Millheim Journal. [volume] (Millheim, Pa.) 1876-1984, 1882-02-16
An Awful Night on the Alps.

Most mountaineers are familiar with
the ,Bergi hut, one of the best Of those
little resting places erected TO give tenn
porary shelter topersons going to or re-
turning from climb. The huts are
situated at the very gate of the formid-
able part of an ascent, and the plan
adopted is to set out from the regions of
civilization in the evening, TO arrive at
the hut before darkness falls, to snatch
certain amount of sleep, and TO start
at day1reak. IL is necessary to keep
these huts in repair, in order that there
may be no accidents in the regular
season; but, unfortunately, the repair of
the Bergli hut during the last few days
has not been unattended with a disaster
of 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 a very experienced climber, fell i'll
when the expedition was within half an
hour of the hut, and there was nothing
for ii but to leave the poor fellow be-
hind. His companions arranged to go
forward and clear path, and, having
opened the hut door, tney 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 Gre
vase 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 ex-
perience would be invaluable in
dilemma. After all this unfortunate
delay night had closed In, and the two
guides naturally knew that it was I'M
possible TO fnd 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 bottle. Necessity Is the mother
of invention, so Egger knocked the bot
tom off the bottle, aud, stricking cam
die into the neck, improved fair light,
safe from the wind and sufficient to dis
cover the track. Kaufman helped
Egger safely overthe 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 saarnaly onnA haraI1A la>n~l - r~i~s~ |
when the lmprovised lantern failed, and |
Egger discovered, to his dismay, that
the candle was out and he had no
maCches. This was sufficiently serious
predicament, but his shout TO Schlegal
was answered, and the brave fellow
groped his way on his hands aud knees
through the snow to where the porter
was still PROSTATE. At last thev met,
and, sitting side by side endeavored to
obtain a light from some matches the
porter luckily had with him.
Scarcely had Schlegal succeeded in
igniting a match when the worst acci-
dent of all occurred. Eggar 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
Eogar 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
assistance. The predicament was heart
rending. The engineer and his guide
in the hut were powerless to help as
they had no hight whatever with them,
and to have proceeded among the rocks
and precipices 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 CLEAN OF
dawn Kaufman and the Swiss engineer,
carefully loped together, went back IN
search of the missing men, and both
we're still alive when they were found.
Egger was rapidly bleeding to death
from the serious wound in the arm, and
no one of the party knew how to I'M
provise a tourniquet with a handker-
chief 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 companions. After hur-
ried consultation it was decided that the
four could not get down to Grindelwald
without help, so descent was made to
fetch assistance and surgeon, the
diving and sick men being stillle where
thew had been found. When rescue
party at last arrived from the valley
Egger was uead, and although the
porter; Schlegal, was still alive when he
was taken to the village, it is not ex-
pected that he can recover from such
dreadful expos re. 1t is reported that
the insurance OH the dead guides life
cannot be paid, as the policies only
cover the risks of the ordinary climbing
season, and consequently expired III
October, so that the brave fellow who
volunteered on an expedition to repair
a hut essential tor the comfort of sum-
mer mourtaineers must leave his widow
and children unprovided for because he
happens to climb in the winter, not for
pleasure, but from necessity.
Few are the orators who know when
to stop talking.
Strong language utterly fails to bolster
| a xuaok aroumant