CRUSHED BY CHIMNEY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 79, 18 April 1944, Page 3

CRUSHED BY CHIMNEY

WOMAN KILLED IN BED Sydney, April 12. Mrs Gordon Christie, aged 40, was fatally crushed under a chimney weighing half a ton when a 80-miles-an-hour gale struck Gilgandra, a western New South Wales town. Seven men, including a doctor, worked for 30 minutes to release Mrs Christie from beneath the chimney, which had crashed through the roof into her bedroom. The chimney, made of bricks, snapped when the full force of the gale struck the house. It brought down much of the roof and ceiling as it fell through the tiled roof into the bedroom. Mrs Christie tried to leap from her bed, where she was resting, but was struck down by timber and other wreckage. Half the chimney fell across the beams and rafters, which pinned her down. A police sergeant and five other men found Mrs ChriStie moaning, and hidden from sight. When her rescuers reached .her, she was in great pain. Part of the chimney still lay across her. While the six men relieved her of most of the weight, Dr. Alexander gave her injections to ease her pain. The rescue party worked another 20 minutes with beams as levers before Mrs Christie was extricated. When the wind struck the town it swirled in all directions. An inch of rain, which fell in a few minutes, was blown into a mist, making it difficult to see more than a few yards. Thirty large trees 18in thick were snapped off near the ground. Verandahs and roofs were wrecked and many buildings were weakened.