The Sun.
London, England, 1859-08-27 00:00:00

FATAL ACCIDENTS TO TOURISTS,

" A sad affair," says the Paris Union, "has oc-
curred at Banneres de Luchon, in the Pyrenees.
An English clergyman,ri the Rev. Mr. B an
archdeacon, on- Friday last ascended with some
friends and a guide the mountain called the Col du
Port de Venasque. Arrived nearly at the top,
where visitors generally stop, he resolved to go to
the very summit, though told that the ascent was
very dangerous, and he went alone, refusing to
allow eve-i the guide to accompany him. Hours
passed away and he did not return. Nothing
having been seen or heard of him up to Monday,
several guides were sent out to search, and after
some time discovered his dead body dreadfully mu-
tilated at the bottom of an abyss near the Port de
Venasque. The rev. gentleman, who was to have
set out on Mond iy for England, was a great pedes-
trian, and had ascended Mont Blanc."
A correspondent at Zermatt communicates the
particulars of a fatal accident which has occurred to
a Russian gentleman named Edouard de Grotte.
appears that in descending from the top of the
Weissthor Pass, instead of turning to the left
and taking the usual route along the Gorner
Glacier to the Riffelberg, he descended by the
Findelen Glacier, which slopes from the pass
directly down into the valley of Zermatt, and
affords a shoiler, though much more perilous,
route to the town than the Gorner Glacier.
,The
traveller and two guides were fastened together by
a rope, the traveller being in the middle; the rope
was tied round his body • but was not, as it should
have been, tied round the guides also; it was only
held on the left arm of each by a large loose loop.
In this way they passed safely over the greater part
of the glacier, and were within a few minutes of
leaving it altogether, when they came to a large
patch of snow, which the guides, according to their
own account, proposed to pass round, but which
the traveller insisted on crossing. Accordingly the
first guide crossed it in safety. The traveller—who
was a fine, powerful man—then followed him, but
when he had reached the middle the snow gave way
under his feet, and he sank into a hidden crevasse.
Having no Alpenstock, he could not break his fall
in the usual way, by holding it across the chasm,
and so his whole weight was thrown with a sudden
jerk upon the rope, which broke instantly on both
sides of the crevasse, down which the unfortunate
man consequently fell. His voice was soon heard
calling for asOistance, which the guides were not

skilful enough to render; the crevasse was a pecu-
liar one, being narrow at the top, and widening
downwards for some distance, after which it nar-
rowed again till its sides met—a depth of about 200
feet. This circumstance rendered it impossible to
reach him without a rope ; he appeared to be about
60 feet from the top, wedged between the sides of
the crevasse; and they had no rope excepting the
two ends that had remained with them, of about a
yard each, so they determined that one of them
should go to the nearest chalet—a two hours' walk
—for ropes. The idea of trying to make a rope by
cutting up their coats and shirts, and especially,
their leathern knapsacks, seems, most unaccount-
ably, never to have occurred to them. Thus the
unfortunate M. de Grotte received no assistance for
four hours, during which he frequently spoke to
the guide above ; he was, he said, in a sloping
position, with his head lower than his feet,
and with his right arm free, but he was con-
stantly sinking lower. After three hours the
flow of blood to his head, and the intense cold, had
very much weakened him ; he spoke seldom, say-
ing only that he was being "frozen to death. At
last, after four hours, the guide returned from the
Findelen chalet with assistance; the rope was
lowered, but was found to be 12 feet too short to
reach him. Now, it will scarcely be credited, but
it is a fact, that when the rope was found to be too
short nothing more was done, but men were sent
for more ropes to Zermatt, a distance of four hours,
so that the unhappy man was condemned by the
helpless clowns above him to pass eight hours more
in his icy prison. He had endured the most dread-
ful agony, for at first the warmth of his body dis-
solving the ice next him, caused him to sink lower;
but as the vital heat departed the cold gradually
regained its superiority, so that he was frozen in
tightly between the walls of ice, which, as their
wetted surfaces congealed and slightly expanded
towards each other, crushed him between them
with irresistible force. About the end of the fifth
hour the poor man died.
The correspondent who sends this account is of
opinion that the explanations of the guides as to
the breaking of the rope, &c., are unsatisfactory,
and that a more thorough inquiry ought to be
made.
We are glad to find the following in the Glas-
gow Daily Mail :—" The English gentleman, Dr.
Smith, who was reported to have suddenly disap-
peared in one of the crevices of Goatfell, in Arran,
when ascending the mountain, in company with a
friend, on Saturday afternoon last, and of whom no
trace was said to have been found after two days'
search, arrived in Glasgow yesterday evening, by
the Hero steamer, hale and sound."

FROM THE GAZETTE OF LAST NIGHT

INDIA-OFFICE,• Aua. 24.
The Secretary of State for India in Council has received
the following paper :

Fort-William, June 3.
The subjoined -notification is to be substituted for that
published in the Gazette Extraordinary under date the 22d
of April, 1859.
The 2d battalion Military Train is under orders for im-
mediate embarkation for England.
The career in India of this corps has been short but bril-
liant, and eminently serviceable to its country.
Upon arriving at the presidency, it was at once converted
into a cavalry force, and sent untrained into the field.
Throughout the glorious campaign in Oude the Military
Train bore a part which would have reflected credit upon
the oldest and most experienced cavalry soldiers.
It has served with distinction in various affairs under
Lieutenant-General Sir James Outram, at the capture of
Lucknow, in the operations about Azimghur, and lastly in
the harassing campaign of Shahabad.
The Military Train leaves India with the best wishes of
the Viceroy and Governtr-General in Council, for the
future honour and prosperity of the battalion.
A salute will be fired from the guas of Fort Williams on
the departure of the corps.
R. J. H. BIRCH, Major-General,
Secretary to the Government in India.

FOREIGN OFFICE, AUG. 25.
The Queen has been pleased to approve of Mr. James F.
Maguire as Consul at Melbourne for the United States of
America.

WAR-OFFICE, AUG. 26.
• GENERAL ORDER.—NO. 734.
Horse Guards, Aug. 26.
The Queen has been graciously pleased to command that
the undermentioned Assistant-Surgaans of her Majesty's
Indian Army be promoted to the Brevet Rank of Surgeons,
from the 7th September, 1858, in consideration of their
services during the siege of Lucknow :
Assistant•-Surgeon Joseph Fayrer, M.D.
Assistant-Surgeon Samuel Bowen Partridge.
Assistant-Surgeon Henry Martineau Greenhow.
Assistant-Surgeon Robert Bird.
By command of his Royal Highness the General Com-
manding-in-Chief.
(Signed) W. F. FORSTER, Deputy Adjt.-Gen.

WAR-OFFICE, PALL-MALL, AUG. 26.
Ist Regiment of Life Guards—Cornet and Sub-Lieutenant
Char es Wilmer Duncombe to be Lieutenant, by pur-
chrse, vice A. E. H. G. Viscount Grey de Wilton, who
retires; Algernon Wm. Fulke Greville, Gent., to be
Cornet and Sub-Lieutenont, by purchase, vice Dun-

combe.
10th Light Dragoons—Henry Price Holford, Gent., to be
Cornet, by purchase, vice Slacke, promoted.
15th Light Dragoons—Assistant- Surgeon John Griffith
has been permitted to resign his commission.
17th Light Dragoons—Gentleman Cadet George Rosser,
from the Royal Military College, to be Cornet, without
purchase, vice Macgregor, promoted.
Royal Artillery—Assistant-Surgeon George Arthur Grant,
from the Staff, tube Assistant-Surgeon, vice Farquharson,
appointed to the Coldstream Guards.
Royal Engineers—The first Christian name of Ensign
Haig is Arthur, not Anthony, as stated in the " Gazette"
of July 1.
Military Train—Lieutenant Wm. Corbett to be Captain,
without purchase, vice Brevet -Major H. H. A'Court
Inglefield, deceased ; Ensign John Taylor to be Lieu-
tenant, without purchase, vice Corbett.
Bth Regiment of Foot—Ensign Chas. Dudley der Mad-
den to be Lieutenant, by purchase,
tires. vice Pirunger, who re-
9th Foot—Capt. Wm. Henry Peel, from the Ceylon Rifle
Regiment, to be Captain, vice Bloxsome, who exchanges.
12th Foot--Ensign Robert Ed ward Dawson, to be Lieute-
nant, by purchase, vice Wither, who retires nry
iddonsSmith
Andrews, Gent., to be Ensign, by purchase, vi He
ceS
Mair, promoted. -
17th Foot—John Henry Thorold, Gent., to be Ensign, by
purchase, vice Lawrenee F. Arguimbau, whose appoint-
ment has been cancelled, that officer not having joined
since his appointment.
20th Foot—Ensign Macaulay's appointment bears date 23d i
August, 1859, not 23d August, 1858, as erroneously dated
in last Tuesday's " Gazette."
21st Foot—Captain Augustus Breedon, from the 89th Foot,
to be Captain, vice de Vic Valpy, who exchanges.
31st Foot—George Moore Lambert, Gent., to be Ensign, by
purchase, vice La Touche, appointed to the 30th Foot.
41st root—Ensign John Caulfield, to be Lieutenant, by
purchase, vice. Macleod, who has retired ; Ensign
Nathaniel Montgomery to be Lieutenant, by purchase,
vice Fraser, who retires ; Quartermaster James Simpson,
from a Depot Battalion, to be Paymaster, vice (grant, de-
ceased.
46th Foot—Lieut. Thomas Murphy, from half-pay late
Turkish Contingent, to be Lieutenant, vice Atkinson,
promoted to an Unattached Company, without purchase.
53d Foot—Ensign Charles Pye to be Adjutant, vice Lieut.
Macneill, will° resigns the Adjutancy only.
54th Foot—Ensign James Chute to be Lieutenant, by pur-
chase, vice Evered, promoted.
60th Foot—Surgeon Henry James Schooles, M.D., having
completed 20 years' full-pay service, to be Surgeon-Major,
under the Royal Warrant of the Ist Oct., 1858.
80th Foot—Major Cam Sykes, from half-pay Unattached,
to be Major, vice Ormsby, who exchanges; Capt. Chas.
Fitzgerald Studdert to be Major, by purchase, vice Sykes
who retires ; Lieut. Horatio Pettus Batcheler to be Cap-
tain, by purchase, vice Studdert; Ensign Valentine
O'Connor to be Lieutenant, by purchase, vice Hatcheler ;
Ensign Walter Howard to be Lieutenant, by purchase,
vice Burrowes, promoted.
81st Foot—Robert John Macdonnell, Gent., to be Ensign,
by purchase', vice Jackson, promoted.
86th Foot—Lieutenant William Knipe to be Captain,
without purchase, vice Boyd, retired upon full-pay.
89th Foot—Captain De Vic Valpy, from the 21st Foot, to be
Captain, vice Breedon, who exchanges.
95th Foot—Arthur Thomas Helme, Gent., to be Ensign,
by purchase, vice Wilkinson, promoted in the 17th Foot.
96th Foot—Francis Lennox George Grey, Gent., to be
Ensign, without purchase, vice Musters, who resigns.
98th Foot—Ensign Thomas Thomson Simpson to be Lieu-
tenant, by purchase, vice Lewes, promoted.
2d 'West India Regiment—George Fletcher Coward,
Gent., to be Ensign, without purchase, vice Fyfe, de-

ceased.
Ceylon Rifle Regiment—Lieutenant James Campbell
Fielding to be Captain, without purehase, vice Clement,
deceased ; Captain Berkeley Charles William Chiches-
ter Bloasome, from the oth Foot, to be Captain, vice
Peel, who exchanges ; Ensign Joseph Albert Denton to
be 'Lieutenant, without purchase, vice Fielding ; John
Glover, Gent., to be Ensign, without purchase, vice
Denton, promoted.
DEPOT BATTALION.
Major James William Dewar, from half-pay Unattached,
to be Major, vice Rowlands, who exchanges.

STAFF.
Lieutenant-Colonel and Brevet-Colonel Charl
nt G-ees He
neral Henry
Somerset, C. 8., 72d Foot, to be Deputy Adjuta-
to the forces serving in Bombay, vice Brevet-Colonel E. H.
Greathead, C. 8., Bth Foot, who has resigned that appoint-
ment.
Captain and Brevet-Lieutenant-Colonel John Williams
Reynolds, Unattached, from Deputy Assisant-Adjutant
General at Head-Quarters, to be Deputy Adjutant-
General to the Forces in Jamaica, in succession to Brevet-
Colonel T. H. Tidy, whose period of Staff service has
expired.

HOSPITAL STAFF.
Surgeon-Major Henry Mapleton, M.D., to be promoted
to the rank of Deputy Inspector General of Hospitals.
Acting Assistant-Surgeon James Lander, M.D., to be
Assistant-Surgeon to the Forces.
TO HAVE THE BREVET RA.IsTK OF SURGEON.
Assistant-Surgeon Joseph Fayrer, M.D., of the Bengal
Medical Staff.
Assistant-Surgeon Samuel Bowen Partridge of the Ben-
gal Medical Staff.
Martineau Greenhow, of the
Assistant-Surgeon Henry
Bengal Medical Staff.
Assistant-Surgeon Robert Bird,. of_the Bengal Medical
Staff.