Morning journal and courier., 1882-01-09
An Awful Night on the Alps.
How the Breaking of q Bottle Caused n
 Mans Death.

How the Breaking of q Bottle Caused a Mans Death.
 From the London Telegraph
 Advantage has been taken of the bright November days to make an expedition from Grindelwald, which has ended very disas- trously.
 Most mountaineers are familiar with the Bergli hut, one of the best of those little resting places, erected to give temporary
 shelter to persons going to or returning from @ climb. The huts are situated at the very gate of the formidable part of an ascent ; and the plan adopted is to set out from the re- gions of civilization in the evening, to arrive at the hut before darkness falls, to snatch e certain amount of sleep, and to start at day break. It is necessary to keep these huts in repair, in order that there may be no acci- dents in the regular season; but, unfortu-
 uately, the repair of the Bergi hut during
 the last few days has not been unattended
 with disaster of fatal and somewhat novel
 kind.
 Tempted by the fine weather. Herr Ander- fuhren, an engineer from Interlaken, set out
 from the village of Grindelwald with two
 good guides, Egger and Kaufmann, and 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 8 snow storm swept
 down, and rapid progress was impeded
 Schlegal. the porter, who was not a very eXD6E1Snc6Q CumD6I, Ieu III when the expedition was within half an hour of the
 hut, and there was nothing for it but to leave the poor fellow behind. His companions ar ranged to go forward and clear path and, having opened the hut door, they promised to return and help the porter slowly to
 shelter. They all but Schlegal got over an awkward crevasse and when the hut was in sight Egger volunteered to return in order to give helping hand to the man, who was still faint and heavily burdened. Egger got back to the crevasse and shouted for the sick man, but as be had not arrived sc far, the guide thought it safer to return again to the hut and fetch Kaufmann, whose experience would be invaluable in dilemma.
 After all this unfortunate delay night had
 closed in, and the two guides naturally knew that it was impossible to fad the sick, or probably dying man, without some sort of lantern There was no such thing in the
 Bergh hut, but happily there was found an l old wine bottle. Necessity is the mother of l invention, so Egger knocked the bottom of ! the bottle, and, sticking candle into the
 neck, improvised 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. Kautmann had scarcely gone beyond reach of voice
 when the improvised lantern failed, and
 ISGger discovered, to his dismay, that the
 candle was out and he had no matches This
 was a sufficiently serious predicament, but
 his shout to Schlegal was answered, and the
 brave fellow groped his way on his hands
 and knees through the snow to where the
 porter was still prostrate. At last they met,
 and, sitting side by side, endeavored to ob-
 tain light from matches the porter luckily
 had with him.
 Scarcely had Schlegal succeeded in ignitine match when the anCidcnt 0f all cured. 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
 of alone to the crevasse, hoping to arouse
 the attention of those in the nut. He had
 scarcely got far when Egger called him back
 The guide felt that he was dying. and inn
 plored not to be left alone. Besides, the
 porter could not have got over the crevasse
 without assistance. The Predicament was
 heartrsnding. 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 precipiees
 would have been to court instant 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 gleam of dawn Kaufman and
 the Swiss engineer, carefully roped together,
 went back in search of the missing men, and
 both were still alive when they were found.
 Egger rapidly bleeding to death from the serious wound in his arm, and no one of the party knew how to improvise a tourniquet with a handkerchief and an ice axe. Those who had been exposed to the cold for so
 many hours were perishing, so the others | stripped of their flannel shirts and gave | them to their companions. After a hurried | consultation it was decided that the four could l not get down to Grindelwald without help, so descent was made to fetch assistance and Q suy- geon, the dying and sick men being still left | where they had been found. When a rescue | perty at last arrived from the valley Egger was dead, and though the porter Schlegal was still alive when he was taken to the yil- lage, it is not expected that he can recover | from such dreadful exposure. It is reported | that the insurance on the dead guides life
 cannot be paid, as the policies only cover the 1 risks of the ordinary climbing season, and
 consequently expire in October, so that the brave fellow who volunteered on an expedi- ton to repair a hut essential for the comfort | of summer mountaineers must leave his | widow and children unprovidsd for because
 he happened to climb in the winter not foT pleasure, but from necessity.