The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-09-12 00:00:00

The FATAL ACCIDENT to an ENGLISH-
MAN on MONT BLANC.

On Saturday the Mayor of Leeds received the following
letter, giving details respecting the fatal accident which
befell Mr. J. A. Garth Marshall, flax spinner, Leeds, on
Mont Blanc, on Monday last. The deceased was a gentle-
man highly respected in Leeds. and son of the late Mr.
Garth Marshall, formerly one of the members for the
borough
"Hotel Royal, Courmayeur, Sept. 1.
"My Lord Mayor,—A very dreadful accident took
place last night upon Mont Blanc, and, as the principal
victim was a native of your city, I this morning, about
ten o'clock, took the liberty of telegraphing to you the
particulars, partly because I did not know the address
of the relatives of the deceased, and partly that
you, as chief magistrate of Leeds, might break the
distressing event to them with all clue consideration.
I now, according to promise, write you the details.
The Royal Hotel, Courmayeur is a great rendezvous
for Alpine tourists, and amongst the many others
passing through Mr. J. A. Garth Marshall
pied a distinguished place. He remained several
days at the hotel, during which he told me his
plans of passing over Mont Blanc to Charuounix, by
a new route, as he had recently come over from
Chamounix to Courmayeur by the Peak Troilet. He
left accompanied by two experienced guides (men that
had accompanied him during his late transit), and pro-
vided with everything necesary. One only of the guides
returned and said that in descending a glacier Mr.
Marshallaud a guide had fallen into a :crevase and were
killed upon the spot, neither of them uttering a word. He
was very much exhausted and excited, but delivered his
account with distinctness, which I wrote down as he
spoke. The party walked up the Alice Blanche, and
reached the base of Mont Blanc early in the afternoon,
and after ascending to the tail of the Fresnay glacier
made preparations to spend the night among the rocks.
They afterwards crossed over a rocky reef and reached
the glacier Du Brouillard, which flows directly from
Mont Blanc, but after ascending that glacier for some
hours and the precipices that overlooked it, until they
found further advance impracticable, they resolved to
return, and finally reached the glacier Brouillord in
safety, all three corded together. Continuing to make
their retreat down the glacier at midnight, all three
fell into a crevase. Mr. Marshall and the guide Fischer
were killed upon the spot, neither uttering a word, and
when daylight came the surviving guide, unable to raise
the bodies to the surface, left them and made his way
down to Courmayeur. Immediately after his arrival
the landlord of the hotel, along with the Waldensian
minister of this place and seven or eight men
and the guide that escaped, set off for the scene
of the accident. Later in the day the magis-
trate of the district and six more men, with a truck,
followed them. About eight o'clock a man returned
from the advanced party with no tidings of success,
but requesting supplies for two days. When the
bodies are found, as I believe they will be, I will write
to you. Meantime I have received no reply to my
telegram of this morning. My intention is to remain
another week, and any services within my power,
pecuniary or otherwise, shall be promptly rendered.
In the meantime I beg to enclose my card, and re-
main, my Lord Mayor, J. MC Coon.
" I have made no report to any newspaper, but ifbrou
think fit to publish this letter you have my full per-
mission.—J. Mc C."

Explanatory of this sad and fatal accident, the
following letter has been sent to The Times :

Sin—As a friend of the late Mr. J. A. G. Marshall, and
of his guide, Johann Fischer, the duty seems to devolve
upon me of explaining, so far as I am at present able, how
his death happened. Our accounts are meagre, list they
are clear as to the following facts .—Mr. Marshall left
Courmayeur on Sunday morning, August 30, accompanied
by the guides, Johann Fischer, of Tatum near Nleiningen,
and Ulrich Almer, of Grindelwald, son of the well-known
guide, Christian Abner. They ascended from the chalets of
Fresnay, which are in the bottom of the Allee Blanche, to a
place on the grass or rocks dividing the glaciers of Brouillard
and Fresnay. These two glaciers stream down southward
from a point very near the summit of Mount Blanc. Ascend-
ing rapidly they would get above the grass slopes, and enter
upon a wild district of moraine and loose rocks and stones,
above which the rocks dividing the two glaciers present a
steep face to the south, and it is necessary to quit them to
the left, and to enter upon the Brouillard glacier. Whether
the party bivouacked here before entering upon the ice, or
higher up, we do not know. At this point the glacier
slopes to the south at a considerable angle, but the crevasses
in it are neither numerous nor large—that is, on its eastern
bank, which the party would naturally and of necessity
follow. Half a mile up glacier of this character would bring
them to a place where the rocks on their right open again to
the level of the ice, and it is quite possible that they may
have bivouacked here. Of their proceedings on Mon-
day we know nothing beyond the fact that they as-
cended until about four p.m., when from some cause,
which may have been weather, want of time, or an un-
forseen obstacle, they turned back. They had descended
a long distance, and at about midnight all three
suddenly fell into a crevasse. Mr. Marshall and
Fischer were killed instantly, neither of them uttering a
word. Maser succeeded in extricating himself, either at
once or later, waited there till morning, when, seeing the
Impossibility of rescuing the bodies, he went down to Cour-
msyeur for help, arriving there on Tuesday morning about
nine o'clock. He and a party of men left 80011 after, and
they succeeded in recovering the bodies the same evening,
about seven o'clock.
- • • -- •e • - - • .

Now, Fischer, conducted me up to this same place in the
middle of July, when we bivouacked at a height of about
12,000ft.—te , higher than described above. 'though bad
weather prevented our making ally attempt tn the morning to
ascend further, we could at times see so much of the route that
Fischer considered it might prove not only practicable, but
comparatively easy. Continued bad weather put it out of
our power to go there again, but when Fischer left me to
join Mr. Marshall he communicated his views to him, and
wished his cousin, Mr. Frank Marshall, who left them at
Courmayeur, to stay and join them in the new ascent. It
is clear, therefore, that he considered the route by which
he intended to go perfectly feasible and safe. Now, as to
Fischer's capabilities, I have employed him for the last
three years, and found him a most admirable guide, with
all the best qualities of a Swiss mountaineer. Ile, indeed,
tor power and knowledge of his work, his cousin
mew, Anilerecic, and Christian Alines, as guides stand
pre-en,inent among others. Ilia simplicity, straightforward-
ness, and entire absence of truckling to the vanities of
travellers made Min but few friends, though they were fast
ones. Melchior spoke of him very highly when I asked his
opinion before engaging him, and the late awl present land-
lords of the Aeggischorn Inn, Messrs. Wellig and K atarin,
can bear testimony to his capabilities.
Ulrich Almer, though quite young, is to my knowledge
an excellent guide, brought up under the eye of his father,
and has made most of the peak and pass expeditions in
Switzerland.
Lastly, Mr. Marshall knew perfectly well what he was
about Wanderings, alone and with friends, in the hills of
the Lake country had taught him how to climb rocks more
thoroughly than most of the members of the Alpine Club can
do His first two journeys in Switzerland were made with
Fischer and sue, Ulrich Almer being also our guide last year,
and a list of 18 glacier expeditions, some of them of consider-
able difficulty, shows that he was not without experience on
snow and ice lie had, moreover, that excellent and rare
habit of refusing assistance until he had tried every way of
paaalug a place without It.