The Sauk Centre herald., 1916-04-20
THE ONE ERUPTION SURVIVOR
Curious Case of q st. Pierre Pris-
oner During the Mont Pelee
Eruption Some Time Ago.

ord where death in one Of its many
dread forms Of disaster grips an entire
party In its clammy embrace and then,
while its icy fingers close upon the
rest, let's one solitary member Of the
band slip away to be the sole survivor
of the tragic calamity.
One hundred and fifty y-eight dead, one
saved. That was in brief the tale Of
the wreck Of the mail steamer General
~Chanzy, which struck in the terrible
storm Of Feb. 10, 1910. on the rocks of
northwest Minorca.
Marcel Bader, the solitary survivor
from the wreck of the Chanzy, owed
his preservation entirely to the fact
that he was a strong and fearless
swimmer.
A few years ago the timber vessel
Anna Rebekka, one day out of Memel,
was caught in squall and capsized.
Most Of her crew were swept away
and drowned, but three-the skipper,
sailor and the ships boy-clambered on
to the keel, where they drifted without
food or drink. On the third day the
sailor was washed off, but the skipper
saved him. Then the boy went mad
and died. On the fifth day the sailor
was washed off again. and this time
the captain had no strength to help
him. On the seventh day the capsized
vessel drifted in sight Of land A life
boat put out and found the captain
still alive.
The Manacles have seen many sights
of horror, but none to excel that Janu
-ary night many years ago when two
British troopships-the Dispatch and
the Primrose-both went ashore on
these terrible rocks within a few hours
sof one another. Seven soldiers strug
-gled ashore from the Dispatch through
the crashing breakers and reused the
village of st. Neverne. When the fish
ermen gained the beach the Dispatch
had vanished. But there was the Sec
.ond ship-the Primrose-on the rocks.
They pushed out, but the doomed ves
sci was shattered to fragments before
boat brought back was a fifteen-year-
old ships boy, whom they picked up
swimming desperately in the trough of
the icy waves.
Perhaps the most terrible disaster in
modern British history was the retreat
from Cabul in the winter Of 1912. An
army Of 3,4SO soldiers, with over $4,000
camp followers, started southwark from
the Afghan capital under promise of
safe conduct. On the following Jan
13 solitary figure, filthy. unshaven,
unkempt, his mind almost destroyed
with the horrors through which he had |
passed. rode out of the mouth Of the |
Khyber pass. He was Dr. Brydone. |
the only survivor from all that mighty |
host. The bodies Of the rest, slain by |
the treacherous Ghilzals, lay scattered |
the defile.
1t was stupidity, not treachery, which
caused the disaster to battalion Of a
japanese regiment in January. 1901.
On the 23d Of that month a detach-
ment Of 210 men and officers, under
command of q major, left the town Of
Awombri for long route march. It
came on to snow very heavily, and
soon a regular blizzard was raging.
with the temperature many degrees be-
low freezing point
They lost their way and wandered
on, burning their rifle stocks for fuel.
By the 25th only seventy-one were left
alive. On the afternoon Of the 9th
a corporal alone was picked up by
relief party. alive but badly frozen.
At the end Of April. 1902. Mount
Pelee, the blunt headed volcano behind
st. Pierre. began to show signs Of ac-
tivity. These increased until on May
3 a little before 8 in the morning
there was a terrific roar, and huge
column of whitehot sand. burning cin-
ders and poisonous gases came rolling
down the mountain side.
Whatever that cloud consisted Of, 1t
destroyed st. Pierre completely. The
very stones were cracked with the aw-
full heat, and within few seconds 4O.-
600 human beings perished. Yet days
afterward. when the ruins were cool
enough to explore, man was found
alive. He was negro prisoner who
had been confined in an underground
cell and who. though scorched. SCARED
and almost suffocated. still survived
the only living thing in fifty square
Answers.