A TRAVELLER TRAPPED.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIII, Issue 119, 18 May 1909, Page 6

A TRAVELLER TRAPPED.

LOCKED IN A TOWER OF .■■■■ SILENCE, . ■.:,. ■.... A sensational experience which be- v fell Mr St. Michael Podmore, an English scientist,' in a Parsee Tower of, Silence a few months ago, is related in the Wide World Magazine for April, as follows:— • ,1 had travelled extensively through Canada and Australasia, and arriyied at Bombay. , ' ; One Jiight I met a Parsee wlio spoke . good English/ 'He suggested that,'as f T\,;yvas Ta stranger in:; Bombay, we j .should visit" the ■: Parsee V, Tower -of Silence, and hei promisejd; ia conduct me there the following day; • Next. morning, having secured. the necessary permits, we inspected thib outside of the round walled enclosure within which the bodies of the dead are exposed to the vultures. 'But can't I see the inside of a real one?' I asked, much disappointed at the ' bare uninteresting outside of the Towers.' . ■'. ; ' 'There is. an old, deserted one to which I might take you,' he said, fbut we must go with great,caution ; there would'be a bother if we were discovered.' He led the way along a path which conducted us to a remote and unfre- . quented corner of the grounds. Here, behind a mass of neglected vegetation, we found an old, but perfectly solid tower. We ran up a gentle slope, and he opened the door. I scrambled in and stood upright within the charmed

circle. The place was interesting, so I walked to the centre, and looked into the well to* see if there were any bones or other relics of departed Parsees, but could see nothing. , 'It must have been long deserted,' , I observed. ' i

There was no answer. Glancing over my shoulder I was just in time to see the door close stealthily on its hinges; in another moment I heard the grating of the bolt. Alarmed, I sprang across to it and tried hard to force xt open, but it was as firm as a rock. ' 'Is this some practical joke? I shouted, angrily. 'I have no time to waste while you play the fool.' The sound of footsteps retreating along the path was my only answer, and a deathly silence ensued. Time and. again I made a round of the place, seeking some other avenue of escape ; but without success. I was as effectually trapped as though at the bottom of a well.

As the day advanced and the Parsee did not return, I became seriously agitated. What was the man's object in imprisoning me in this horrible place? Was it a joke, was it blackmail, or worse?' Time passed on slowly, and ats the darkness of night closed in strange shadows'gathered round the uncanny piece. A little troubled sleep helped me through the night, and when the daylight was clear enough, to enable me to see I was not cheered by observing the vultures collected overhead, staring at me patiently with their cruel savage eves.

These things tried my nerves sorely, and of course I suffered terribly from hunger and thirst, so I was not in a very cool and sane condition, when, after darkness had fallen again, the villainous Parsee reappeared, having climbed by ladder to the top of the wall.

After vainly trying to induce me to talk, my captor lowered an earthenware water bottle to me, using a thin rope. Haying drunk the water, I asked him What he wanted with me. 'I want money,', he said, 'and a signed pledge that you will do me no injury. I want ten thousand>rupees.' With;.th.at he disappeared. Next evening the Parsee returned, and ae;ain let dlown the water jar. As he did so I jerked the rope out of his grasp, and went on talking to him, the while enlarging the noose at the end of the rope. Suddenly I threw the end of-the rope at him. ■' The noose settled over the rascal's head, and in an instant I had drawn it tight and was climbing the rope. It was terribly hard work, for the cord was very thin indeed. Setting my feet against the brickwork, and half climbing, half walking up the wall, I managed it. I finally got one leg over the top. My first care was to examine the Parsee, 'who looked more dead than alive, but he soon recovered when I removed noose from his neck, slipped it over his arms, "and lowered him ,into the tower. He fell to the ground with a bump, nearly dragging me over, too, after him, and lay on the'floor in a semi-conscious state. Descending the ladder, I unbolted the door, so as to enable him to crawl out when he recovered, and then hurried off.' I did not report the matter to the police, for the reason that I had myself been guilty of an illegal act in entering the Tower of Silence, nor did I wish to be.'delayed by the tardy routine of Indian justice. : •',-