THE MATTERHORN DISASTER.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXII, Issue 168, 29 July 1901, Page 5

THE MATTERHORN DISASTER.

A GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION

! MARVELLOUS ESCAPES OF TWO OF THE PARTY.

(Received 9.20 a.m.)

LONDON, July 20.

Particulars of the disaster on the Matterhorn, in which Miss Bell and Dr. Black (of Brighton) lost their lives, are now available.

The party consisted of Carrel, a well-known guide, Dr. Black, of Brighton, Miss Trow, a clergyman's daughter, and Miss M. Bell, daughter of Mr. Edward Bell, a partner in the publishing firm of George Bell & Sons.

They were returning to the village of Valtournancke, after a perilous ascent of the Matterhorn.

Dr. Black was at the end of the line.

Miss Trow it was who slipped, causing the others to lose their foothold.

Carrel, the leader of the party, gripped the ice, and was successful in suspending his companions for two minutes, but the strain, proving too much for him, all four were carried towards the precipice fifty feet away, at a part where a short slope precipitated them into a gully a thousand feet deep.

The rope snapped in the descent between Miss M. Bell and Carrel, and the latter was carried beyond the other members of the party.

Miss Trow, seeing her companions lying dead, and in a shockingly mutilated condition, cut the rope joining her to them, and succeeded in reaching Carrel.

Both Miss Trow and the guide (Carrel) had a miraculous escape, being badly injured.

Other climbers who were on the mountain at the time witnessed the catastrophe, and assistance was quickly forthcoming.