LIGHTNING HAVOC IN FARM CABIN

Taranaki Daily News, 20 July 1935, Page 10 (Supplement)

LIGHTNING HAVOC IN FARM CABIN

Deadly Flash Kills Man And Injures Others

CLOGS AND CLOTHING TORN INTO FRAGMENTS

PIECES of wood and leather which x had formed his clogs, and fragments of cloth which were part of his clothing, were exhibits in the Coroner’s Court at Lytham, England, when the inquest was held on Edward Braithwaite, aged 53, of Clifton - Farm, Warton (Lancs), who was killed by lightning. A verdict in accordance with the medical evidence that Braithwaite died from heart failure as a result of being, struck by lightning was returned.

His daughter, Doris, 21, said she had been, collecting eggs in the field, and turned into a hen cabin on account of the heavy rain, and there she saw her father, who said he was sheltering. She remarked that she did not care about the rain so long as the thunder kept off.. The next thing she remembered, stated the girl,. was picking herself up from the floor of the cabin, which had been wrecked.

She saw her father lying on the * floor with part of the woodwork on top of* him and without clothing, except for part of his shirt. She called “Father!” and [ touched him, but could get no

reply. She went out of the cabin and informed her brother James of what had’happened, and went to another cabin, where she found her brother John lying face downward, bleeding from the nose and groaning. . Miss Braithwaite added that she 'did not know what struck her. She was holding the metal handle of a bucket at the time she was in the cabin, and she was burned on her * right arm and left leg, and her eyelashes were singed. Police-Sergeant Renshaw said he found the hen cabin, 24ft by 12ft, had been wrecked. Pieces of serge cloth which, he was informed, were part of the suit worn by Mr Braithwaite, were scattered in all directions. Fourteen windows in the hen cabin had been blown out, and a tree 70 yards from the c"bin had been struck. The cabin in which the son was found was not damaged. The sergeant stated that the direction of the lightning seemed to be from the tree to the cabin which was wrecked and on to the other cabin. He also stated that he examined the body at the mortuary and found it extensively burned. The hair, eyelashes, and moustache were singed, and the only clothing was the front portion of his shirt. The clogs were torn and split. Barbed wire around the cabin was broken into small pieces. Another witness employed at the farm said he was in a building adjoining the farmhouse and had a spade in his hand, when a flash of lightning struck the steel portion and he was thrown on his back. The Coroner, Colonel 11. Parker, praised Doris Braithwaite for the way in which she had kept her head, and said she had acted with extraordinary pluck.