The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1882-01-26
An Awml NIrht on The AIMS.

advantage his DteU taken OF IOe
bright November days to make an expe-
dition from Grindelwald which has
ended very disastrOusly.
Most mOuntaineers are familiar with
the Bergli hut, one of the best Of those
little resting places erected TO give tenn
porary shelter TO persons going to or re-
turning from a climb. The huts are sit
uated at the very gate of the formidable
part Of an ascent, and the plan adopted
is to set out from the regions Of civiiiza-
ton in the evening, to arrive at the hut
before darkness falls, to snatch certain
amount of sleep, and to start at day
break Il is necessary to keep these huts
in repair, in order that there may be no
accidents in the regular season; but un-
fortunately, the repair of the Bergli hut
during the last few days has not been
unattended with disaster of q fatal and
somewhat novel kind.
Tempted by the fine weather, Herr
Anderfuhren, an engineer from Inter-
laken, set out from the village of Grin
delwald with two good guides, Egger
and Kaufman, and a porter named
Schlegal. All went well for the first
part of the ascent, and the party were
cOngratulating themselves, when sud
denly in the afternoon a snow storm
swept down, and rapid progress was i'm
peded. Schlegal the porter, who was
not very experienced climber, fell i'll
when the expedition was within half an
hour Of the hut, and there was nothing
for it but to leave the poor fellow be-
hind. His companions arranged to 90
forward and clear a path. and, having
hR hrrf l1nNr grF,l -.
return and help the porter slowly to
shelter. They all but Schlegal got over
an awkward crayasse, and when the hut
was in sight Egger volunteered to return
in order to give q helping hand to the
man who was still faint and heavily
burdened. Egger got back to the crew
asse and shouted for the sick man, but
as he had not arrived so far, the guide
thought it safer to return again to the
hut and fetch Kaufman, whose expert
ence would be invaluable in a dilemma
After all this unfortunate delay nj ght
had closed in, and the two guides nat
urally knew that it was impossible to
find the sick or probably dying man
without some sort of lantern. There
was no such thing in the Bergli hut, but
happily there was found an old wine bot
tie. Necessity is the mother of inVen-
ton, so Egger knocked the bottom of
the bottle, and, sticking a candle into the
neck, imprOvised a fair light, safe from
the wind and sufficient to discover the
track. Kaufman helped Egger safely
over the Crevasse, and then, for some
unaccOuntable reason left his friend to
find the sick porter while he returned
alone to the engineer, who was safe and
sound in the hut. Kaufman had scarce
ly gone beyond reach of voice when the
imprOvised lantern failed, and Egger
discovered, to his dismay, that the can
die was out and he had no matches.
This was a sufficiently serious predica-
ment, but his shout to Schlegal was an
swered, and the brave fellow groped
his way on his hands and knees through
the snow to where the porter was still
PROSTATE. At last they met, and, sit
ting side by side, endeavored to obtain a
light from some matches the porter luck
lily had with HIM
Scarcely had Schlegal succeeded in
igniting a match when the worst acCi-
dent of all occurred. Egger alarmed
his friend with the statement that in the
dark he had severed an artery in his arm
with the jagged end of the bottle lantern.
Both were ignorant of the elementary
principles of practical surgery, and, as
the guide was bleeding to death, the sick
porter plucked up courage and hurried
off alone to the Crevasse, hoping to
arouse the attention of those in the hut.
He had scarcely got far when Egger
called him back. The guide felt that he
was dying, and implOred not to be left
alone. Besides, the porter could not
have got over the crevasse without as
sistance. The predicament was heart
rending. The engineer and his guide in
the hut were powerless to help, as they
had no light whatever with them, and
to have proceeded among the rocks and
precipices would have been to court in
stant death. So the bleeding guide and
his sick companion were left exposed
in the cold and darkness, while those in
the hut were kept prisoners for lack of
light.
With the first CLEAN of dawn Kauf-
mann and the Swiss engineer, carefully
rOped together, went back in search Of
the missing man, and both were still
alive when they were found. Egger was
rapidly bleeding to death from the Sc
riOus wound in his arm, and no one of
the party knew how to improvise a tour
niquet with a handkerchief and an ice |
ak. Those who had been exposed to the |
cold for so many hours were perishing, |
so the others stripped off their flannel |
shirts and gave them to their compan-
ions. After a hurried consultation it |
was decided that the four could not get |
down to Grindelwald without help, so a |
descent was made to fetch assistance
and a surgeon, the dying and sick men |
being still left where they had been |
found. When a rescue party at last ar
rived from the valley, Egger was dead, |
and although the porter, Schlegal, was
still alive when he was taken to the vii |
lage, it is not expected that he can re-
cover from such dreadful exposure. It |
is reported that the insurance on the |
dead guides life cannot be paid as the |
policies only cover the risks of the ordi-
nary climbing season, and consequently
expired in October, so that the brave
fellow who volunteered on an expedi-
ton to repair hut essential for the COM
fort of summer mountaineers must leave
his widow and children unprOvided for
because he happens to climb in the win
-er, not for pleasure, but from necessity.
London Telegraph.
India's Black Holes Of Jalls.