DAMAGE BY LIGHTNING. MERCIFUL ESCAPE OF A SENTRY OF THE 14th REGT (FROM OUR PORT WAIKATO CORRESPONDENT )

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXI, Issue 2401, 31 March 1865, Page 4

DAMAGE BY LIGHTNING.

MERCIFUL ESCAPE OF A SENTRY OF THE 14th REGT (FROM OUR PORT WAIKATO CORRESPONDENT )

Ok Sunday evening, tho 20th, a very severe thunderstoim with heavy i»ih,svilited Tort Waiknto Tlio only ]>lnco struck was ijnevof the "uh occupied by tho soldiers in garnson Ttiese'huts aie two in number, and it w.ll tho western hut that was struck ,^l'hey aio built of sawn timboi, and loofod with corrugated Iron The lightning <4iuck the roof and a poilion of tho fluid passed to tho front coinei (east). - Tho bulk of tho damaging fluid, or wlintoi ci it is, passed to tho opposite coinei of the hut—the back coiner, westward—whcio the ctntiy had taken cover from the rain. Five boardsi\erebiust out from tho ond of tho hut, and tbo door was likewise injured. Tho sentiy's bayonet wns sti uck, and about a quarter of an inch of the point fined oft' it, tho blade being serrated for several inches, beyond which it, and the nflo on which it was fixed sustained no damage It it veil that the sentry had laid it out of his hand at the time, otherwise tho consequonces might have boen fatal A* it wa3, neither ho nor anyone olso was at all injured -The hut contained some thirty men of the 2nd Bat of tho 14th Kcgimont, and in tho apartment* to tho west, wjipio tho damogo was chiefly done several mon and their wiyqi are accommodated In tho adjoining room, the fluid—wMcTCseems to have been most eccentric in its movements—ont»r»q- t tne rack above tho men's bunks, in which thoir rifles wore stowed, and in soveial instances tti» brass wevs fused and amalgamated with the iron, which in many instances was peppered or spotted to appeaianco; two stocks were riven to shivers, and aio, of course, quite unserviceable. ! ' > . , The weather has now clo«iediup, *ud tho oauinosial gales would soem to be over," A mmour of Maoris, being seen near RanginrUias leached hero, and the oiurison is donbly on the alert Inquiries as to 'tho origin are being mado, 'but theie is no expectation of an /attack on this nost. Piobably It wai some of lh« frUndly fitiyrtiJvhoMwtre followinf^W*tofl°n>adlc< habit*,-but th« ffi^lW' ,(000) Menu 911$ of the qHf«U9ff» „ <■ " f/.^