Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-09-02
remain in his party If it had taken up any. one
o1a



The Anzeiger Won Interlaken, of July S1st,
says:
eve have to report great misfortune which
happened in the Roth-tbal on the 1lth of July,
with reference to which the cure of Lauterbrun-
men writes to us, under date of the 29th; On
Wednesday, July "a, Herr Merz, sehoolmaster
OF Moos-Atfoltern, In company with Won All
men, schOolmaster and inukeeper OF Trachsel-
lauenen, and the guide, Johann Bschof, started
for the Roth-thal. Their plan was not alto
gether settled; the weather was to decide wheth-
er they should return from there or cross the
Roth-thal-Sattel to the Eggischhorn. On this
account the families of both Of MerZ's COM
panions were ted not TO expect them back for
two or three days. They started from Trachsel-
lauenen at a. NJ; they were seen at the Stuten-
stein Alp at Q, and after that nothing WAS known
of them. On the suppostion that they might
have prolonged their journey, as had been con-
templated, people expected them back each
evening without at FIRST thinking of the possi-
bility of an accident. On the goth, at last, as
there were no signs of them, suspicious began
TO be entertained. The idea of an accident
gained strength when relative Of Merz arrived
to MAKE inquiry for him, as he had been expect
ed home on Friday for certain. AT last, towards
evening the news arrived that one of three asso-
ciates-Merz in fact-had been found at the
Stufenstein Alp, whittier he, good deal injured,
had managed TO drag himself but that of the
others there was not trace. Immediately a
twenty to thirty men started off, Merz was
brought down, half dead with exhaustion, to
Trachselauenen, where he, a little restored with
meat and drink, told the following tale:
"'0ur journey to the Roth-thal was prosper
Gus; there we were so fresh, and the weather so
enticing, that we resolved to prolong it to the
Roth-thal-sattel. We had already considerable
distance I.low us, and were in the couloir
which has been described by Prols. Obi and
Abi (who made the passage in 1871 as so diff
cult, when suddenly an avalanche from above
fell straight upon us. l found myself when
returned to consciousness, on a rock, whittier |
had been hurled by the avalanche, the mass of
which had carried away my companions. The
rope by which we were fastened must have
been rent asunder, otherwise | should have been
hurried TO certain destruction as well as the
others. A loud cry from the mouths of all of
us, then silence-and of my unfortunate COM
panions saw and heard no more. A second
avalanche passed by me without injury. re-
manned safe on my rock, where, also, horror
struck, passed the night. Next day l succeed
ed in descending to the Club-hutte, in the Both
thai, where | remained the night with my feet
frozen. A little chocolate, some hard cheese
rind aud cold water were, during these days, my
only nourishment. On Friday, painfully, and
with bare feet for they could no longer endure
the pressure Of shoes, crawled a little way
further to the Roth-thal glacier On Saturday
managed to leave the Roth-tha, and to-day
came, with unspeakable toll, to the Stufenstein
Alp
"Thus far Herr Merz. On the 2Sth, at one
o'clock, the band of guides set off to search for
the bodies of the two unfortunates. Both have
left families of nine and seven children respect
| iVcly--oue entirely without and the other with
but incOnsderabe, means OF subsistence. The
grief of both families can be imagined A col
lection made at the Seinbock, at Lautetbrun-
men, on their behalf, realized 800 francs.