Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-05-11
LOST In ALPINE SHOWS.
PeriIous Adventures of Four Young
Persons.


/
you that three tourists, two young men
climb the Rax-Alp in a snow storm on
Sunday, the 9th, were believed TO be lost
during four days, and returned to vi
emma on Thursday night, with frostbitten
limbs, it is true, but still in perfect
health. Their wanderings are quite
unique, and may be of interest to Eng
lish mountaineers. They had left vi
emma on Saturday night, four in all-two
brothers Friedrich, the bride of the
younger brother, and friend named
| Novak.
When they rose at o'clock on Sun
day morning at PayerbacE, on the
Southern Railway, the mountains
were covered with snow, and a slight
snow fall was still continuing. Young
Novak advised his friends to desist from
their plan, as there could be no possible
amusement in store for them, and posi-
bly, great hardships for the girl. But
the others were afraid of being laughed
at if they returned to Vienna without
having 'done" the mountain, and so
young Novak, not to seem unfriendly,
went with them.
After four hours tedious march in the
snow they reached small mountain inn,
where they intended stopping until the
weather should clear up. But very soon
some tourists came in and told of large
party who were climbing upward, and
were now on their way to the "Gais-
lOch," a deep fssure on the mountain
side, in which more than one careless
| Viennese has found an untimely death,
| it being the fashion to climb this noun
tain without a guide. The four young
people hoped to find their way following
in the footsteps of those who had gone
before. After several hours difficult
walking they reached the neighborhood
of the assure, and found that it would
be utterly impossible to advance farther
without the help of a guide.
1t was five o'clock in the afternoon by
this time, and the party hoped to get as
far as the Karl-Ludwig House of shell
ter, where they could have spent the
night. Novak, who was the nimblest,
jumped across the gap, and called to
| them that they should not attempt to
follow him a. that place, the gap being
too wide for the girl to pass. He con-
tinued to speak, telling them to find
some other track to advance upon, but a
| dense fog settled upon the mountain at
this moment, and after a very few min
utes they could neither see nor hear each
other. The three imagined Novak must
| have slipped and fallen into the abyss,
and they attempted descent to look for
| him. But after about an hours climbing
over snow and ice they saw that they
had reached the other side of the fissure
by long detour.
The fog prevented him from seeing
more than a square of three feet at a
time. and the snow uniformly covered
the ground at their feet. They hoped
that by climbing straight upward they
would reach a place from which they
could reconnoitre their position. Creep.
ing along with hands and feet they made
slow progress upward, and late on Sun
day evening they reached a shepherds
hut, the door of which was locked. The
men burst open the door, and all three
stretched themselves upon the straw to
rest from their fatiguing journey. They
had only one piece Of bread on slice of
ham. which they divided among the
three-the last nOurishment afforded
them until Thursday morning. They
lighted fire, but they dared not speak
of their prospects, because they knew
that the dense fogs of spring and autumn
very often envelop these mountains in
mist for weeks together.
The whole of the next day they wan
dered about in all directions, and when
toward evening they found another hut
they were glad to seek shelter in it with.
out attempting to go further. That was
Monday night. Hunger made them all
very weak and miserable, and, fearing
not to have the force to rise and walk on
the morrow, they made up their mind to
eat what they could. They boiled some
of the straw, cut into small bits, in snow,
and this was all their dinner on Monday.
In the middle of the night one of the
brothers remembered that he had some
tallow candles in his pocket. These
were cut into small bits and swallowed
| Their wanderings on Tuesday were of as
little avail as those of Sunday and Mon
day had been, only they all got tired so
much sooner, and were forced to return
to their port of safety before the night
set in.
On Wednesday morning the young
girl declared that she felt unable to walk,
and the brothers decided that they must
set out alone in search of help and nOur-
ishment for their companion. But the
fog had grown worse, and the snow
storm was so violent that after half an
hour they turned back They found the
girl in a trance, brought about by hun.
ger and frost, and they rubbed her with
ice and snow to revive her. During
her trance she sometimes spoke, and
once she said: oh, how delicious after
such a long fastl' She was happy in
| Arcarnu-chn nafinn w hon
day changed to night on Wednesday the
three unhappy creatures gave up all
hope and they decided to shoot them
selves with revolver one of the brothers
had brought with him, in hopes of firing
from the top of the mountain. They all
three agreed that they preferred dying in
this manner to being slowly starved to
death. The three tourists give heart
rending accounts of their sufferings from
hunger, and the young girls eyes filled
with tears at sight of warm supper pre-
pared for her return.
On Thursday morning at 4 O'Clock
one of the young men opened the door
of the hut to look out. and with cry
of delight he welcomed the clear sky
and the stars that shone upon it. Their
courage revived wonderfully when they
saw the mountains before them, and
after breakfast of straw soup and tallow
candles they set out. At nine O'Clock
they reached the shelter house, where a
man and his servant keep small inn.
Here they refreshed themselves, after
having spent four days and four nights
in the ice and snow of the Rax-Alp.
Their hands and feet were so frosttltteu
that they only walked as far as they
were compelled. and long before they
got to PaYerbach great numbers were
following in their rear cheering them
and shaking hands with them. A tele
| gram to Vienna not only sum-
moned numerous friends, but
also several newspaper reporters,
who came back with them in
the train and took note of their wonder
full adventures. In Vienna the station
was crowded with persons eager to see
| something of the heroes of the day. The
three looked very thin and wasted, as If
they were just recovering from a severe
illness; but they do not complain of any.
thing being the matter with them. From
| Payerbach several persons had gone in
search of them as soon as Novak, who
returned safely on Monday afternoon,
gave the alarm, but the snow was SO
heavy and the storm ragged so violently
| that those who would have rescued
them could not climb as high as the
| plateau where stood the hut that shell.
| tered the three unfortunate tourists.
improvement on Mailing the COlOrs.