Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1874-12-24

HE London Times OF the 2Sth OF
November contains the following ac,
count of the recent terrible catastfophe
on Mount st. Bernard, brief an.
nouncement of which has alresdy
reached rs by telegraph:
"On Monday morning last il wal
rumored in Sion that . frightful acct.
dent had happened at few kilometera
from the Great st. Bernard. This ru.
NOR, unfortunately, proved to be well
founded. On the 10Th instant, At the
break Of day, . caravan, composed Of
twelve italian workmen returning to
st. Pierre and the tavern Of Pioz,
where they had passed the night, and
despite the foul weather, and difficult
state of the roads, attempted to cross
the mountain pass or to reach the
refuge, o. circumstances might allow.
Tho sky was dark and there was VIC.
lent snowdrift. On reaching the spot
known % the Montague st. Pierre,
half way refuge, they were Joined by
two monks, preceded BY the convent
servant and . large sized dog, who. &C.
cording to the rules Of the monastery,
came to meet tho travellers. At this
moment the drift Of the snow became
intense. Suddenly . frozen water
spout, called Vewr0, In the language Of
the mountAineerS, whirled through the
cir, and, whishing up the fresh fallen
snow, enveloped the travellers. The
first column, composed Of five Italian
workmen, two monks, the servant and
the dog, disappeared under . shroud
of snow several metres thick without
any avalanch having fallen from the
mountain the seven others who were
following were stricken down by the
same cause short distance from the
tirst. IA
Suddenly the seven last victims
buried in the snow succeeded in
emerging from beneath the white sur.
face. They were saved, and they re-.
turned to their starting place after
having made every endeavor to rescue
their comrades from the grave in which
they are probably at this moment OF
writing still alive. One Of these men
succeeded, by the force Of instinct aud
the energy of despair, In breaking
through the ice piled above him. It
was the Monk C0ntat, from Sembrau-
cher. He dragged his bleeding limbs
shout . mile and half from the grave
where he had been buried for several
hours, and reached the first hut called
the hospital, and situated close to the
yelan. II 10 there the young monk
was found the next morning nearly
insensible, after haying been twenty-
seven hours alone, without food or A.
sistance Of any kind. by his brother
monks of the convent who had come
to look after the victims Of tho acct.
dent. Hew had they become aware OF
tho catastrophe? The deg Turco had
suoeoode1 a Soeafching through the
snow and found his way back 70 the
convent. AT tho sight of this noble
animal, With his bruised and bleeding
body, tho monks no longer had any
doubt ~ 10 the fate Of their two breth.
rem, and started at once to seek for
them. A flask OF spirits applied to
the mouth Of the only survivor Of this
scene, which 10 here narrated from his
description, restored him to life for
brief space, for . few minutes later he
was corpse. His colleague and six
other companions, buried beneath the
tsasra, have mot yet been found. This
70 the most terrible accident which has
happened on Mont 81. Bernard since
the year 1876"