A DREADFUL DEATH.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2367, 9 June 1892, Page 3

A DREADFUL DEATH.

A terrible accident, resulting in the death of one man and the serious injury of another, happened in Melbourne on Saturday evening. During a heavy thunderstorm an electric lighting wire at the intersection of Lonsdale and Russell streets gave way and fell across the roadway, where the insulating material covering the wire strands took fire, and remained burning for some little time. Presently a bystander, named Charles Henry Andrews, attempted to coil up the broken wire, the almost immediate result being that he received a severe shock, and was unable to let the wire drop. A companion named Hubert Wells, who caught hold of Andrews to try and disengage him from the wire, received the full force of the current, and fell instantly senseless. After this no one dared to touch Andrews, who lay writhing on the pavement, but at last the wiry was cut with an axe, and both men were taken to the Melbourne hospital. Wells was dead, Andrews had escaped with a severe shock and a badly burned hand, and was able after a time to set out for his own home. Some of thqso who witnessed the fall qf the wire declare that there was a hash of lightning, and almost simultaneously a bright light played round the top. of the telegraph post, and the wire came crashing down Into the roadway. The insulating [ material at the end of the broken wire immediately took fire, ami remained burning slowly for a distance of about Oft or 7ft from the fracture, but it would appear that no obstruction was caused to the traffic, and that but for the ill-advised attempts of the bystanders to extinguish the flames, and probably—though this is a point to bu properly investigated—the absence of any properly authorised person to keep the crowd back, there was not the slightest danger to anyone. The one undoubted fact is that whether there -was or was not any properly authorised persp.u to pretect the wire, no pontrol whatever was exercised over the crowd, and the broken wire, with a current of 2UOO volts running through it, was left blazing in the roadway at the disposal of the first chance enthusiast who chose to try and put it out. A woman was the first volunteer. She stirred the wire with her foot, uud received a shock sufficiently disagreeable to at once end h«v Interest in the business. Next a hairdresser, living close by, tried to kick the burning wire into the gutter, and was knocked head over heels into the roadway. These experiences, it might have been thought, would in themselves have constituted a sufficiently eloquent warning ; bub a new experimentalist was found in the person of ' Charles Henry Andrews, who, with a friend, named Hubert Wells, had been standing under the verandah from the ! first and had witnessed everything that 1 had taken place. Andrews managed by carefully kicking the wire to extinguish thu burning end in the gutter, and fancying from this that the current had ceased, he took; up a, position under the telegraph polo and began boldly to coil up the broken wire. So long as bis hands were protected by the insulating material he felt no uneasiness, but as soon as most of the slack had been taken in, and his hand touched tho naked wire, where? thy burning of tho covering had left it exposed, ho found himself unable to lot go. The force of the shock threw him to the ground, where he lay in violent contortions, calling piteously for someone to pull him away. Wells at oiigo came to the rescue, and caught his friemPs wrist with both hands. This, of course, completed the circuit, and the ■unfortunate man fell back dead, as though stricken by a thunderbolt, A minute later the wire was out with an axe, and j Andrews, who was still conscious, [ released. Tho whole thing was a matter 1 of loss than two minutes, and had another minute been wasted, Andrews w'Qiild i probably have shared the fate of his companion, 1

In the human skeleton at the time of maturity there are 1(55 hones.

Dairy Factory — At a large meeting of farmers at Fapanui on Monday evening, it was agreed to establish a central dairy factory for North Canterbury, in the vicinity of Christchurch. A committee was funned to arrange preliminaries and report.

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