"FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH" How Mr Bainbridge Bravely Met His End. Rotorua, June 14.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 157, 19 June 1886, Page 4

"FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH" How Mr Bainbridge Bravely Met His End. Rotorua, June 14.

Mr Minnect, who was in McUae'a hotel on the night of the catastrophe, has placed on record an account of the touching iacident. We give it in his own words : — As the party stood in the hotel while the pitiless shower of mud "was falling, and while the mountain was vomiting fire and smoke, all momentarily expecting death, Mr Bainbridge asked if any of thoso present wouli like to engage in prayer, and all cheerfully consented. He read a chapter from tho Bible, and then offered up prayer. He said that might be the last hour of their lives, or they might at once, and without further preparation, be ushered into the presence of their Maker. Bub it was in His power to deliver and save them, even in this terrible extremity ; and should any of their number mercifully be delivered from this present peril and imminent calamity, oh ! might it be a turning point in their lives, and induce them to give up their hearts and lives to Him ; and he said, in conclusion, " Oh, Lord be with us now, our lives are in Thy hnnd, and should we meet Thee at thia time, have mercy and forgive." Some moments elapsed and we -were all silent ; I went up to him and thanked hia\ for having thought for us all in these droad moments : for during the wboie timo wo were expacting death At any moment, either by being buried alive by tho sand, mud, and t-tone that was overwhelming t!>a houee, or by suffocation with the sulphurous gases which pervaded tho atmosphoro, or by crushing under the falling timber?, or being swallowed by the opening ground as it trembled beneath our feet. There was also the additional danger of being burned to death by the fireballs which were dashing over and through the building. Mr Bxinbridge, though calm, seemed to feel that ho would not survive the night, He told me that the disastei would soon bo heaid of in England, and, whether he lived or died, that it would have a great effect on his familj r , aa Ma brother had been shot, and two ot his sisters had lately died suddenly from (disease. He said this in such a manner as to lead me to think that he felt positive he himself would not escape tho terrors of the night.