Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1877-03-07
THE ALPS.
Inc Romantic Scenery of TyroI-The
ramos Battle with tho Tyrolose
ST
From the Detroit Free Press.

T"nos battie with tho IyroIcse
From the Detroit Free Press
AS we progressed, our railroad COM
menced climbing until at one point in
the route we were above the clouds,
which we could see rolling heavily and
damply in the valley below us. while
the great blue precipices circu inscribed
our landscape to the narrowest limits,
and seemed to wall us in forever. for.
out of those trem endous CULTS and
canons there appeared to be no possible
escape.
/ 1t was in one of these defles that the
Marshal Lefebre, with an army of
French, Bavarians and Saxons, was
cautiously toiling in 1909, on his way
to subdue the Tyrol to the Bavarian
yoke, to which Napoleon had trans
ferred it, when around him, on every
side, arose the Tyrolese landsturm, the
levy that called out every man that
could load or handle q rifle, and from
the top of the very crags, great rocks,
and trunks Of trees, and beams came
rolling down into the road in the defile
below, crushing the astonished troops
beneath them, and suddenly they were
confronted by the intrepid Capuchin
Monk, Haspinger, who, with the sting
ing fire of his rifles, forced the head of
the column to recoil, while the ava
| lanche of missiles from the inaccessi~
BILE heights came down harder than
ever. When suddenly, on both TANKS,
in the rear appeared Spechbacker and
Hotter, with every man and boy
who could walk or hobble, whom
+k,~ L. e L 4
summoned from all the mountain val
leys. And the carnage among the in
vaders was fearful and their discomit-
ure complete, and Lefebre himself
FASTENED back to Innsbruck with the
tidings Of his defeat. But with the
Tyrolese hard on his heels; and the
struggle for the possession of the soil
itary bridge over the Inn was terrific,
for the French were Bonaparte's veter-
ans, and the Bavarians had cannon, of
which the peasants had none, save
couple of followed trunks of trees,
clamped with iron bands, which
speedily burst land are now in the
Nuremberg Museum), but they had
their unerring rifles, with which they
poured so deadly a fire that the gun
ners, time and again were slaughtered,
around their pieces, until none could be
found 20 man them, and the officers
were picked off wherever they dare
show themselves by the aim OF the
channels hunters; and at last they evacu-
ated the old capital; into which the tri-
umphant peasants entered with great
and, after solemnly returning
thanks to God and the Virgin, in their
TotI
regent Of the Emperor, and then went
quietly back to their hills and herds and
Wallets. Twice again did the invaders
re-occupy the capital, twice again were
they driven from it, over the same
bridge, by these invincible hunters and
herdsmen, and their heroic leaders;
while many a gorge in these mountain
Businesses was the scene of exploits that
rivalled those of Thermonyle.
The Old castle of Kuffstein, on its
precipitous rock. quite bars the defle
through which the military causeway
and the railroad passes and has, from
its position, sustained many a siege;
notably that of 1904, when Emperor
Maximiliap battered it long without
effect, until the Bavarian commander,
believing it to be impregnable, had the
ramparts swept with brooms in def
ance and derision. But the irate EN-
peror brought up heavier ordnance,
and SO made breach, and took the
castle, and chopped OFF the luckless
commentaries head, IN punishment
| for the insult and ''pour encourager les
autres," and cOmmemorated the event
in relief on his tomb in the name
Of the Cathedral of Innsbruck, which
you may see to-day.
Innsbruck, SO called because for CEN
turtles it had the solitary bridge over
the Inn for leagues around, is far up in
the mountains, over 1000 feet above
the seas level, and is therefore usually
surrounded with clouds, and so beset
with transforms, that the proverb says:
Innsburuckers are born with an
umbrella in their hands and buried
with one in their collins" When was
here in rs it poured necessarily, so
that umbrella dealers and ducks
seemed to be the only animated crea-
lures who were enjoying themselves.
The wonderful weather, however, which
We have had since entering the noun
tains, still continues during our visit,
and no Michigan Indian summer ever
surpassed the mellow beauty of our,
Iyrolese autumn. 1t is handsome,
clean town +, Of one principal streets
and three side ones, with spacious
gardens and old-time buildings
on large scale, indicating center of
trade and wealth hundreds of years
ago; and so fenced around by the en-
circlng Alps that artificial walls SEEM
ed needless. A monstrous Alp blocks
up one end Of the main street and
looks right down into the town be-
meath, quite as closely as our city hall
tower looks down into WooG ward ave-
nue.; the mountain chalets and the
avalanche tracks on its huge sides ap-
pearing distinctly as you look up from
the shop doors delow. These shops
are bright and pleasant; and the three
specialties which most attract tourists,
the wonderful wood carvings, the color
ed photographs of peasant's costumes,
and the delicate paintings executed on
cobwebs, are set forth in their fas-
n mo MI fn