Bullock in a Tree.

Hokitika Guardian, 28 January 1922, Page 3

Bullock in a Tree.

PECULIAR STORM EFFECTS IN

N.S.W. SYDNEY, Jan. 17. Some peculiar incidents occurred in connexion with the storms which have been ravaging the country districts of New South Wales during the past week. On the banks of the Wollondilly, near Rossivillo, -Mr ]). Macdonald had some cattle grazing. The willows along the river afforded excellent shelter. The terrific wind swept along the valley and beat the big willows double. A bullock was feeding directly under the fork of a tree when the hurricane burst. The tree, writhing almost double), whirled downward, the forked branch gripping the ox from neck to flank and closing on the doomed animal like a living vice. To an onlooker it seemed as if the tree had bent and picked the animal off the ground. One instant the bullock was feeding, the next he was swinging in mid-air, the life crushed out of him by the forked branch. After the wind had dropped the carcase was so tightly held that the branch had to he sawn through to release it. Tn Goulburn a terrific flash of light, ning struck a sewer vent, smashing concrete splinters«frorn it and scattering them over the roofs of adjoining houses. Mr James Steele, who was crossing the yard close by, was struck by the current, thrown to the ground, and badly shaken. He is still in bed, but is recovering. Next door the lightning hit a verandah post, a man standing by being hurled against his own back door. At the same instant his wife, carrying a dish of peas, was emerging from the kitchen. The shock pitched the'dish from her hands and distributed the peas around the verandah, but she was herself unhurt. Many electric light wires were fused and | motors put out of action. j lOST. —GOLD BROOCH between ; J Kanieri Tram and Hokitika. Please • return to “Guardian” Office.