The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1910-02-02
BY F. A. mitchell.

If you go to Interlaken 1t Is quite
possible you may see the man who told
me this story. You Will find him
standing almost any day when the at
mosphere Is transparent and the glor'-
Gus Jungfrau looms up beautifully In
n notch between two OF the foothills.
standing beside the main street of the
town. showing the mountain through
his telescope to tourists at half franc
Il look" ! do not mean to say that
he put the facts ut the bottom of his
yarn together as story. Nevertheless
they are story. and 1t is my part to
arrange them In proper form. Here 1t
is as he told 1t to me, with certain
transposltlons OF mine necessary to Its
ready understanding:
One day few summers ago | was
standing here showing people the
mountain when party came along
consisting of young girl and two
young men. The girl and one of the
Young men were Americans. The other
young man. judged from his accent,
was French. The American man was
II quiet, steady looking fellow. The
Frenehman was handsome, with all the
eivaelty Of the French people, while
the girl wits one of your American
beauties. The names of all three after
ward learned, and | shall never forget
them, The American pan was Archi-
bald Wallace; the Frenchman WAS
Jean lie Nerian, the girl was Alice
Clark.
"oh. there is Il telescopel" exclaimed
Miss Clark as she approached me
"Do let's have look"
With her American impulse she put
her eye TO the eyepieee, while made
the adjustments.
isn't Ii wonderfult she said en-
Enthusiastically. What beautiful slopesl
What awful gulfsl But Il Is fascinat.
ing. I'm crazy to go up there"
The very next afternoon was stand
Ing here, as usual. waiting for people
TO come along and pay me for look
through my telescope, when, seeing a
mass of snow on the mountain begin
ming TO move, | put my eye to tho
glass. After witnessing an avalanche
turning the glass about over the noun
tain ] saw three figures, two men and
a woman. not far above the snow line
My glass did not reveal their features
but | suspected they We're the party
who had been with me the day before
watched them for some time. Aft
err awhile | saw one OF the men stroll
away around II snow covered rock
| where he was screened from the 9th
ers, and look over II cliff Then III
went part OF the way back and. fan
cied, called-of course could not heal
| him-to the other man, for the latter
| went around the rock aud joined him
and the two stood on the edge of the
cliff together looking over. Suddenly
! saw one figure behind the other and
the front one fall over the cliff
There was n steep incline at the
cliffs base of hard snow. The mo-
ment the figure that had fallen struck
this snow saw him glance, then shoot
down on the surface. He passed be-
hind n peak, and when he again ap-
pcarcd | saw him stlll sliding. Then
he slid around n bend and disappeared
As soon as | was convinced that
should not see him again | turned my
glass back TO the other figure. He was
running toward the woman. When he
reached her there was pantomime
which indicated he was telling her
that the other man had fallen over the
cliff. But | knew very well that he
had pushed his frlcnd-or enemy, as
the ease might be-over. While /
could not distinguish the womnn's fea-
lures | knew by her motions that she
was terribly moved by the tragedy
She went with the remaining man to
the cliff, and the two seemed to be
looking down ut Its base to see IL they
could get glimpse Of their compan-
lon. Then they turned away and de-
seended the mountain.
was satisfied that one of the men
had pushed the other over the cliff
and that they were Wallace and lie
Verian, though | could not tell which
was the victim. I knew full well that
the matter would soon be reported and
resolved to keep my own counsel, GU
rious to know In what form the trag-
edy would be made known.
The same night | heard that terri
BILE accident had happened to n young
American stopping at the J. hotel.
Il went there and got the story from
the concierge. He said that while 8
Mr.. Wallace, nm American. was look
ing over cliff n crust Of snow had
given way under his feet and he had
fallen 100 feet to the bottom. He had
doubtless been killed. A party was be-
ing made up to go the next day to look
for his body.
Making further inquiries, ! learned
that he had gone up the mountain side
with d Jean lie Verian, a Partisan, and
q Miss Clark OF Philadelphia. While
I was permitting people to tell me
about what | knew much more than
they, lie Nerian passed me. He looked
very somber. as one might be expected
TO appear who had witnessed the trag-
edy he had reported. tried to de-
tect the look OF Il villain In his face,
but failed. Either he was nvt guilty,
as / supposed, or he carried the con-
seriousness OF his guilt so well that 1t
would not betray him.
The next morning | Joined the party
that set out to flnd Wallace's body, my
object being to follow, II possible. the