Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-09-12
AzVY'N&
;.:::::...:.s 1911


the Americans awaiting their time to
come out Of the Blossoms glacier
Any time between now and 1911 Mrs.
Marke of Boston and the philadelphia.
Oliver Gay. are due TO push out their
white faces-after forty years. Such
is the glaciers maximum to hold Its
dead, calculated by Agassiz, Forbes
and Tyndall for the victims of tho
Hamel accident in 1920 and the Ark
wright tragedy in 1862.
As shown by the scientists. the gla
ciers are always moving downward.
All depends on where you are en-
tombed The center moves faster than
the sides. Thus, the Hamel victims be-
gan reappearing, exactly as Forbes
had calculated. at the lower end of tho
Glacier des Blossoms in 1861, four miles
from where they persisted. And Capt.
Arkwright and his guides came out
near the middle in 1S97-after stay
of but thirty years.
Now. Mrs. and Mr.. Marke. Miss VIII
kinson Of Virginia and Oliver Gay set
out with three Valaisan guides on August
8, 1870. TO make the ascent of Mont Blanc.
At the top of the Corridor the ladies'. be
ing fatigued. remained with Gay while
Marke and the guides went short dis
tance up to note the route.
Suddenly they heard Miss Wilkinson
shrieking Mrs. Marke and young Gay
had disappeared in a crevasse! The elder
lady had desired ito walk about to warm
herself-and the Philadelphia had given
her his arm across the treacherous snow!
The guides were severely blamed to have
left them a moment. The bodies were not
recovered.
Which will come out first. between this
year and 1911. these or Harrison Randall
of. New York. entombed on Mont Blanc
the same fatal month of August 1870.
while the ten remaining members OF MS
party froZe in the open?
1t was the most complete Alpine tragedy
on record, and remarkable. as well, for the
sustained heroism with which the other
American of the caravan. James q. Bean
of Baltimore, Md, made notes In his
diary till the end. The entries begin:
I'VE have been on Mont Blanc two
days in a terrible snowstorm. Lost our
wav and are in a hole scooped in the
snow. at the height of 1900 feet i have
no hone of descending-
And they end:
in good faith in Jesus Christ"
The words are on his Chamounix tomb
stone beside that of the Rev. George NC
Corkindale, an English member or the
party but the body of his friend Randall
lies in SHOWS that are not eternal, thanks
to glacier movement
TIE forty years of these Americans are
nearly passed. While they We're passing.
many other gay-hearted American tour
lists trudged above their frozen bodies,
TO return in safety or meet like death.
The list is fairly long, from Harry Pow
ers of New Orleans, killed by a Ialllng
stone while descending the Black Needle
of Peteret, to Mrs. Horace Grace of chi
cago. who slipped at the Mauvals Pas be-
low the Sea of Ice. Even the record for
audacity is held by American. Young
H. ~ Riegel of Riegesville, Pa. actually
crossed Mont Blanc alone in 1S9i-and
was found dead far down the italian SIDE.
some sleep in French graveyards. some
Italian They are at peace. But [
think of those who travel slowly, surely,
with the Blossoms glacier, some day to
peer out with their dead faces on the
sunlight. The time is near.
STERLING HELLO.