The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1886-10-02

uld not return, IL was resolved TO SenQ Oul
search-party from Chamouni The
of such an unfavorable character that il
was not until the 18th, and when all hope
had been abandoned of finding any of the
lost party alive, that a discovery was
made The dead bodies of Mr.. MacCorken.
dale and two of the porters were first
found. They were lying on the snow quite
uninjured, head uppermost, little way
above the Muir de la Cote; and from the
torn condition of their clothes, it seemed
probable that they had slid some distance
to the spot where they were discovered.
Higher up, lay the bodies of Mr. 2eane and
another porter with the greater portion OF
the baggage beside them. OF the remain.
ing six, no trace could be seen. A few
small articles which must have belonged
to them were picked up subsequently in
the direction of the Brenva Glacier; but
that was all. To this day their fate remains
mystery.
The only light thrown upon the catas-
trophe was that which could be gathered
from the pages of diary found on Mr..
Beanie and written by him. Some doubt
at first was cast upon the authenticity OF
the entry, but there seems no reason at all
for disbelieving its genuineness. What it
told was as follows: "TueSday, September s
I have made the ascent of Mont Blanc
with ten persons-eightg guides Mr.. Corken-
udlt anu Ilduudll. we dITlNOu al buo
summit at half-past two o'clock. Imme-
diately after leaving it, was enveloped in
clouds of snow. We passed the night in a
grotto eXcavated out of the snow, affording
very uncomfortable shelter, and l was i'll
all night. September (naOrnillg. )-Intense
cold much snow, which falls uninter-
ruptedly, guides restless. September
(eUehtjng I'VE have been on Mont Blanc
for two days in terrible snowstorm; we
have lost our way, and are in hole scooped
out of the snow, at height of fifteen thous
sand feet. | have no hope of descepdinye
Perhaps this book may be found and for
warded We have no food; my
feet are already frozen and am exhausted;
| have only strength to write few words.
die in the faith of Jesus Christ with af-
fectionate thoughts of my family; my re-
membranes to all. l trust we may meet
in Heaven"
The diary ended with instructions to his
family as to his private affairs.
1t is to be regretted that poor Mr. Beane
gives us SO little information of any prac-
tical value; but meager as his diary is, it
sheds light on one or two points. First, we
gather that the party actually retched the
summit; and next that it was about half
past two in the afternoon, and Immediate
lY after leaving it that the storm caught
them. Now, how was it, we nay fairly
ask, that SO little progress was made on
the downward path !-for the ics-grotto of
which Mr. Beane speaks was constructed
at an altitude of fifteen thousand feet, or
only seven hundred and eighty-one feet
below the summit. How was it that the
guides failed completely to find a way
back over ground that they had traversed
so recently! Mr.. Beane does not tell us if
any attempts were made on the 9th and
9TH to find the way down-what little evil
dence we have tends to prove that there
raj ahov
our way" To sit down and wait where
they were, as they appear to have done,
showed want of judgment which, with
out being better acquainted than We are
with the facts of the case, seems quite in
applicable. Nothing is more common in
the high Alps than to be overtaksn by bad
weather; but out of the Chamouni district
there has not been an instance Of whole
party perishing from this special cause. 1t
is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the
guides were not equal to the task, that they
lost their heads at the very approach Of
danger, and gave themselves up for lost at
the moment when they should have made
the most determined effort to escape.
There was another circumstance, too,
which was held at the time to reflect some-
what upon the conduct of the guides-not
one of their bodies was found. The five
bodies recovered were those of the heaviest
members of the party, ana there can be
little doubt that they must have been left
behind, while the rest made an effort to
save themselves. Mr.. Became, however,
makes no mention of any division Of the
party, and it is charitable to suppose that
no division actually took place until after
the weaker members had succumbed to the
exposure. What led to the division will
never be known; neither will it be known
what motive impelled the guides to act in
such an utterly incomprehensible manner
That the leaders of the party ought to
have been thoroughly up to their work is
emphasized by the fact that neither Mr.
Beane, Mr.. Randall nor Mr.. MacCorken-
dale had had previous experience of noun.
taineering, and were quite incapable OF
giving advice of any practical value when
difficulties arose. AS matter of fact, it
does not appear that any one of the guides
held foremost place in his profession.
Judging by their actions, they certainly
proved themselves singularly wanting in
many of the most important qualities of
good guides; and it is impossible to believe
that they could have been other than very
second-rate. But should the blame of the dis
aster be laid to their charge: Should it not
rather attach to a system which rendered
such an accident only too probable'
In the same year QS70) there was yet
another accident on Mont Blanc. A gen
tleman and two ladies, accompanied by a
r
tain; and the gentleman wishing to go
further than the ladies cared to- took the
guide, and left them in charge of the por-
ter. With what object, it is not known,
the porter promptly proceeded to conduct
his charges across snow-tield which was
well known to be honeycombed with con-
cealed crevasses. Under these crcum-
stances it would have been only wonderful
if an accident had not occurred and I'M
fortunately that took place which might
have been predicted. The porter had given
his arm to one of the ladies, and was lead
ing her across when the snow gave way
beneath them and they both fell headlong
into deep crevasse Here was a case of
two lives wantonly sacrificed. That any
one calling himself guide should have
shown such gross ignorance of the very
first principles of mountaineering as this
porter did is almost inconceivable. 1t is
perfectly clear that he did not understand
his business, and was certainly not a fit
person to have been sent on expeditions
above the snow-line.
A still later accident on Mont Blanc
took place on the south side. On the 30th
of August 1874, Mr. j. A. g. Marshall, with
two Overland guides, Johann Fischer and
Ulrich Almer, left Courmayeur with view
to attempting the ascent of Mont Blanc by
way of the Brouillard Glacier, an ascent
which had not at that time been effected.
They camped out upon the mountain at a
height of about ten thousand feet and the
following day worked their way a consid-
cradle distance upwards till they found
themselves. finally stopped by an impassa-
BILE wall of rock. This occurred some
what late in the afternoon, too
late, indeed, to attempt any other
route, and accordingly they turned
back. The descent was difficult and
night overlook them before they reached