The Portland daily press., 1894-02-02
ALPINE DISASTERS.
Fatal End of Foolhardy Reaching After
Distinction.

L SDFONANN"-~~~
Start
Vienna, Jan. IA, 1894.
The official reports of the great Alpine
disaster on New Year night, which cost
the lives of three scientific men, DR..
Ludwig Kohn, DIR. Paszau and DR.. Pick,
have lust reached here. The bodies OF
the unhappy explorers were received by
their relatives few days ago, and thu
funeral took place yesterday. In the
case of DIR. Kohn, it was double
funeral, his intended Fraulein Camilla
Schwarz, well known composer OF
charming dance music, having dropped
dead at the sight of his corpse.
The doctors say that it was genuine
case of broken heart. Camilla was
Young and lovely, full of sentiment and
of very nervous disposition. DR.. Kohn
was her cousin. When she received the
news of her lovers urtimely end she
broke into tears and for an entire week
refused food and drink, crying almost
necessarily. Her friends tried in vain
to prevent her from viewing the body.
She stole to the side of the coffin and
almost Instantly upon beholding the
face of the dead, through the plate. glass
window in the coffin, dropped down,
never to breathe again.
A Lofty Peak.
The Grossg1ockner is the loftiest peak
in the Rhaetian Alps, 1900 feet above
the level of sthe sea. it is capped with
perpetual snow, and it's glacier region
begins at an elevation of 5000 feet. One
thousand feet below the ice region is
tavern, the keeper of which is known to
all tourists as the Glocknerwirth, who
furnishes guides, provisions, alpenstocks,
scaling irons or the boots, ropes and other
paraphernalia for Drawing death in the
wind-swept wilderness of ice and snow.
1t must be said, however, to his credit,
that in the case of he Vienna tourists he
did his utmost to discourage the men
from undertaking the hopeless task OF
ascending the peak.
The Inn Keepers Story.
His testimony before the coroner's jury
which was corroborated in every detail,
was as follows:
"Some three weeks before Christmas
received letter from DR.. Kohn an
nouncing his intention to scale the
| Glockner in midwinter, with three OF
| four other tourists. He asked me to adj
wise him how many guides he needed,
andsif there were any great dangers to
overcome. | told him trying to ascend
the Glockner at this time of the year
meant certain death. He arrived at my
inn the night before New Year with two
other gentlemen, DR.. Pick and DR.. Pat
Eau. There were several guides in the
house, but they refused to undertake the
Journey. 'BahP said DR.. ..kohn, If you
are afraid of your precious lives we will
90 alone; all we want is a strong fellow
to carry our provisions up to the Stuedl
hut an Inhabited resting splace for tour
lists on the road to the peak.)
Seeing that they persisted in their
folly, | sent for Johann Groder, the best
Company them to the hut, but at the
same time Joined the rest of us in advis-
ING the gentlemen not to risk their lives
in hopeless undertaking. 1t avalled us
| nothing. They had staked their honor
on it to be the first scaling the Gross
| lockner in midwinter, and SO they went
to their icy grave"
The Guides Story.
Johann Groder, the guide,st ook up the
narrative as follows:
ave left the inn at b O'CLOCK New year
night. I had seven bottles with tea,
wine and cognac. three pairs of scaling
irons, bread, meat, apples and sweets.
The moon was shining, but. the road
| hard to traverse Oh account of the deep
| snow. AT 9 o'clock we rested at way
station. DR.. Peak, the smallest of the
gentlemen, suffered already intensely
from the cold, but insisted on going with
the rest. They then sent me ahead td
the Stuedl hut to make a fire and per,
pare supper. After eight hours I reached
that station, and half an hour later Or.
Kohn came in, followed after forty-hvt
minutes by the other gentlemen. Dr.
Peak was in sad plight; he had frozen
the toes and ball of his right foot. Wher
I tried to remove the shoes of the othel
tourists the stockings proved to be froZ
Ell to the leather inside. Their feet ant
legs felt like ice. and rubbing with snow
failed to do much good. Dr.. Peak said
I can't go any further. l will rest herr
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