TERRIBLE ELECTRICITY ACCIDENT.

Bay of Plenty Times, Issue XX, 24 June 1892, Page 4

TERRIBLE ELECTRICITY ACCIDENT.

Oar re ders will roc » mber tho brief cable m€ »g« rtlniwj hat a »er*ihlf accident >ad • ecu* ret in Meibournf Owing to the breaking of an electric wife, at the close of last mooth ; from a recent file of Australian papers Wjt&bfract the following account of the occurrence, which equals io horror the recent attempts at electrictl execution in America and clearly Jjbows the terrible danger of allowing overhead wires for lightning purposes — "A terrible fatality took place in Hussell street on Saturday evening, resulting indirectly from the violent thunderstorm which passed over the city. At about 8 o'clock an electric lightning wire at the intersection of thatMitreet with Lonedale street, bengapp* < ntlj eerere 1 by the ligbtningrfoii acrt/bs the r >B<iway, where the insulating material covering tho wire .strands toot fire, and remained burning for some time. The broken end and fuming in the flooded gutter, and as each sudden rushTbf water flung it from side to sijje of the channel bright sparks werefemitted The wire at once be. came ao object of interest for parsers by aod a small group collected upon th« footpath adjacent. The danger inrulfed by the presence of the wir*was realised by most of the people who taw it and it was left by them at a safe distance. Presently, how. ever, a man named Cbas. H. Andrews who via Walking with a friend named Herbert Wills, approached the wire and stated that he was going to coil it up and put it beyond the pesribility of doing anybody any harm. Andrews laid hold of the wire and *• b# received no shock from the fact that the insulation at that pan was perfect, concluded, be pays, that the cujpgnt bad been shut off at the workst%He coiled up several feet of the wir% until be c*ro" to t h e point of severance or into Jts vicinity. Then be appears to have laid bold of the nuked wire And be receive] a shock which threw Mm into the gutter and occasioned unutterable physical agony. Being unable to drop the wire he screamed wildly to be relieved from his terrible position, and bis friend Wells immediately went to his assistance. Audrews held the wire by hit right band only, and Wells, in an endeavor to pull him away gripped bis right wrist tightly with both bands, and the unfortunate man who was of singularly powerful muscular development, dropped like an ox, to all appearance qnite dead. By grasping his friend with both hands he had iv bis own person completed the imperfect circuit, and received the full strength of the circuit of 2000 volta which was then passing through tbe wire. For some time the men were thrown about by the current ; Andrews, who was still alive, struggling spasmodically under the influence af tbe electric fluid and Weighed down by the dead body of bis unfortunate friend. At length Mr Stewart, of 204 Kussell street, procured an axe and cut the wire, and released Andrews and the corpse. A constable speedily arrived on the spot and conveyed the injured man And his dead friend to tbe Melbourne Hospital, where Dr Bud tine, after an inspection of Wells, pronounced life to be extinct. The ears of the debased were quite black, and in addition >td marks upon ths arms and thigh a purple belt 6in in diameter extended across the chest at the bate of tbe neck. Andrews was suffering severely from the shock and was badly burned on the palm of the tight band, fie stated that just as the current was cut off by the applitk>n of the axe blade he felt as though he were dying, aod that bad the blow been delayed another few seconds he must bare inevitably succumbed.! When his hand had been dressed he was allowed fco proceed home. Other persons- slightly injure! are Mr A. L. Charlton, hairdresser, Kuapell street, who trod upon the wire and was thrown against the wall of an adjoining house, And a y< «ng woman, who took hold of Wells with the view of pulling him off the wire ; fortunately for her just at the moment when Mr Stewart brought bis axe in play.