SWEPT THROUGH A SEWER.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2458, 24 March 1909, Page 7

SWEPT THROUGH A SEWER.

WOMAN’S SHOCKING DEATH.

BODY FOUND HALF A MILE AWAY

Mrs Sarah Anne Taylor (sixty-two), -who resided with her husband at Halloran street, Leichhardt, Sydney, v? as -drowned .on Saturday night, February 28, through being learned off her feet in a thunderstorm and swept down] a storm-water channel. The body was re- ‘ -covered early on the-morning of the Ist inst. near the Annandale deny wharf by t-ho water police. \ T It appeared that Mrs Taylor, 'when returning from Sydney-, was caught pn; the thunderstorm which occurred .on Saturday night shortly after .nine ' ’' : o’clock. : A large body of water capie down Halloran street, and when almost opposite her residence Mrs Taylor, was lifted off her feet and swept to the bottom of the street, where she disappeared down an open ' drain pipe .connecting ■ with the big storm-water channel which thus into llozelle Bay. A lad named "Wiliam' King is said to-have been the •only witness to the fatality, unich occurred so quickly that thxpunfOTtuiUte wbinari tv as swept out of sight in & e& The police were .informed, and dragping operations were mairitaned_ in .all ■ tlirectiohs until Monday morning, hothm the storm-water -channel and in llozelle Bay. The clothing of the woman was practically torn from her body, apparently by the force with, whach she was carried through the dram pipe. Scarcely a vestige of attire remained .the body as it was found floating: m llozelle Bay, fully half a mile from the spot where the fatality occurred. . .. J, This is-the-third fatalmy oi a similar hind which has occurred m tlie.suDV* urbs of Sydney within a: Prominent.; citizens are of opinion tnat some more stringent precaution wi have to be taken, with regard to untrained drains in the suburbs. Oeorgestreet west formerly, was considered a death-trap of a similar, kind during nfia'■dilpn thunderstorms, and when there was ' -a heavy .vueh...of..yyater near St. .Barn-, abas’ Church it was unfortunately ■ a frequent occurrence for -children to. be., drowned' going or coming from school. Drastic measures,-however, were taken to prevent a reoccurrence of the . trouble, and the City Council were %c- ---, e d to make the necessary improvements.