STRUCK BY LIGHTNING

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 201, 4 May 1912, Page 8

STRUCK BY LIGHTNING

TELEPHONE SMASHED TO ATOMS. By Telegraph—Press Association. Auckland, Thursday. A flash of lightning, followed by a very heavy peal of thunder, was experienced in Cleveland on Tuesday night. At the local post office a telephone instrument was struck, the wires fused, and the box with its contents smashed to atoms, and hurled across the room, striking the wall on the opposite side, and falling into a chair. The wall was blackened, and holes were burned in telegraph forms. Mr. Robertson, storekeeper, was standing beside his instrument when he was startled by a flash some feet long coming from the mouth of the receiver, and followed by a report like a pistol-shot, sufficiently loud to alarm the neighbors. A tall pine on Mr. George Alexander's property near the road was struck, and split in pieces. . Another tall pine tree near Clevedoii wharf was struck, and ; stripped of bark and branches. One of the large telegraph posts was also struck. The wires were broken and fused, and the post itself broken down. The trees were blazing, but the heavy downpour of rain which immediately followed the clap extinguished the fire speedily. Strange to say, the main telephone from Clevedon to Papakura was untouched.