PRECIPICE TRAGEDY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22099, 1 November 1933, Page 8

PRECIPICE TRAGEDY

ENGLISHMAN’S DEATH LURE OF MOUNTAIN FLOWER. By the discovery of the body of a young Englishman at the foot of a precipice a strange mystery of the mountains has been solved. , Af.or he had been missing 10 days the remains of Robin'Joseph, aged 24, son of a rvell-known London solicitor, were found in the Gross-Glockuer mountain region of Carinthia. Two theories are put forward to account for his fate. He either took the wrong path on his return journey, or he slipped when trying to pick edelweiss, the mountain flower which has lured hundreds of climbers to death, because it is found in inaccessible places. Mr Joseph set out on a mountaineering expedition from Heiligenblut, Austria, and when he failed to return, rescue Expeditions were sent out. The tragic discovery w f as made by one of these parties after they had bqen engaged on a fruitless search for many hours. Apparently Mr Joseph had fallen 150 feet over a precipice, and was killed*instantly. Mr Joseph, a graduate of Oxford University, was the elder son of Mr Francis George Josenh, and had been articled to his father’s firm of solicitors.

“My son had spent a number of holidays mountaineering in Switzerland,” Mr Joseph stated, “but he decided this year to go to Austria, where my daughter is studying. The tragedy occurred on the last day of his holiday.”