The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1905-10-11
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Pluck and Qdventure.
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
LOST ON THE MATTERHORN

| LOST ON THE MATTERHORN.
ESY-55ORTY years ago this month
| IN, I'M the first ascent of the peak
| llNI II tIII Of the Matterhorn was
EsM===lg,lNl EEsMY wv made. Now. Mt the foot of
E;zzss===izzzlA2 the mountain, where the
Hcrmatt glacier disinte-
| crates, watch is being kept for the
body of Lord Francis Douglas, one of
four men who lost their lives in that
| feat. If the body is found. says the
| New York Sun, it will be repetition
| of history, for in 1861 the bodies of
three men lost on Mont Blame forty
one years before We're thus recovered.
The catastrophe iii which Lord
Francis lost his life was one of the
most terrible in the history of Alpine
exploration. Until 1865 the Matter
horn had remained inaccessible. al
though the best guides in Switzerland
and Italy had sought to scale the peak.
On July 13 of that year eight men
started from Zermatt in a party to at
tempt the feat-Lord Francis Douglas,
Mr.. Whymper (who had failed eight
times in the same task, the Rev. Chas.
Hudson, Robert Hadow, college
man; Michael Croz, guide and three
other guides all named raugwalder, a
father and two sons.
On that evening they camped 11,O0O
feet above the sea. The next morning
seven of them started early. leaving
one of the Taugwalder brothers with
the baggage At 10 O'clock when they
stopped for an hour, they were 14,O00 |
feet above tide water. From that |
time their labors became excessively |
arduous and their progress slow, but |
after long detours and awkward seal |
Ing of icy precipices, they at last |
reached the summit soon after noon. |
and commanded one of the finest views |
In the world, which no man had ever
seen till then. Their excitement was
Intense, their triumph complete.
After an hours rest they started
down, carefully roped together. Croz
went first then Hadow, Hudson, Lord
Francis, the elder Taugwalder. his son.
and Mr.. Whymper in the order named.
The way was so difficult that but
one man moved at time. When he
had found resting place and was
firmly fixed, the next man cautiously
followed down to the post just vacated
while the rest clung to the face of the
rock or ice TO sustain the shock if he
slipped. Croz guided the feet of Hadow
INTO footholds. Having firmly fixed
them in place, he was in the act of
turning to find new post for himself.
when Hadow slipped, struggled and
toppled over him, throwing him out
ward. In another moment Hudson
was torn from his grips and was fall
ing after them, and Lord Francis i'm
followed. The other three
leaned back and braced themselves.
The rope was taut between them and
all caught the shock at once. They
clung to the rock; but the rope between
Lord Francis and the elder Taugwalder
broke, and the four men went sliding
helplessly down over rock and ice, un-
able to find a projection to which to
cling. They struggled desperately, but
could not stop themselves, and one by
one fell over a precipice and dropped
to the glacier, 1000 feet below.
Three of the bodies We're soon recov-
cred, but that of Lord Francis Douglas
was never found The glacier has
moved since then about one foot day.
md the part on which he fell has al
most rna nhnd tho poipt of hroal,in I'm
rhe supposition that he fell into a
.revasse, and so may have been borne
,long with the glacier, has led to the
Ietting of watch. But that fact is
and no very accurate
sloweldge of the rate of movement of
he glacier is available, so that the
lope Of finding the body rests on a
lendor foundation. ,,