Los Angeles herald., 1909-02-15
HURLED TO HIS
DOOM FROM TOP
OF MT. WILSON
LOS ANGELES YOUTH FALLS
SIX HUNDRED FEET
FRIEND FORTUNATELY ESCAPES
WITH SLIGHT INJURIES
Rescue Party with Ropes Saves One
and Receivers with Much Diff
Guilty the Body of John
Freitas
ToHN FREITAs II wears Of age !,

II 1T20 Maud street was killed and
Joseph Schultz, 19 years of age, of
226 Leroy street was injured in a wild
plunge from the top of Mount Wilson
/ trail, north of the observatory, at 1920
o'clock yesterday morning.
I FTe1tas slipped on the ice-crusted
snow and rolled down the side of the
mountain distance of 600 feet, his
| body catapulting from point to point
until it landed against some trees,
which checked its further fall.
| In running to a point where he
thought he could climb down the side
! of the mountain to his friends assist
ance, young Schultz slipped on the
snow and slid down the side of. the
| mountain 300 feet into a bunch of scrub
oak. He had a marvellous escape, sus-
! tanning only slight injury.
Raymond Lennon, IL years of age, of
1O9 Ann street, the only other member
OF the party, ran to the hotel and noti-
| fled the men there of the accident A
rescue party armed with ropes at once
went to the scene and took Schultz
/ from his dangerous position. Then a
/ number of men were lowered down the
side of the mountain and found the
1 body Of Freitas
! Coroner Calvin Hartwell was notified
/ of the accident and went to the scene,
where he held an inquest, a verdict Of
accidental death being returned The
men in the corOner's party experienced
the greatest difficulty in getting the
| body from the position it had lodged in.
i and it was past midnight before the re-
mains were brought into Pasadena.
This morning the body will be brought
to this city and taken to Pierce Bros.
mOrgue.
Only Three Start
Schultz, Freitas and Lennon. with a
! number of other boys, arranged a week
/ ago to make the ascent of the Mount
! Wilson trail yesterday morning. All
the boys, with the exception of the
three named, failed to keep the ap-
| pointment to leave on the IL: 80 O'Clock
car Saturday night. The three who
went took their luncheon with them
and q camera to take pictures from the
top of the mountain.
! When the party arrived at the foot
of the trail they proceeded leisurely to-
ward the top, arriving at the observa-
/ tory at $50 O'clock.
! They went TO a point several hundred
yards to the north of the observatory
| and made q small fire of tWigs and bits
| of dead tree branches, on which they
| heated can of coffee, eating at the
same time a number of sandwiches
Immediately after their breakfast,
and while Schultz was stamping out
i tie -T6IlldlilS OIL the l1III6 nG6, ne n6drQ
| Lennon scream. Turning, he saw FIRE.
| itas sliding, face downward, on the
snow. Schultz was on the top of little
| knoll on which he and Lennon had been
! looking out over the canyon of the
! West Fork.
| They saw Freitas body strike a pro-
jecting rock and shoot out into the
open, falling head first to another pro-
| lection thirty feet below Freitas
| landed on this SnOIU ond
| rock on his head and shoulders, and his
death must have been instantaneous.
! From this point the body fell and
rolled from point to point until it dis
! appeared from their sight, 300 feet be-
| low. Schultz and Lennon then turned
and ran back in the direction of the
! observatory, intending to try and make
their way down the side of the noun
tain at a point where there seemed to
| be a natural and easy trail in the direc-
tion in which their friend had fallen.
Schultz Also Falls
| Hardly had Schultz run fifty feet
when he slipped on the crusted snow
and fell headlong down the side of the
slope. He struck a tree only few
| feet below the top, and his body car
| omed thence to another twenty feet
away, and from that to a third one fifty
feet below and little to one side.
| From there he rolled over and over
down the side of the mountain until
his body was caught and held by the
scrub oak 300 feet below the top.
Of his experience in falling Schultz
remembers little. He cannot recall
having struck any of the trees in his
| fall, and although he heard Lennon
scream several times, he remembered
nothing else until he found himself
| Wedged between two small oak trees.
A in II hoo oY.5 M
| then he pulled himself to his feet by
the branches of the small tree and held
on to keep from falling farther.
| His body was sore from bruises, and
blood was trickling into his eyes from
| a cash in his scalp above his temple.
Schultz brushed the blood from his
! eyes and started on his hands and
knees to drag himself to the top Of the
mountain, clutching first one bit Of
shrub and then another to pull himself
up. He had got nearly half way up
when Lennon, who meanwhile had run
to the hotel, came back with a crowd
of men with ropes. They megaphoned
! to him to stay where he was and they
would lower a rope to him.
Long Rope Used
In a few moments big rope was let
down and by this he pulled himself to
| the top. The party then went to the
point where Freitas had fallen. A rope
! 800 feet long was tied to a tree and
three men started down the ice-clad
mountain side to find the body of the
missing boy.
Nearly at the end of the rope and
| lodged against some small trees the
body was found. 1t was discovered
| that his neck was broken, probably by
the force of the impact when he fell the
! fifty feet from one rock to another near
| the top.
This information was conveyed back
! to the waiting party at the top, and
Lennon and Schultz were taken to the
hotel where the laceration in the boys
head was temporarily bound up and he
was told to get it attended to at once
| by a physician. He and Lennon took
| the first car from the foot of the noun
tain and came into Los Angeles arriv-
ing at the receiving hospital shortly be-
| fore 4 o'clock.
Young Schultz by that time had re-
| covered from the shock of his fall and
felt no i'll effects. The wound on his
head was found to be a one-inch cash,
which had severed small artery
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