The Nezperce herald. (Nezperce, Idaho) 1900-1957, 1909-08-26

IA ywer@a of saamy Occurred am 1sTs
mmG Cost EH@wem Lives,

M# wv N%& && @M#
ass Cost s1fevsa Lives.
In the long list OF disasters which
darken the history OF Mont Blanc the
worst. according TO Edward Whymper,
the famous mountain climber &C.
CURED 10 a party In 1870.
The amateur alpiniste were two
Americans. Mr.. Randall and Mr.. Nc
Bean. and a Scotch minister. the Rev.
@. McCorkindaIe, Of Gomrock. They
Gook with them as guides or assist
ants nc fewer than eight persons from
Chamonlx. q quite sufficient number.
Az Is usual. they passed tbs night In
the inn upon the rocks which are
called the Grands Mulets.
On the next day, writes Prof. Whym-
per IN the Strand. a number Of per
sons below watched their progress
through telescopes. They were seen
10 arrive on the summit and 10 begin
the descent. BY that time the weather
had changed. The wind waa some-
thing frighfful.
Even $4,000 feet below 1t was seen
whirling the snow about so that the
members of the party were obliged
70 throw themselves down to avoid
being carried away by II. Then the
summit became. clouded and was not
seen again for eight days.
No one came back and on September
7 fourteen men from Chamonfx start
ed out 10 try to learn something. Bad
weather came on again and IL was not
until the 18th that the fate OF the
party was ascersalned. When the
rescue party got up they found Mr.
McCorkindaIe and two OF the porters
about 7B0 below the top. with their
heads right way- up. but with their
clothes somewhat torn. SIS II they bad
slipped and fallen
About three hundred feet higher mp
they came upon Mr.. Mclean and an
other porter sitting down. the former
with his head leaning on q hand
and the elbow on o knapsack. ropes
coilsd up. batons' axes and knapsacks
round about them still containing q
little food.
Upon Afy. Mclean q note book waa
found containing several entries In re
speef TO the occasion. All the ave
corpses were hard frozen. They were
put into sacks and dragged down 20
Chamonix. IL took three days TO trans
port them. The bodies Of the elk
others have not Jet been recovered
but they will probably come 10 Light
IN the course OF a few years
One OF the earliest avalanche acct
dents on Mont Blanc occurred In 1890.
when Or. Hanaei. a Russian, set out
On aug. rs to 80 up Mont Blanc &C
eonnpanled by gwo Engiishmen and
eight guides They had assembled to
a height OF more than $4,000 feet.
with i've guides In front, who were
cutting or making steps. when all az
onoe the snow above them gave way
and the entire party vas carried down
q thousand feet over the slopes up
which they had toiied
snow again broke away above and
more or less covered up the whole
party. Some OF them struggled out
bus three Of the leading guides we're
hurled into q creFasse and buried IN,
der an immense mass OF snow.
Ten years afterward. when conduct.
ina another tourist up Mont Blanc by
the same route. one OF the surviving
guides pointed 70 the crevasse and
said to his employer. They are there.
lie was wrong AT that time tissO)
the bodies we're no doubt q consider
able distance from the spot where the
accident occurred. for the disrnember-
ed remains Of the three upforgunates
commenced 10 reappear at the lower
end Of the Glacier des Blossoms In 1861.
more than four miles away In a direct
line from the place where they perish.
ed, and must have travelled down on
an average at the rate Of 500 feet per
mrnum.