When Death Takes a Holiday


If you're worried about man's powers of survival read about these miraculous escapes—and relax.
By I. B. Neer
SWIRLS of dust momentarily blinded Charles W. Arter, a brawny pitboy, as he trudged along a mine field in South Yorkshire, England. Two miners behind him shouted a warning, but it came too late—Arter's foot went over the brink of a shaft.
He clawed desperately at the air as he went down, his screams floating hollowly from the yawning, black pit. It was certain death—the shaft was 1,554 feet deep and no man can survive such a drop.
But, halfway down, Arter overtook an elevator cage which was making a swift descent with a load of miners. He landed gently on the roof, rode easily the rest of the way down and walked away completely unharmed as the astounded men stared speechlessly!
Death takes a holiday like that more frequently than you think. Miraculous escapes from accidents that no man could seemingly survive are constantly confounding the statisticians, safety experts and police. People fall fantastic distances and live, get themselves hurled by automobiles and locomotives and emerge without a scratch, have buildings topple on them and survive, get into the lethal paths of hand grenades, bullets and flying spears and walk away unharmed.