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In the pitch black of the earth
they fought starvation-and madness
D
for twenty dreadful days
the
Ing. His legs were growing more and more painful. Sleep was impossible. If a man dozed he would come round with n ery or a groan a terrifying sound for the other,
the mine better than anyone
EEP in the bowels of the earth men were working in twisting galleries of ene of the largest conl mines in northern France.
On the fourth or fth day Suddenly thero WOH
Neny decided that it was time violent tremor followed to move on again, Pruvost knew instantly by a shattering explosion. A searing blast rushed through miles 01 underground roadways leaving death and wreckage in its path. Over 1,000 miners were doomed in this, the worst colliery
disaster
the world has ever known.
It was on March 10, 1906,
at Courrieres, near Lens in
WIL.
THE CHINA MAIL, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1954.
THIRTEEN MEN
and a MIRACLE
were almost
K
Angry despair drove them on believed him, although he was under the leadership of Pruvost Insistent. and his uncanny sense of direc- The mouth of the shaft had tion. Neny now had a fierce been blocked up with planka longing to see his wife and and then covered with straw and childron onco more before ho
Оп carth after the explosion. died. But his legs were getting April 3 these were removed and worse and as he dropped to the the following day Auguste Ber- ground he told the others to go thon was brought up alive. Ho
had on and leave him. AUTOSS
spent 25. days alone in the 40 the sek WILS
"No, it is one or all-if you mir of death. One by one they began the description.
slay, we stay." said Pruvost. Berthon had been with a gang steep and narrow ascent of
Worn out, they stopped for "Neny, you will not let your of men when the explosion oc airshaft, and at last all reached rest, even though sleep was now weakness kill these boys?" The curred. All were unharmed. In the top. Suddenly Pruvost a thing of the past. As Neny pain-racket miner crawled on. vain they searched for a stopped,
way out. Between them and the lay down he felt something un- Suddenly came a breath of Exhausted, Berthun begged his
fresh
air and a light, swinging friends to let him die where he in the distance. They rose from had fallen. They went on to He fell natcup and woke their kares and actually half death. ran, half-staggered forward. refreshed. Groping about he
The 3221 holding
found several bodies and look Tanp of those who had what food and drink there was. was mie descended after an interval to
the Pas de Calais, that else, since he had worked in It
too dry to allow 30 Uver those working above ground for
years. He and them to chew. Neny worked out plan to
Pruvost said he could find a Jevel felt the earth shake
eflush to the level of No. 3 shaft, way to No. 2 shaft. It was more Iheard the dull roar. 15on alove them. Before leay then a kilometre away but it With hardly "ead was a mass of ing Bey made a fund soarch for was a last hope.
At the far end of the enough strength left to crawl, age, smoke and fumes food. of poison gus driving back lery they found a piece of the entombest then moved for
dry and dirty breid. I was Worti og
Everywhere would-be rescuers. Fire mough for each man to have they come
dead miners dlamp, the miner's greatest ringle mouthful.
beyond dread, had struck again,
Then an astonishing sep was taken by the engineers in charge of the
Only mine.
two days later they abandend all attempts at rescue. They felt sure the raging furnace of flame, as well as poison gas, would have killed all below,
Nearly three weeks later ດາ workman
Dear the
pithead rushed to one of the engineers shouting: "There are 13 corpses still alive and they want to come up." The cage reached the top as a wondering crowd 13, gaunt surped round. Akhy and
emaciated, daggered forward. Not a bystander speak until one of the "ghosts" broke the silence with a strident Lough which
shudders went through every listener. It was Neny, one of the leaders of the men from the dead.
The
The "ghosts had survived, without proper food or water, in a world of subterranean dark- 1,00011. nes over
below the murface for a period of 20 days- Yet there was to follow an even noru incredible chapter In the
C. D. T. BAKER-CARR
Tells another of the World's Strangest Stories
of demeath him. It way his knife. shaft bottom was a barrier The taxlies were ifted aside, and had turned him into a desper corps 9, piled high to the roof. The pain in his legs and hunger they move on holding hands to man and the knife was to be Reup together. They came to theirs and more dead lines, They Alled pockets with grain and ate some while they had a short
Tit the awhi stench drove them on, pirking
between the WAY H
narrow gauge railway for the coal-tums. These confirmed bellef that they wure on the right route.
L
#ght the sires stil raging
words he said that he thought parts of the mine. He shivered unid pointed silently. After- they were ghosts come to meet
Polease from further agony. Tak- lng it from its sheath he began whetting the blade on his boot. tomb.
Pruvost heard the scraping nad culled. "Give
ine that knife."
refused and a Nury struggle followed, a struggle for sanity as well as for life.
In the
middle of it one of the younger members of the party Neny and Pruvost noticed that tried out in his sleep: "Oh, ina the air was "dead." The whole mere! Ou shaft was blocked by a huge fat words
es-tu? Chupets brought Neny to ills of earth.
the kalte was re- The Loys sobbed senses und openly, and even the men shed turned to its
sheath. tears of diappointment.
In
twos and
threes they journeyed on encountering more roof falls, more patches of dead air and more pockets of mus Each time it meant a retreat and a detour. Often several days wore last in finding alternative
drama of Cours Avert burial alone refused to
Those who
One of the men mut
muttered: "It's no use. We may as well die here." Neny and Prurast give up, ond hope is always infectious. Back alive owed their safety to two they went 10 the menger for men, Heart Neny and Charles more oats, but their mouths Pruvost, both reliable and ex- perienced miners. At the ne the extosion Neny was work- Ing ita Hallery 1,250 down, some way from the boltum of No. 3 shaft, He felt the blast of hot air which dung him to the door and knocked him un- conscimus.
He came to in darkness and heard the #roats of dying work- mates. His legs were in pain and he called out for hep. Four inen answered his call. They
were relatively uninjured.
All of them had
obeyed the
"no mutches below ground” rule and they were without a lamp that would work. But at least the air
breatheable and there was no flee anywhere near. The explosion had occurred some distance
away.
Wis
During the rest of that day The only food they hatment sandwiches--was enten to help
they took mock of their position.
routes.
rising
broken only by ominous cracks from a straining roof, most men out of that mass would have gone mad.
Alone in that hollow silence,
Fortu-
pately Berthon had no imagina- lon. He slept for, most of the time, conserving his strength-- for almost certain death.
His main worry was the on- Reaching daylight the 13 col- slaught by hordes of rats who lapsed from exhaustion and fought him for his food and bit being blinded by the unaccus him terribly on the arms and tomed light. They were taken legs. It was the rate that drove to hospital, where all but one him in search of the shaft. recovered, Young Victor Martin When he reached it and his died; dormant consumption bad ring on the cage bell went un- been aggravated by his long and answered he made up his mind dreadful ordeal,
to dle The next day, when he had been rescued, he said he thought he had been down, in the pit for "about, a week.”
The day they came up was March 30, but the miracle of survival was not yet ended.
That same day a boy named Noel heard the bell ring for the cage in No. 4 Shaft close by his home at Salloumines.. No one
op-
The death all came to proximately 1,240-only those 14 men and boys survived the world's worst colliery disaster.
WHERE ARE THE
BILLY GRAHAM CONVERTS?
WALTER SCHWARZ ward at Harringay to
I
of these
came
for-
Listen to what some of the ren agert about 14. One little vicars said. The Rev. W. H. girl, when asked why she had Smith, Vicar of Holy Trinity, come Wire
forward, simply pointed
Half a dozen o siders" or genuine converts? Only nine were newcomers.
church."
searches for the 36,000 people who answer the cali of the American crusaders
London. ringay? {that is. How many HAVE been looking How many
cards did you receive?) for 36,000 people. Z already regular church- East Finchley: **I organised to another little girl who had They
are the Billy goors simply "reafirming their coach parties to Harringay. In also come forward and said: 'I Graham converts, who faith, and how many were "out-
the end I received 14 cards. camo because she did."" "came forward" to register How many of the genuine
Where, now, are the 36,000 These were Billy Graham converts? after
Apply decision for Christ
converts are still going to choo
schoolchildren; none comes to my Agures to the total, as any hearing the American evin church?
pollster would, and that figuro gelist preach at Harringay.
The Rov. E. Rigler, Vicar of appears in a new light Few of the vicars had to con- That was eight months sult their
St James's, Muswell Hal; "I um The Crusaders themselves cards.
They had the perfectly satisfied. I had 38 claim that the majority of the algu.
answers off pat Hero are my cards, 15 of them from outsiders, Harringay inquirers were Then, each one signed a card. Anglican parishes, with a com- total dgurca for these 20 Today, the cards are stacked in blned population of 420,000.
and 10 of these are still with Church members. But if my fot. Their average age is 17. sample is a fair one, no fewer the officer of the Billy Graham
came forward at Hurri. Billy Graham has produced a thun 21,000 were old faithfuls, Follow-up Department in Kings- 336
new spirit among the young."
and cannot be claimed as con- Way
That makes a fair The Rev. D. Strudwick, Vicar verta at all. Or the 12,000 who Without light it was difficult, sent to the local vicar or minis-
A dupllente of every card was sample of the Billy Graham of St Clement's, East Dulwich: remain, fewer than 4,000 are but they continued
"The net result has been nil. I still in the groping
churches. ter of round.
over dead bodies stumbled their comrades, Neny insisted
them recover from the shock.
They began to explore in the
darkness, with Neny
uttar
of
the lend. Everywhich they stumbled into great fulls earth, shattard plt-props Ond timber. They were cut off.
Everywhere
They
The
total.
of
gay.
comer."
have
I
soen
not
Have the Noncomformiste had Rev. Hubert Thomas, Assistant more lasting success? Says the
reason to suppose that Graham's Secretary of the Free Church Federal Council: "We have no more extensive in the Free Churcher
that In the Church of England."
were regular had 17 cards: 10 of them were the applicant's choice. 226 of these vicars still have 440 churchgoers before. That old faithfuls.
the of duplicates.
is, two-thirds. Only one-third nothing of the solitary new that each body be searched for themselves? Are they swelling
But where are the converts (110) can be called converts. more food and bottles of cold the churches of Greater Londen, 35 still going to the church of St Paul's, Harringay: "I was the genuine converts are The Rev. F. Brassel, Vicar of cafice, which he then rationed or have they gone back on their their choice. That is, about one right on Billy Graham's door pul.
pledge? and then they not
in every three of the genuine stop. I got 10 cards. Four Afths of them were from child can- converts, pockets of choking gas, and in nod
desperate attempts to give the answer.. "We have
kept no statistics of
CONVERSION RECORD OF TWENTY LONDON PARISHES
Now
their
The Crusade organisers
away were ofben bay says the director of the
hed and cut.
Time meant
Muccess"
Up, the Rev. Bruce Roed, "We
nothing to them. Neny had are far too busy sending out
watch but could not son it.
On the third day a velee raag out, echoing along the narrow Tow
circulars and answering inquiries
to count up how many are still with us."
corridors of the mine: "We are
Leaders of the Church hovo saved!TM It was Pruvest, with another party of seven, who had differing views. Says the Bishop
mistaken Nony's
for a resCHO
of Barking, prominent supporter quad. The two met and shook of Dr Gmham: "I have been hands.
deeply impressed by the con- When they
succoss of the Crusodo realised that ho tinued one 7 id been saved the silence today,” was ful and strained-Nolther party had any food left and ené of them, a boy
called Victor
опа
Martin, began sobbing."
The 13 crowded together for
Facts Scarce
Says Dr Donald Soper, the Methodist Minister at Kingsway Hall, an expert on evangéliam; "The crusade was an emotional
bus manifestation that
The mine, at this point, touched outsiders at all
adiép do thuc thọ Zewailing. Here at
No ong
hob
Agures In the
'opinions facts are scarce There is nothing for It But to kep, look at the churches.
They collector/M
Food, the brade, de tike
cans, but
(1ưa thong than Nột the eclected showpieces of evangelism, but the Inary parishes of average dinner.
I have talked" to the viên:
'the'
PANISH-with population All Saints, Edgware, 35,600 St Gabriel
All Saints, Pimlico, 80,000 Christ Church, Clapham, 25,000 St Michuel, Willesden 26,000 St James, Enfield, 24,000
Dia
'Put viders
"Came · church "'ont- forward'' Köben · midera'
สยป
keing
14
2.
St Giles, Clerkenwell, 23,000 John Keble Church, NU 101,
30,000
All
Lake.
St Mary's Battermen, 20,000
Bainfa Harlesden, 20,000 St Andrew Fulham, 20,000
new, Muswell Hill, 20,000 Wimbledon, 20,000
8t leave Ohrist Ch.
Holy Trinity. Earl Finchley,
** NO ON PHA DO CONGO,
Return Visit.
And just to make sure, telephoned
half n dozen Mopodist ministers. Theis gures correspond to those of my survey.
How old were the convortst Hertha Follow-Up Department
has some revealing figures,
Says Director Bruco Reed: "A quarter of all the people who came forward wan syed bo- tween 12 and 14. Eight pers cent were aged between Ava and elven, 27 percent between 15
That
60 percent under 10.7
Billy conclude that Graham enduring effect church · attendances, in London
and 18.",
today is unimpressive. figure published by the: Crusa
were misleading. There was po adequata worling out of Convert and did hands, dults and little children.
Uty, many, recruldu. In.
have fallen
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