OUR LITERARY CORNER.

Press, Volume LI, Issue 15369, 28 August 1915, Page 9

OUR LITERARY CORNER.

XHE tragedy of the

MATTERHORN.

yjpUETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FIRST ASCENT.

(ygCUILT WlunXX FOB "tin! PRESS.")

(Bt Mas Julian Grande.)

BERNE. July 14. To-day, Jnly 14t h. ' s the fiftieth anniversary of the first ascent of the Matterhorn, an Alpine event which, even ■ n this ye* l- of war < w0 m, £ ht not wholl - y to forget, since the honour of it belongs to a party of Englishmen. Tho jmjne of ono is known throughout the Trorid-that of the late Edward Why inner who died at Chamonix in September 1912, and those of three other men remembered chiefly for their tragic end md thfV- association with the most celebrated ascent in mountaineering anna)*— the R«v. Charles Hudson. Lord jjsneis Douglas, and Mr D, Hadow. The party was plso accompanied by the guides Michel Croz. of Chamonix, one of,the-.most famous guides who ever lived, and by Peter Taugwalder and Son, of Zermatt. On July 23th, last year, a t Zermatt, arrangements were made for commemorating this anniversary on July 14th, 1915; and the fate which has overtaken the International Committee then appointed to supervise these arrangements and look after tho proposed Matterborn memorial, which was to have been unveiled on the fiftieth anniversary of the'first ascent of tho mountain, may bo said to havo constituted a second Matterhorn tragedy. This committee, nominated less than one week before Germany's declaration of war, included several well-known climbers, and persons of six different nationalities —British, French, 'Italian, German. Austrian, and Swiss. One of its members, Baron von Venningen,- of Baden-Baden, has since been-killed in battle. Another, Gendral von Wundt, is still, as far as I know, in command of tho fortifications of Mctz. The two Austrian members have both been wounded in ■ h&ttle, one of them very seriously. As for the British members, those of an age to serve in tho Army, aro, I be lieve, doing so. and doubtless the Ital iin and French members are doing likewise: Of course, it was known on July 25th, last year, that a storm waq threatening, for, on tho'very day of appointment of tho committee to ~ arrange for the Matterhorn memorial, the German .officers upon it received Selegraphio summonses to join their regimentß. One of them, indeed, had on the 23rd, received a telegram informing him that he wa« not. for the time being, to return to.Shanghai, whore he was in-the, German Consular service, but to go to Berlin, and aftepnurf# - ( to ,tho .Russian frontier, a district vath which ho happened "to be - well iiiifqtfaih tedi - " This telegram' greaV ■■■; 'ly .troubled him, a? being a sure indication that something was seriously wrong tn the stat« of Europe. As to what has \uippened to him $ince I have no idea. -Altogether the committee numbered «rt»ut, twenty members, at least seven of'whom were subjects of countries now "ftt< war with us. Yet not quite a year "Ago' thoy were all assembled together to ,consider how most fitly to commemorate J *n,achieyement of Englishmen;, and " ' one German general, as I noticed at ' '..tho, time, paid a handsome tribute to tho inspiration which he and many other Germans had derived from tho ■ perusal of Mr Whymper's writings on alpine subjects, and from English al- . , pine literature in general. He had , ' himself written an introduction to tho German translation of "Scramble in the /Alps." The memorial which, let us ' 'iope, will one dav be carried out as ..planned, was to have taken the form • of a statue of Mr Whymper as he ap- ' peared inr 1865; and, by means of medalt lions, bas-reliefs, and inscriptions, was - -lo hqve commemorated the names and , deeds of all entitled to be considered a« pioneers of tho first ascent of the Matterhoni, a total of seventeen persons :—Lord Francis Douglas, Mr Hadow, the Rev. Charles Hudson, Abbe Gorrot, the brothers Alfred, Charles and Sand bach Parker, M r Vaughan Hawkins,Professor John Tyndall. Mr E. S. arid Mr -Reginald Alacdonald, 'together with the following guides: 'Michel Croz, the two laugwaiders, Jean Antoine Carrel, Luc Meynet. and J. J. j 'Bennem' | The -first great tragedy of ,tho Mat- - tWhorn, whien has ttince witnessed »o .many, cost the lives ot threo Engibh climbers, and one ivrench guide —the \Rev. Charles Hudson, aged 37, Lord '-Francis Douglas, aged 1®! -Mr Hadow, 'also a very young man, spcxiding his ■ first Alpine summer, and -vucnel Croz, aged 30. liord Francis Douglas's body ytaa never found. It may oe remembered that, as Mr \viiyniper records, x cm the afternoon ot tne accident, Which happened aoout 3 o'clock, a tharp-cyeu lad ran and told tne then Herr boiler, of Zermatt, tnat he had •eon an avalanche fall from the sumsiit of tho ->iaueihorn on to tho Matterhorn giacier, and altnougn reproveu lor teuuig idie stories, he was right in t .that he had seon sometuing —tho latai fan or lour men. \>nat happened then, as tar as it can ever be bjuicuy k&own, may be best described >n Mr iWhyuiper's own words. The accident happened during tne descent. "Jlicnel Croz nad laid aside his axe, And in order to give Air Haaow greawr •ecurity, was ausolutoly taking hoia " Vof his legs, and putting his ieot, ono by one, into their proper positions, fio far as I know, no one wa«j actually ■ descending. I cannot speak with certainty, because the two leading men Wer© partially hidden from my sight hiy an intervening mass of rock but it is my belief, from the movements of their shoulders, that Croz, having done te I have said, was in the act ol turning round, to go down a stej> or two iumsolf; at this moment Mr Hadow clipped, fell against him, and knocked him over. I hoard one startled exclamation from Croz, then saw him and Mr Hadow flying downwards; m another moment Hudson was dragged from his steps, and xxird F. Douglas immediately after him. All this was the work of a moment. Immediately we heard Croz's exclamation, old Peter Taugwalder and 1 planted ouras firmly as tho rocks would permit; tho rope was taut between lis, and the jerk came on us both as on one man. Wo hold, but the rope broke midwav between Taugwalder and

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Lord Francis Douglas. i*or a few seconds wo saw out unfortunate companions snding uowuwaiua on tuuir uucks, auu out tlieir hat»u»>, endeavouring to save tnemscives. iney parsed Horn our signt tuiiujuicd, disappeared one by oue, and men leu iiuiii piectplco to piecipice on to tue .uuitcmorn. gietacner uoiow, a distanco of nearly 4ouO leet in neignt. J?roin tne moment tne iope broKo it was unjKJssiuie to heip tnem. "&o perished our comrades I Fortho space or halt an hour we remained on tiie spot without moving a step. The two men, paralysed by terror, cried like lniants, and trembled in such a manner as to threaten us with ;tie fate of the others. Old Fetor rent me air with exclamations of 'Chamonix! O, what will Onamonix say i' ±le meant, who would believe tnat Croz oould fall? The young man did nothing but scream or, sob 'We are lost! we are lost!' Fixed between the two. I could neither move im nor down. I begged young Peter to descend, but he dared not. Unless he did. we could not advance. Old Peter became nlivo to the danger, and swelled the cry. 'We are lost! We are lost!' The father's fear was natural —he trembled for his son ; the young man's fear was cowardly—he thought of self alone. At last old Peter summoned up courage, and changed his position to a rock to which ho could fix tho rope; the young man then descended, and we all stood together." Whereupon the discovery was made that the rone which hnd snapped was old, comparatively weak, and should never have been used for the purpose for which it had been employed. Fifty years after this, the best remembered accident in all the annals of mountaineering, tho aspect of Zermatt, cannot be greatly different from its aspect in 18G5. There are. it is true, more hotels, the village has changed and developed, but tho number of visitors in this year of war is about the same as half a century ago. Had it not been for the war doubtless many English climbers would have paid their tribute to Mr Whymper nnd his companions by ascending the Matterhorn on Jnly 14th this year, and I know of one who had meant to hnist the Union Jack on the summit on that day.- As it is, however, this anniversary, like many others, must pass unheeded. What, of course, strikes every mountaineer is that Mr Whymper should have allowed two quite inexperienced peoDle. too young to have attained their full strength, to accompany him on an expedition of such danger and difficulty." Moreover, a party of seven is in any case much too large. Indeed, that Mr Whymner himself realised this I know, for only two years before his death, in talking to my husband at Zermatt. he admitted it. In writing, too, ho made a virtual admission that to haye included two inexperienced persons in his party was an imprudence. "There have been," he wrote, "joys too great to be described in words, and there have been griefs upon.which I have not dft red to d well; and with these in mind I say: Climb if you will, but remember that courage and strength are nought without prudence, and that a momentary negligence may destroy tho happiness of a lifetime. I>o nothing in haste; look well to eaoli step; and from the beginning think what may bo the end."