STRUCK BY LIGHTNING.

Colonist, Volume LI, Issue 12499, 27 March 1909, Page 4

STRUCK BY LIGHTNING.

During a violent thunderstorm which burst over Kalgoorlie and neigh > boufhood the other day, several persons on the Somerville racecourse were struck down by lightning, one of them being killed. The experiences of those who recovered and their sensations are told in the "West Australian." At half-past one o'clock, without any warning, there was a flash of lightning, -which struck Arthur Swift dead and knocked down Messrs Chas. Walsh (licensee of the Great Boulder Hotel, John Scanlan, Phillip Merritt, Charles Purkiss. and "Butcher" Ryan.. Mr Scanlan was conveyed to the Government Hospital in an unconscious condition. Messrs - Merritt and Purkiss soon recovered. Mr Ryan, for half an hour, became delirious, but on: reaching tho town ho recovered sufiiciently to care for himself. After the fatal flash most of the men staggered and groped about in an aimless manner. Swift, who was the' caretaker of tho course, had just-been served with a drink by Mr Walsh, and the others were only a few yards away. Swift was killed instantaneousMr Walsh said that lie experienced a feeling that made him feel that he had been shot,, but he had sufficient reason after the shock to conclude that there was great danger, and he crawled under some canvas where ho laid in a helpless condition. Mr Scanlan said that he remembered getting the shock, and that blood immediately spurted from his nose. -Hb^ felt- the shock first in the head, and it went down his body to the feet. The deceased! man was thrown with terrible violence to the ground,, and a glass which he held in his hand was smashed to' atoms... The lightning wont through his body, tearing all his clothes into pieces, and leaving a small hole in the ground about as big as a man's fist. His boots were torn as if a knife had been used to cut them in half a dozen pieces. The violence of the shock threw a portion of one ' boot a distance of 40 yards from where the' body lay on the ground.