FATAL TOBOGGANING

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13461, 13 April 1907, Page 2 (Supplement)

FATAL TOBOGGANING

i Count Jci.ks de Btlandt, of the Hague., has been killed under distressing circumstances while toboganning on the famous Cresta Run, near St. Moritz. The count was the first to go down the run on the 'day of the accident, and at a point known. as the junction encountered a plank, said to have been negligently placed on the course by some workmen. Into this barrier Count de Hylandt crashed with appalling violence, and no doubt the heavy steel framework of his toboggan completed the mischief, already serious enough; for the walls of his cheat were hopelessly fractured, and the heart itself was ruptured. Death 'must have been instantaneous from such terrible injuries. The whole community of St. Moritz is saddened by the sudden loss of one of its most popular and respected members. Count Jules de Bylandt was one of the best specimens of the younger nobility of Holland, and his fame lin many different kinds of sport was -veil known both in this country and elsewhere. iHe was last in London as a member of the Dutch team of swordsmen, who did m well in the international fencing tournament at the Crystal Palace a year or two ago, and no one* who met him at the various dinner' ;parties occasioned by that pleasant reunion | of fencers will ever forget the quiet charm of manner, the beautiful English, and th« keen eyes of the distinguished-looking gentleman who then bore his purl 10 well. He had marched over the Continent of Africa no fewer than three time*, and his reputation as a hunter or bit game <fU world-wide. The accident to the count was the second fatality that has occurred on 'the Cresta Hint this season, the first being to Captain Peniwll, VC . on January 19 Previous to this there had been no latahUftf [during the 23 years the run has existed..