In January (1999), Graham took his two sons with him on an annual trip to a leprosy hospital that he was in charge of in Manoharpur, a tin village nestled in the remote hills of Keonjhar, about 155 miles north of the Orissa state capital of Bhubaneswar. Orissa had the highest incidences of attacks against Christian churches in India-some 60 attacks between 1986 and 1998. Graham was aware of this, and also that some of te tension had found in way to Manoharpur, but he wasn't worried. He had decided a long time before to follow Christ wherever He led him to minister to lepers, and Manoharpur was one of the places.
There is no electricity or running water in the village of Manoharpur, and no modern conveniences. At night, Graham and his two sons slept in the back of their Willys station wagon, which had more than enough room for them, and comfortable bedding, which they carried on their trips to these remote areas.
The boys always enjoyed the trips with their father, and he enjoyed having them along. They had already developed a love for these simple people and the lepers that their parents treated. Graham hoped that someday they would follow in his footsteps and join their parents in this work to which they had devoted their lives. India was now his and Gladys' home and always would be. They loved the people of India and could not imagine living and working anywhere else.
God had brought them here, and God poured His love through them as they ministered to the lepers and treated their sores. One former leper said about the Staines: "Our world was darkness. We always faced death. None of the religious leaders bothered to give us even one meal. When we begged for alms, they would throw stones at us and chase us away. We were untouchables. These religious leaders used to tell us that we deserved leprosy because of our sins in our previous birth-because of our karma. And we were left to die in the jungles all alone, like worms. But then came Staines Dada and his friends. They stretched forth their hands of mercy to us and to the Leprosy Home. There we saw the love of God.
Dada and his wife would personally wash our sores and dress the wounds with medicines and when we were cured, they would teach us some skills, and give jobs to us...Philip and Timothy, what loving kids, they used to come and play with us lepers, the outcasts of society."
At this point, the young woman, Sarida, was overcome with grief and unable to speak any longer.
On this particular night in Manoharpur, January 23, Graham fixed the bed in their station wagon not long after dark and they all climbed in to settle down for the night. It had been a hard day, and they were all tired-the boys more from running around the village and playing with the other children than from work, though they always willingly helped their father when he needed them. Before they went to sleep, they did what they always did on these trips, talked about Jesus for a while, and then each said a prayer. Graham loved to hear his boys pray, especially Timothy who still prayed in the innocence and simplicity of a young child.
Not far from their station wagon, about 300 yards, a group of young men were playing drums and enjoying a traditional Indian dance. The rhythmic beat of the drums helped Graham and his two sons fall asleep quickly and soundly. Tomorrow was going to be another busy day.
But there wouldn't be any tomorrow for them.
At about 11p.m. on January 22, a group of radical Hindus led by a man named Dara Singh left Jamadwar and headed for Manoharpur. Singh was no stranger to police, having been arrested several times for initiating violence.
At about 12:20 a.m. on January 23, Singh and his mob arrived at Manoharpur. They approached throuth the fields, armed with axes and tridents (three-pronged spears). They had just one pre-determined target, the Staines station wagon where Graham and his two sons slept. As they got near the vehicle, they started screaming as loud as they could.
Singh struck first, swinging his axe at the tires and slashing them open so the vehicle could not move. The others broke open the windows and struck at the Staines, beating all three unmercifully with their fists and clubs. Graham received the worst beating as he tried to shelter the children with his body. After beating all three nearly unconscious, the raging mob then repeatedly stabbed them-thrusting their tridents through the broken windows time and again in a wild frenzy.
Then Singh piled straw under the vehicle and set it on fire. In seconds, the station wagon was engulfed in flames. Through the broken windows Graham could be seen holding his two young sons close to him. Anyone who knew him was certain that the one name he would be speaking over and over as the flames consumed them was Jesus.
The murderers watched as the three in the vehicle were roasted alive. Someone ran up with a bucket of water to try to douse the flames and was chased away. Dr. Subhankar Ghosh, a close friend of Graham remembers vividly ever moment of that terrible night.
"We had dinner with the Staines around 9 p.m., and they went to sleep in their station wagon, parked near the church, at about 9:45. I was sleeping in one of the huts, only about 300 feet from the church. [Just after] midnight, we were woken up by some strange shouts and screams, and I peeped through the side window. I couldn't believe what I saw. I heard shouts, screams, beatings, breaking of doors. There were 50-60 people with burning torches in their hands....shouting ' beat, beat' around the station wagon.
Soon they started smashing the windows of the jeep with bars and sticks. The frenzied mob blocked Graham from escaping with his children. They were brutally beaten. Then suddenly I saw the jeep in flames. I knew my dear friends would be burned to ashes. The attackers had already blocked the doors of the village huts so that no one could get out to help the Staines. A few who did get out and questioned the mob were threatened [with beatings and burning themselves].
The villagers said the attackers were shouting 'Victory, Dara Singh.' The attackers also burned another jeep, parked nearby, and its driver was beaten and chased away. After an hour, the furious militants fled the scene.
[We freed our doors and raced outside.] We couldn't believe what we saw. We were numbed. Graham was an embodiment of Christian love and compassion. And his children-tender, cheerful, who used to play with the lepers and their children! Is there no limit to man's wickedness?"
Hasda, the driver of the station wagon and a coworker with the Staines for over 20 years, gave his report of the burning.
"I was woken up by the screams of some people. There were about 50-60 men around the jeep where Saibo and children were sleeping. They were smashing the vehicle with staves and stones. Some carried tridents also. Then I saw somebody putting a bundle of straw under the vehicle and setting it on fire. I brought water and tried to put out the fire, but some of them caught me and beat me hard and chased me away.
I ran to Murmu's hut and informed him, and he ran to call the village chief. When I returned to the vehicle, what I saw was most tragic. Fire had devoured the two vehicles, and my Saibo and little Philip and Tim [were] turned to ashes. I am sorry I couldn't do anything to save my Saibo and the little ones. My parents were cured lepers and inhabitants of Rajabasa rehabilitation center. I was born there. The Staines treated me like their son. Philip and Tim used to play with my children [and] take them on their cycles. The future of the mission is [now] in God's hands. Our Lord is able."
Also at Manoharpur that night was Gilbert Venz, a visiting friend of the Staines from Austrailia, who had accompanied Graham to the village. He also remembers vividly what happened.
"The village had turned in for the night, but at about 12:30 midnight, what seemed like a large group of men began raising a commotion in the street outside. They were screaming, 'Don't come out, we will kill you.'
I was indoors and we found that the door had been locked from outside. Graham and the kids were sleeping in the jeep."
Because he was trapped inside, Venz didn't know the station wagon had been set on fire. But he kept hearing the terrifying noise of the mob. Later, as he heard the shouting subside, someone freed the door and he rushed out and ran towards the station wagon. He found only a burned out, smoking, shell-and three bodies charred beyond recognition, locked in a tight embrace. In life and in the agony of their deaths, Graham and his sons had been inseparable.
A number who fled the raging mob said they saw a wide beam of bright light shining down on the burning station wagon. "I do believe," said Gladys Staines, "that my husband and children were specially strengthened by my Lord and the angelic hosts from heaven."
"Yea and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution."-2 Timothy 3:12
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