Lexington gazette. [volume] (Lexington, Va.) 1871-1962, 1910-03-02
Through a
Telescope
a Tragedy In the Alps That
Was Seen by One Who Kept
His Own Counsel.
By +. A. mitchell.

If you go TO Interlaken 1t is quite |
nossibio you may see the man who told /
ne this story You will find him
stand ing almost any day when the at I
mCsrnere is transparent and the glori- /
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
look" do not mean to say that
he put the facts at the bottom of his
yarn together as story. Nevertheless
they are a story. and it Is my part to
arrange them in proper form. Here 1t
Ia as he told 1t IL me, with certain
transpositions of mine necessary TO its
ready understanding:
One day n few summers ago l was
standing here showing people the
mountain when party came along
consisting of n young girl and two
young men. The girl and one of the
| young men We're Americans. The other
young man. l Judged from his accent.
was French The American man was
quiet, steady looking fellow. The
Frenchman was handsome, with all the
vivacity OF the French people. while
the girl was one of your American
beauties. The names Of all three after
ward learned. and l shall never forget
them. The American ran was Archi-
bald Wallace; the Frenchman was
Jean lie Nerian; the girl was Alice
Clark.
"Oh. there is a telescope"' exclaimed
Miss Clark as she approached me.
'Do let's have n look"
With her American impulse she put
her eye to the eyepiece. while l made
the adjustments.
isn't it wonderfulT' she said en-
Enthusiastically. What beautiful slopes,
What awful CULTS. But it 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 II look
through my telescope, when, seeing
mass of snow on the mountain begin
ming to move. | put my eye to the
glass. After witnessing an avalanche
turning the glass about over the noun
tain l saw three figures, two men and
woman. not far above the snow line.
My glass did not reveal their features,
but l suspected they were the party
{ who had been with me the day before.
| watched them for some time Aft
er awhile l saw one of the men stroll
+, away around Il snow covered rock,
, where he was screened from the 9th
erS. and look over Il cliff. Then he
{ went part of the way back and, | fam
: cied, called-of course l could not hear
: him-to the other man, for the latter
!. went around the rock and joined him,
g and the two stood on the edge of the
g cliff together looking over. Suddenly
I saw one figure behind the other and
e the front one fall over the cliff.
L There was n steep incline at the
cliffs base of hard snow. The mo
n ment the figure that had fallen struck
e this snow saw him glance, then shoo
p down on the surface. He passed be
d hind peak. and when he again ap
II peared,I saw him still sliding. TheI
a he slid around II bend and disappeared
AS soon as | was convinced that
10 should not see him again ] turned m,
er glass back TO the other figure He wa
e. running toward the woman. When b
10 reached her there was a pantOmim
to which indicated he was telling he
Id that the other man had fallen over tn
W cliff But | knew very well that
e. had pushed his friend-or enemy. q
er the case might be-Over. While
x could not distinguish the wOmanS fe;
-e- lures. l knew by her motions that sh
ch was terribly moved by the traged
ad She went with the remaining man I
the cliff, and the two seemed to
MS looking down at its base to see if the
nc, could get a glimpse of their compal
)v- ion. Then they turned away and d
re- scended the mountain.
was satisfied that one of the me
7as had pushed the other over the eli
ain and that they were Wallace and I
ca Verian, though | could not tell WhiC
Of was the victim. I knew full well tn
ted the matter would soon be reported III
DIS resolved to keep my own counsel. c
her rious to know In what form the ira
one edy would be made known.
she The same night heard that Il ter
ON bic accident had happened to a you
American stopping ut the }. hot
Gus i went there and got the story fire.
red the concierge lie said that while
hat Mr. Wallace, an American. was loo
,me ing over a cliff a crust of snow II
ling given way under his feet and he h
the fallen 100 feet to the bottom. He h
he doubtless been killed. \ party was
all ing made up 10 90 the next day to lc
for his body.
Making further inquiries. | learT
that he had gone up the mountain 5
mo