. Keay and his amie, Mme de Cheminot, are identified in XXV, 725, and XXX, 165–6.
6. Matthew Ridley had received news by June 10 that La Luzerne’s house in Philadelphia was struck by lightning; see his letter to BF of that date. We conjecture that the “Accident at Philadelphia” mentioned in the present letter is that same lightning strike.