The daily intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Territory [i.e. Wash.]) 1876-1881, 1879-06-14
ACCIDENT ON THE NATTER.
HORN.

tolns Wnico SlSe ABOVE the line OF Der
petual snow poesass . certsin amount oi
similarity which permit . comparison
with one another. Thus, Mont Blanc
Monte Rosa. the Jungfrau, resemble
each other into rising into . dome. more
or less irregular. covered with ice and
snow. The Matter horn. - seen from
Zermstt, stands superb and incompars.
bic. The northern facehppears single
obelisk OF rock rising, naked aud pre-
cipitOus. from the sea of mere and gle.
eier about its bsse
For many years the Matte rhorn de-
Eel oil attempts to scale it, summit.
II WAS inaccessible and unconQuerabls
One after another Of the mountainesrt
the Alpine CLUB wss repulsed from
its overhs nging and uncooquersble
sides. The year 1888 will stand foreves
men orsble in tho annals of Swis,
mountaineering, from the terrible trag
dey which followed the first successful
attempt, in which Lord Francis Douglas S.
the Rev. Charles Hudson. Mr.. Hsdow
and Aicbsel Croz. Of Chamouni. per-
ished. The following i. Mr.. Wbym-
psr's narrative:
1--WE left Zeru at at 5:35 on Thursday
morning. taking the two Tsugwalder.
ss POI ters. They carried provisions for
the whole party for three days. In case
the trip should prove more difficult than
We anticipated. We arrived at The
summit at ! 80 P. n. on Friday. and re-
mained there one hour. and during the
time Nr. Hudson and consulted - "a
the best and safest disposition Of the
party. We agreed that it would bs
best for Croz to 90 first. as he was the
most powerful. and Hadow second
Hudson. who WAS equal to o guide in
sureness OF foot, wished to be third
Lord F. Douglas Was placed next. and
Tsugwslder. the strongest OF the re-
behind him. I suggested Il
Hudson that We should attach . rops
to the rocks on arrivingJat . difficult bit
aud hold it as an added protection.
He approved the idea, but it Wa not
definitely settl.d that It should De
done. The party was being arranged
in the above order " hile was making
n sketch Of the summit, aud they were
waiting for the to be tied in my place,
when some one said that we bad not
left our names in bottle; they request.
ed me to write them, aud moved of
while it WAS being done. A few min.
utes after l tied myself to young Taug.
wAlder. and followed. catching them
just Is they were commencing the de-
scent Of the difficult part mentioned
above The greatest care Was being
taken. Only one man WAS moving st
. time; when he was firmly planted
the next advanced. aud 90 on, The av-
erage distance between each WAS prob
ably twenty feet.
II was. xs have explained, detached
from the others: and following them
but about . quarter Of an hour after
wards Lord F. Douglas requested me "a
tic on to old Taugwalder, as he feared,
he said. in case Of q slip, Taugwsldez
would not be able to hold him This
was done hardly ten minutes before the
accident. aud undoubtedly saved Tsug-
walder's life.
As far as l know. ut the moment OF
the accident, no one was actually NOV.
ing. l cannot speak with certainty.
neither can the Taugwsldsrs. because
the two leading men were partially
hidden from our sight BY an interven.
ing mass Of rock. Poor Cree had laid
aside his axe. and. in order to give Mr..
Hsdow greater security. was then
absolutely engaged in tskicg bold q
bis legs and putting his feet iuto thei'
proper place. From the movements OF
their shoulders il 10 my belief thu:
Crox. having done - ] have said. wSs
in the oct Of turning round to 60 down
step or two himself; st this moment
Mr.. hsdow clipped. fell on him. snd
knocked him. over I heard one startled
exclamation from Croz. then l saw him
and Hadov :hying downwards; in d
moment Mr.. Hudson was dragged from
his steps and Lord Douglas Immediately
after him. All this WAS the work of q
moment; Shut immediately We heard
the cry Of Croz. old TAuGwalder and
myself planted ourselves - firmly 81
the nature of the rocks wonld permit;
the rope was tight between u. and the
shock came on No both - one man. We
held: bat the rope broke midway be-
tween Tsugwsldsr and Lord Douglas.
For two or three seconds We saw onr
unfortunate companions sliding down
warls on their backs, and spreading
out their hands vsinly sndeavoying to
save themselves; they then disappeared
one by one. and fell from prscipice to
prscipice on to the Natterhorn glacier
below, sssrly ious thoua1d feet. frou
the moment the rope broke il was i'm.
possible 10 help them. For over halt
On hour We remained on the spot with.
out moving . step. The two Tsugwai'
dsrs, parslysed With fear. cried like
infsnts, trenbling 10 such . nanner ai
70 threaten ~ With the fAte OF the
others. Immsdiataly wsjhad seconded q
q safe placs. I asked for the rope which
had broken. and to my surprise aud
horror found that il was..the weakest
Of the three ropes. AZ the fret five
nonihad been tied while / was sketch
ing. I had not noticed the rope they
employed. and nov l could only con
clude that they bad seen fit to use thi,
in preference TO the others. For mors
than two hours afterwards I thought
evsrv moment that the next would b
my last, for tho Taugwaldcrs. utterl,
unueryed. we're in such . state that {
ain might have been expected from
either Of them Ut any moment. Their
Is no OCCASION 70 say more OF the de
ecsus. ! looked in vain for traces q
our companions.