THE LAST STROKE

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 61, 9 September 1937, Page 25

THE LAST STROKE

GOLFS LIGHTNING VICTIMS

New Zealanders are fortunate that really dangerous thunderstorms are rare here, but in other countries the list of fatalities on the links from lightning is interesting. The latest was recorded by a cable from Pittsburgh, U.S.A., on Saturday last, when two golfers and two caddies were killed, and two caddies were injured whilo sheltering under a tree. On Maidenhead golf course, in 1932, Mr. Peter Kelly, aged 72, a director of Booths' Distilleries, and Horace ■' Walter James Miles, aged 15, his, caddie, were killed by lightning. Mr. G. H. Edwards, who was playing Mr. Kelly, was burnt in the face; hands, and? right side. . The golfers were sheltering under a tree. The umbrella which Mr. Kelly held was burned and twisted, and while none of the steel-shafted clubs were damaged the bottom of the caddie's bag was completely torn out. This may suggest that the lightning found its way to earth partly through the medium of the steel. At the inquest medical evidence disclosed that the hair on Mr. Kelly's head and his beard were burnt, and there were extensive burns on the neck, chest, back, both arms, and right leg. There was also a burn on the front of the left shin. . The caddie's hair was burnt off the back of the head down to the scalp. There were extensive burns on the left side and front of the neck, left shoulder, and left arm, and the left chest back and front. The effect of the burns in both cases was instantaneous death. Other cases of deaths from lightning on golf courses are:—l92s, Mr. Lawrence Smith, a player of Sutton, Surrey, at Tooting Bee course, Mitcha."n; 1929, a woman and two caddies at Rosemount, Canada; 1930, "William Noah Hewitt, a caddie, at Thetford, Norfolk; 1931, Albert Cecil Payne, a caddie, at. Finchley, London; 1933, James Reid, Thornton, at Germiston, South Africa. . Scientists advise that the safest thing to: do when caught in a severe thunderstorm is to lie flat on the ground, as it is the highest point in an otherwise flat surface that is liable to be struck. Two of the fatalities were suffered while sheltering under trees, which are good • places to avoid when lightning is .about. Steel shafts may attract lightning. At the ladies' championship, Gleneagles, in 1933, there were violent storms, and an .official announcement was made advising competitors, in the event of a thunderstorm, to throw their clubs down and leave them until the storm passed over. |