A WOMAN'S ORDEAL.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLI, Issue 267, 12 November 1907, Page 6

A WOMAN'S ORDEAL.

THREE WEEKS' STARVING.

Mnis. Emilia Schopfer, agei thirtyseven, a native of Berne, Switzerland,left "her hotel alone on August Ist in the best of health and spirits on a beautiful morning. Twenty-one days later she was carried, wizened, bent, grey~-haired, a physical and mental wreck, to a hospital. Ninety-nine persons of a hundred would have succumbed under the horrors and torture of starvation which she suffered, but she may recover.

On August 25th Mins Sehopfer, accompanied by her husband ;; d atfcendad by .Or Brenner, was seen as fiie station starting for home. She looKod more like a mammy than a living woman as she lay ■on a stretcher moaning. But she had recovered her senses, Dr Breaner, however, ordered her immediate removal, for he told in an interview that her mind requires more attention at present than her body, adding that a brain specialist must attend at once or she will become a lunatic for life. Mrae. Shopfer has come here for the " cure " for the last ten summers and has a?so been under the care of Dr Brenner, to whom she related the following remarkable story: — " On the morning- of August Ist I walked along the bank of the Kiver Dala intending to return to th 9 hotel to lunch. The beautiful weather, and the scenery, however, seemed to fascinate me. I penetrated further up the gorge of the Dala and lost my way.

" While retracing my pteps I fell, I don't know how many feet, into a ca 7e. I was horrified to find that owing to tho steep slippery stones I was unable to climb out. I shouted all that day and night for help till my voice was so hoarse that I was unable to shout. I ate my last two pieces of chocolate and continually drank the water which trickled through the rocks.

"Another day came and went, and yet another. I forgot liqw many because I jrnist have become delirious.

" The village church, the top of the steeple of which I could see from my living tomb, seemed the only hope. I prayed daily to the steeple's cross for deliverance. •On Sundays especially I suffered terrible mental torture when I heard the bells pealing and the choir singing practically within a stone's throw while 1 Jay dying by inches. lf I cannot describe my hunger. Often I dreamt of table d'hote, bread and biscuits, which sometimes seemed to be dancing in the air before my eyes. I ate grass and moss and my leather shoes.

" Gradually I become a skeleton. My clothes foil from me. I had plenty of money in my purse wliich I would have willingly exchanged for a piece of bread.

" On two nights rain soaked me, and •on several days the heat was so great that I was glad to wet my head and sprinkle my clothes, ily voice commenced to return gradually, I took much care of it, ■crying sof'oly at intervals during the day when I thought people might be passing my tomb.

" But in vain, i Slowly my strength failed, until I was unable to stand without my hands on the rock. Heaven, how I suffered from hunger ! Towards the end I become desperate. I wanted to ■dash my head against the rocK My mind ■was willing, but my flesh too ',-eak. Then ■God sou!; darkness, and I remember no more"

Meantime the missing woman's husband and friends, v.-ith guides, were searching the overlooking mountains, every gorge, and precipice as far as the Gerami Pass, and inquiring at every village ia the Loeclie Valley in vain. Twenty-one days later a peasant, named Adolphe Grand, heard groaning while walking on tha bank of the Dala '.River. He climbed and rescued 31 me. Schopfer, whom, he carried lite a bab^, insensible, to hospital. He called Dr Brenner, who at first thought the case hopeless. Mme. Schopfer, however, recovered her senses thirty hours later and told her story to Dr Brenner.

The latter said that she displayed the most marvellous vitality for a woman, who for years had not been in very good health. The doctors believe that it will take a long time for her mind to recover from the strain and shock, if it ever does so completely. There is every likelihood of a physical recovery with careful nursing. M. Schopfer is a wealthy trades man of Berne.

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