Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1891-06-15
DEATH IN THE ALPS.

IliLpC u1dEhcO GLC SCtLSOA VI 4OOO.
Tho last number of the British AL
pine Journal says that fourteen per
sons, travellers and guides, have per-
ishcd in accidents above the snow line
during the last summer. This docs not
include some very serious accidents oc-
curing, not to pleasure tourists, but to
people whose limo of duty requires
them to travel in the high Alps. For
instance, about fifteen Italian soldiers,
required to march from fort to fort in
the Alps during the last summer, have
been ovcrtakcn by storms or avalanchcs
which have cost them their lives. Ono
party of six men, swept from their feet,
were prccipitatGd moro than one thou
sand six hundred feet to tho bottom of
n valley, and four of them wcrc killed,
but two miraculously escaped. The
most astonishing escape of the season
is that of few Italian soldiers who
were ovcrtalScn by an enormous ava
lanchc and rolled down the mountain
with the speed of an express train, yet,
strange to say, they were suddenly
stopped on level space after fall of
elk hundred and fifty feet, and were I'M
hurt beyond 4 few scratches. The ava
lanche swept on past them, leaving the
JOuLt5 DULL uO O1S tlhOVIlSL1
astonishcd to find that they were still
alive.
The accidents, however, which arc
here described relate only to tourists
and their guides. June "a German,
Mr.. Pope, was killed in the Octathal.
lie fell from 4 ledge and dragged with
him his guide, who also persisted. July
81 DR.. Mayer, of Vienna, and his young
80 &o1 - 49,.
the Kapruncr Thai, under the guidance
of the experienced mountainccr, Schern-
thalcr. The usual search party was or.
ganized after the tourists had been sew.
cral days missing, and the bodies of the
entire party were found at the foot of
dangerous cliff. 1t was evident from
the appearance Of tho guide that he had
made remarkable efforts to save the
lives of his comrades. On the same
day guide named Untcrstcincr, after
having conducted y tourist in an OK
cursion on the VcncdiScr, set out tx
return alone TO his home. Some days
later his tracks were found across =
glacier. but his body has not been dis.
covered
Two italian gentlemen on August T.
assembled the Col du Gcant with IL well
known guide named Brunod. He left
them to fill Il water bottle near the
summit. On returning TO the party he
slipped and fell q distance Of one thou
sand feet, and when the others reached
him he was dead. Six years later
Count Villanova of Turin left the car.
teen of Viaaillc to endcavor to MAX,
the ascent of Mont Blanc by new
route. He had with him two well
known guides, one of whom has long
been regarded rs among the half dozen
most competent guides in the Alps
Not one of the party has been heard
from since. This is one of the very few
casualties which, in recent years, have
occurred on the slopes of Mont Blanc.
The tracks of the party were discovered
after n few days upon the upper por-
ton of the Mage glacier. The proba-
bility is that the party camped at q
great elevation on the evening of Au-
gust 19 and were lost in n great storm
that occurred on the 10Th. The tour
lists were very wealthy, and the most
extraordinary efforts have been made
to recover their bodies, but without
success.
Seven days later Carrcl, an Alpine
guide who is known among mountain
GERS all over the world, whose name
appears in every Alpine book that ha
been written within the last twcnt;
years, met an honorable and indeed
glorious death on his own mountain
1t was he who made the first ascent o
the Matterhorn from the Italian side
and also accompanied Mr.. Whympcr OF
his ascent of Chin borazo. On his las
fatal trip he led Sig. Sinigaglia and
comrade from the cabin on the Italian
side to the foot of the mountains il
perhaps the worst snowstorm that eve
ragged on that famous mountain. Fo
., fourteen hours the party of three cor
tended with the bitter cold, durin
which they did not dare stop to talk
food. Carrel, as usual, in spite of hi
rather advanced years, took the lion