Ludger Sylbaris
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Ludger Sylbaris, also known as Louis-Auguste Cyparis, was a prisoner in the jail in St. Pierre. He was a survivor of the 8th May, 1902 eruption of Mt. Pelée on the French-Caribbean island of Martinique. Various reports say he was the only survivor, while others say up to three people survived.
At the time of the eruption, Sylbaris, then a 27-year-old laborer, was locked in an underground bomb-proof magazine serving as a solitary confinement cell in the city jail, where he was placed because of his involvement in a bar fight. His cell was without windows, ventilated only through a narrow grating in the door facing away from the volcano.
Four days later, a rescue team heard his cries from the rubble of the prison. Although horribly burned, he survived and was able to provide an account of the event. According to his account, at about breakfast time on the day of the eruption, it grew very dark. Hot air mixed with fine ashes entered his cell through the door grating. The heat lasted only a short moment, enough to cause deep burns on Sylbaris' hands, arms, legs, and back, but his clothes did not ignite, and he avoided breathing the searing-hot air. [1]
Originally sentenced to death for a murder, he was later pardoned and joined Barnum & Bailey's circus, touring America recounting the horrors of the explosion, and becoming a minor celebrity, "the man who lived through Doomsday" or "the Most Marvelous Man in the World". As part of the Barnum and Bailey's "Greatest Show on Earth", he was the first black man ever to star in the segregated show. [2]
The other two (depending on how you define) survivors are Léon Compere-Léandre, a shoemaker and Havivra Da Ifrile a little girl.
