The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1913-12-13
Exposed
BY THOMAS r. DEANE

/ One morning IN August party OF
men started from Chamonix to climt
Mont Blanc There were Joseph With
ers, young lawyer from Philadei
phia; Edward Swift, recent grad
uate of q New England university
ind Roswell Baker, big. elegant look.
| Ing fellow, who was the impersonati ton
of manly strength.
! About noon Baker and one OF the
guides came into the hotel, the guide
/! looking very somber and Baker much
/ agItated. They reported that at the
i time the snow squall came up they
were ascending razor shaped rock.
the edge of which was but from one TO
two feet wide. The first man In the
rope line was Koenig. the guide who
returned The second was Baker. then
Withers, Swift and the other guide,
Schufelt Withers slipped and went
down on one side of the declivity. drag
ging the man before him and the one
behind him on one side Of the edge.
while the shock threw Baker and Koe-
mig down on the opposite side. Baker
said that the rope broke and those In
his rear had gone down, he knew not
where, because it was showing so hard
he could not see dozen feet below
him.
All listened to the recital of the ac-
cident with blanched faces. The land
lord, Carl Becker, stepped forward
the only person present who seemed to
grasp the situation. Selling the rope
that was in the hands OF the guide, he
looked at It's end, threw 1t down and
hurried away TO make up rescue
party. When half dozen volunteers
had been collected they started up the
mountain, piIoted by Koenig. Baker
declared that in falling he had hurt
his side and feared that he would not
be able to make the distance.
Some surprise was manifested that
one who had appeared to be the Ajax
OF the party. who had seen his com
mander 80 down into a gulf, should
be willing to remain behind when 9TH
ers were going TO the rescue. As soon
as the rescuers had gone Baker went
TO his room, remained there an hour,
then left the hotel He soon returned.
stating that he had received telegram
to go Immediately to Paris. where his
mother was lying Mt the point OF death.
Within half an hour he had left Cha
monk.
Meanwhile the rescue party. guided
by Koenic. assembled TO the place of
the accident. arriving there about 4
o'clock In the afternoon. The sky was
clear, and there was no difficulty In
looking down into crevasse into
which the men they sought must have
fallen. But it was not straight de-
scent, and the opening was narrow, so
they could not tell how deep il was.
The landlord OF the hotel volunteered
to be lowered for an exploration. A
rope was tied around him under the
arms, he was given an alpenstock for
a fender and was let down slowly into
the crevasse.
He had not descended more than
forty feet before be heard "A faint hal
loo. On being lowered another TWEEN
ty feet he reached the snow. sinking
into 1t to his knees. He was within
three or four yards of Swift, whose
head was protruding from the snow on
which he had fallen. Becker got a
second rope he had brought down with
him under Swifts shoulders. gave
signal. and Swift was drawn up.
Not dozen feet away the landlord
'ound Withers. He was lying uncon-
icious with his head and one leg above
he snow. The rescuer had flask of
brandy with him and poured quaint
v down Withers' throat. He opened
IFS eyes Becker called for the rope TO
,e lowered, and Wlthers was pulled
ID There only remained the guide, |
Who had sufficient strength in him to
TX the rope TO his own shoulders, and |
Ie and Becker were brought TO the
urface
The landlord had no sooner finished |
IFS work than he took up the end OF /
he rope that was dangling from With
rs' waist and. looking at it, muttered |
n oath.
Cut" he said.
''Withers. who was by this time
omewhat restored. added: II saw him
ut 1t. He was on the edge of the
ock. and we three. being heavier than
.oenig on the other side. were over
aIanclng him. and Baker was being 4
ragged over To save himself he cut
be rope"
"And frnyed the end to make II APP
ear that 1t had broken" added
ecker.
Koenig declared that be had not seen
aker cut the rope. Indeed. this from
heir relative positions would have
cen impossible. He admitted to have
cen him fray the end Of the rope. but
q had not revealed this because after
ne weight had been taken from the
pposite side he would have gone down
sveral hundred feet bad not Baker
wen him hand and helped him up on ,
lie edge.
When the rescue party returned to
,e hotel and found that Baker was