Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1885-07-25
THE ALPINE DEATH ROLL.
DIsASTERS THAT HAVE 0VERr1KEN
y. MANY vEyTUREsoME TOURISTS.
A Heavy Death List In the Churcbyard of the
Alpine Regions As a Penalty for the
Disturbance of Those wild solicituies.
Some OF tho Sad stories Told.
From the London Daily Nows.

my OHc WhO NisilS tnt tnurCHJHFu vi |
Chamouix, Iermatt Grinderwad and many
other beautiful spots i'm the Alpine regions,
will see pathetic evidence that tho great
mountains In the neghborhood have exacted
a terrible penalty for the invasion of their
solitudes The tombstones testify that the
Alpine death roll is heavy one, And many
promising lives that have thus so tragically |
ended might have been spared If only ordin-
airy caution had been taken and some intelli- |
gent foresight exercised. 1t is safe to say that |
nearly 80 per cont of tho accidents in the |
| Alps arc due to prevontable causes.
| Lieut. Col. Hill had been spending the
| winter in Italy, and i'm common with other
| winter migrants to the sunny South hc cross
ed thes ST. Gothard, when the Italian heat be-
| gan to assert ITSELF and halted on brief
| sojourn in that beautiful Lucerne. For
| some time the weather In Switzerland had
| been wild and stormy, and on the slopes
| of the mountains an unusual quantity of snow
| had fallen. On the 1th of May, however,
there came slight change The sky dis
played patches OF blue, and the sun shone
down i'm fitful CLEANS. Tempted by the par
tial fneness Of the morning Lieut. Col. Hill
| started off toward Platus. lie was not
mountaineer, but is said to have been an ex
cellent walker. Every visitor TO Lucerne Is
| familiar with the imposing and rugged mass
of Pilatus, whose ancient name Frdctns
| Mons, (broken mountain,) was singnlarly
applicable. 1t has about eight distinct peaks,
+ and there are two hotels near the summit.
To cachIof these hotels there is an excellent
. | mule road, and thesascent can thus be mado
i'm about three and half hours from either of
the starting points, which are Hergiswyl,
Alpnach-Gestad and Alpnach, respectively.
Guides arc quite unnecessary and children
4 | not yet in their teens might under ordinary
, | circumstances be trusted to find their way
n to the top without running any risk. But
when snow lies deep ON the mountain,
: and mist wreaths cling to its shattered sides
Y the condition of things is entirely altered
/, and there is danger to even the expc-
v rienced mountaineer, while to him who
, | has such experience the risks are
= | great. Col. Hill went from Lucerne 70 Her
giswyl, which is one hours drive, and par
0 taking of some refreshments at a hotel there
il be mentioned his intention OF going up the
q mountain. Ho was informed that IL was de-
cidedly dangerous to attempt ii in the unset
tied weather then prevailing, but probably
- | thinking that the people who thus warned
u | him exaggerated the risks Col. Hill would
II not be deferred, and when once he had been
Y, | lost sight OF by turn in the rising road nc
,r | human eye ever again beheld him alive. II
al is not difficult to comprehend how the accI
q let.nt- happened The pinnacles OF pirn.
caught Inc sssus aSa5d - x1"jhs over, anc
III unfortunate gentleman became confused, los
at his way, aud walked over a stupendous pre-
a cipice. Three weeks later, after daily search
H. his body WAS found lying on vast field o
an snow that led away from the base OF the pre-
cipice.
This accident is a type of many whicl
| every season serve to cast a gloom over tn
e tourist resorts. \ few years ago DIR. Nose
Id | ley, an American gentleman, in the yer.
Id | prime of life and full OF great promise. ha
of been spending his holidays in Switzerland
as | He was first-class mountaineor, and ha
"done" nearly all the big peaks As
H. wind-up to his excursion he assembled th
lc- | MatteThorn in company with some friends
1t | The summit was attained without any NJ
.se usual incident but during the descent ID
il, | Moseley felt the rope 10 which he and HI
"a | friends were attached to he irksome. lie %
gu | pressed himself as quite capable OF goin
lth down the precipitous rocks without the PR
~. | caution of the rope, and at last insisted o
nat | being united. In a little while a mass
nd | projecting rock was gained. 1t was, or /
Ia, | usual to mount this rock by the simple G!
'u' pedient of leaning ice axe against IL an
gas | using the head Of the axe step. II
nd this means the rock may be mounte
he easily and with the minimum of risk. ID
,re | Moseley, however, attempted 10 leap on
,er the rock, missed his footing, shot over IL
- | hideous precipice, and in few seconds W;
shattered corpse many hundreds oil ie
ad below Had ho remained tied TO the rol
re- | such an accident would have been almu
lse impossible Another sad case Is that of 5
in | George oung and his brothers James an
Iad | Albert, who assembled Mont Blanc witho
ou guides or pOrters They reached the SUNNI
hai and started to return, but missing their trat
ca fell over an ice precpice. Singularly enoug
If two of the brothers escaped with con
of paratively little injury, but the younger ol
lis was killed. Still lmore recently two ocelebrat'
Of guides Peter Rubi and Roth, of Grind'
Vi wald, together with a DIR. Haller, perish:
on the Lauteraarioch by falling into
creyasse They were on their way from Il
$50 Grmsel Hospice To Grindelwald, and start'
his oil in bad weather, although advised to deli
their journey. Their bodies | believe we
never recovered, and the only traces of ii
accident were some blood stains that u
searchers found ON the ice wall OF a crevass