The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1882-08-19
Perilous Adventure in the Alps.

Two young men and a young lady, who
endeavored to climb the Rax-Alp in asnow
storm, on Sunday the 9th April, We're be-
lieved lost during four days, and returned
to Vienna on Thursday night with FROST
bitten limbs, it is true, but still in perfect
health. Their three days wanderings are
quite unique. They had left Vienna on Sat
urday night, four in all-two brothers Fred
erich, the bride Of the younger brother and
a friend named "Novak When the rose
at 4 o'clock on Sunday morning at Payer
bach, on the Southern railway, the noun
tainS were covered with snow and q slight
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 possibly 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 q small
mountain inn, where they intended STOP
ping until the weather should clear up. But
very soon some tourists came in and told of
a large party who were climbing upwards,
and were now on their way to the "Gais-
lOch," a deep fisSure on the mountain side
in which more than one careless Viennese
has found an untimely death, it being the
fashion to climb this mountain without a
guide, The four young people hoped to find
their way by following in the footsteps of
those who had gone before. After several
hours difficult walking they reached the
neighborhood of the fissure. and found that
it would be utterly impossible to advance
further without the help of q guide. 1t was
5 O'Clock in the afternoon by this time, and
the party hoped to get as far as the Karl
Ludwig house of shelter, 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 at that place, the gap being too
wide for the girl to pass. He continued to
speak, telling them to find some other track
to advance upon, but a dense fog settled up
on the mountain at this moment, and after
a few minutes they could neither see nor
hear each other. The three imagined No
wax must have slipped and fallen into the
abyss, and they attempted a 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 fssure by a
long detour. The fog prevented them from
seeing more than a square of three feet at q
time, and the snow uniformly covered the
ground at their feet. They hoped that by
climbing straight upwards they would reach
a place from which they could reconoitre
their position. Creeping along with hands
and feet they made slow progress upwards,
and late OH Sunday evening they reached a
shepherds hut, the door of which was lock-
ed. The men burst it open, and all three
stretched themselves upon the straw to rest
from their fatiguing journey. They had on
ly one piece Of bread and a slice of ham,
which they divided among the three-the
last nourishment afforded to them until
Thursday morning. They lighted a fire,
but they dared not speak of their prospects,
because they knew the dense fogs of spring
and autumn very often envelope these
in mist for weeks together. The
whole of the next day they wandered about
in all directions, and when towards evening
they found another hut, they were glad to
seek shelter in it without attempting to go
further. TIL was Monday night. Hunger
made them all very weak and miserable,
and fearing not TO have the force to rise and
-aI 0, fho TonrrnU fhnN randa mn thar {
minds to eat what they could. They boiled
some of the straw, cut into small bits, in
snow, and this was all their dinner on Nom
day. In the middle of the night one of the
brothers remembered that he had some tai
low candles in his pocket. These were cut
into small bits and swallowed. Their wan
derings on Tuesday We're of as little avail
as those of Sunday and Monday 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
the young girl declared she felt I'M
able to walk, and the brothers decided they
must set out alone in search of help and
nonrishment for their companion. But the
fog had grown worse and the snow storm
was so violent that after an hour they turn
ed back. They found the girl in a trance
brought about by hunger and frost, and
they rubbed her will ice and snow to revive
her. During her trance she sometimes
spoke, and once she said, "Oh, how deli
cious after such a long fast!' She was hap
DIV in her dreams-she was eating. When
the day changed to night on Wednesday,
the three unhappy creatures gave up all
hope, and they decided to shoot themselves
with a 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 ac-
counts of their sufferings from hunger, and
the young girls eyes filed with tears at
sight of a warm supper prepared for her re-
turn. On Thursday morning at 4 o'clock
the hut to look out, and with a cry OF de-
light he Welcomed the clear sky and the
stars that shone upon it. Their courage re.
vived wonderfully when they saw the
mountain before them, and after a break
fast of straw soup and tallow candles they
set cut. At 9 O'Clock they reached the shell
ter house, where a nan and his servant