Marvellous Escapes of Lytham Man

Ascribed to Prayers

FROM A LYTHAM PAPER.

Pre. J. Victor Salisbury, who was associated with the Elim Gospel Mission, Lytham, and who often preached at the open-air services on the green, has sent a letter to Mr. Mogridge from the Dardanelles, from which the following are extracts:--

“I must just close with telling you of an incident which happened to me on Saturday last and which nearly cost me my life. Your prayers away in England no doubt were answered in a marvellous way. I had come down from the trenches on the Friday afternoon, and during our ten days up there I had three very narrow shaves. Once a piece of shrapnel came into the billy can I was cleaning. On Saturday morning I was on duty in the dug-out which we call the sick-bay--a kind of consulting room for the doctor. I was just bandaging the hand of the last patient, and the Turks, who had been shelling us for about half-an-hour, dropped a high-explosive shell right through the tarpaulin roof. It caught the side of the dug-out and burst within three feet of where I was stood. Immediately we were blown to the earth, and all was confusion and darkness. When the dust and smoke cleared I was astonished to find myself able to run for the exit and into the open-air, the others doing the same. Seven out of the eight were wounded, but I escaped without injury, and was about the nearest to the exploding shell. I was

TERRIBLY SHAKEN,

but, I rendered first-aid to two of the injured ones. One was deaf, and shot in the face; another had head, neck, arm and ankle shot through. The doctor was pretty badly hurt. We packed them all off to the ambulance, and then I went for a quiet read of my Bible in the dug-out. When I pulled it out of my side pocket I found a piece of shell an inch long embedded about half-way through it. If it had not been in my pocket that piece of shell would undoubtedly have cost me my life. I could do nothing for a time but pour out thanks to God, and exclaim “Oh, Jesus thou are too good.” Afterwards I showed it to a good many, including one man who makes a point of scoffing at my faith in Christ. I told him that people in Lytham prayed for me and that was

GOD’S ANSWER.

Two officers to whom I showed it said it was remarkable. One of them said he wasn’t religious, but it was enough to make him so. You can see in the shattered roof a place where a large piece of shell has gone through, which, considering where I stood, must have spun past my head, and I found another piece on the floor where I had stood. How good is the God we adore. Praise Him for His goodness.”

From: Confidence, Vol. IX, No. 3, March 1916, pag. 44, Sunderland, England

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