Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1870-02-04
Alpine Horrors.

lHREE travellers, IL Is stated, nave lust
lost their lives on the Great Bernard
Mountain. They had been travelling from
Martigny toward the Italian frontier, with
the intention of resting for the night in
the famous Hospice that stands almost on
the boundary between Switzerland and
Italy. By seven o'clock in the evening
they had reached little inn on the way
to the monastery; they had still to jour
ney for seven toilsome miles before reach
Tag the monkish place of welcome and,
since the night was dark and stormy, the
innkeeper besought them to stay until
morning: Being poor, they refused.
They belonged to that class of poverty
stricken pilgrims who are constantly
passing between Switzerland and Italy,
and who carry all their worldly goods in
knapsack of untanned deers hide. A
few minutes will suffice to take such trav-
elers from any part of the great Canton
Valais to Aosta. They shun inns with
horror, as places of INSCRIPTIONS extor.
tion and their aim is to break the Journey
at the HOspice, where they get food and
lodging for the night free of charge. and
an the morning are provided with the nee
essaries of travel ON the same benevolent
terms. Hence, although the night was
pltchy dark, and the wind was coming
down with hurricane-like gusts from the
mountains that shut in the valley, the three
travellers resolved that they would push
on tc the Hospice. Soon after leaving the
INN, they began to ascend winding,
rocky and steep path overhanging how
ling torrent and leading to the monastery
Inc road is perhaps one of the rough
est Id Europe. So many rocks iut out, so
snarp are the turns round the course
OF the brook, and so steep are some
OF the ascents, that even a mule might
Oe pareoned for slipping. When the
night Is dark and the mists come
down, the path could hardly be kept, even
py man who had daily traversed it for
years and tie only safe guide would be
the roaring OF the torrent. The ascent is
SO steep that, after a. couple off, hours
climbing, the traveller finds himself seye.
raj thousand feet above the level of stbe
sea, and at that elevation, even the hot
test day in August, the'cold is at nightfall
often intense. On the night of the fatal
accident all those perils were combined
Soblack!was the sky that he.wayfarers had
slowly to grope along by means of the pre-
clplce which hens in the sides of the path
Iarthest from the torrent. Had the moon
Deen up, they might have been guided by
Ihe poles which the monks have planted
III olrect line from the Hospice to the
vai!ey, to indicate the direction when the
pain is buried under the snow, and the
torrent is frozen. But, in the pitchv dark
ness, the friendly beacons were obscured
Hence the travellers seem to have AGAIN
and again been brought to stsndstili he
fore reaching that fordso the brook at
which the road dipsand often goes up with
one swift spring to the spot where the
great barrack. like Hospice guides and
cheers the benighted traveller bv its hea.
con light. The poor pilgrims were 90
near TO the blaze that, had thev been abIe
TO exert themselves fora few minutes
longer, they would have been safe Rnt
the toll and the cold had so paralvzed
their faculties that they could not proceed M
one step further; they were overcome bv
that craving for sleep, for rest, which Is
tne enect of intense cold and, within
sight of the friendly CLEAN that beckoned
them overhead, all the travellers laid down
On the Great St. Bernard the winter
season begins. soon and ends late. All.
ready 1t is winter beside the mountain
oWeihng and during the long months
when the snow covers the ground. or the
coid makes travelling perilous, it is the
daily custom of the good monks to Jour
ney as far as the bottom of the pass. in or
der that they may lend assistance to any
traveller who may have dropped by the
way. Clad in their long, black serge
gowns and broad -brimmed hats accom-
panied by attendants, who carry wine and
Piosisions ior the restoration of the
". Vi tho io's ~ aintlng travellers, and guided
Dy .ne famous st. Bernard dogs, who do
Ine work OF pointers, two or three monks
uaiiy lnaAe tne seven miles journey to
tne valley below. Until the Occurrence
OF the late accident, they had not for Soma
years found any traveller dead or hevonJ
the reach of restoratives. Graduaily lin.
deed, the perils of the terrible pass have
become so fully appreciated, that even the
poorest traveller shrinks from attempting
the ascent to the monastery after night.
1all, II the ground is covered with snow,
or II the great gusts blow down from the
NILS; the three who have last fallen vic
TINS, however, were less discreet; and
next morning when the searching party
OF monks had proceeded to a short dis
tance from the Hospice. they found the
bodies stiff and cold. They were taken to
the little morgue which is situated at
short distance from the principal build
ing of the monastery and in that naked
mausoleum the remains viii abide with
other relics of mortality, unless claimed
by. the kinsfolk' of the lost. II is a
grim resting place. In that small hut
perched among the wintry mountains