AN ALPINE DISASTER.

Evening Post, Volume LVI, Issue 128, 26 November 1898, Page 1 (Supplement)

AN ALPINE DISASTER.

Some thrilling particulars are supplied by a correspondent of The Times, writing from S. Ulrich in the Tyrol, concerning the terrible disaster on the Funffinger Spitze, by which Mr. Norman Neruda lost his life on 10th September: — Mr. Neruda started for the ascent of the peak in company with Mrs. Neruda and Dr. Dietrich, a well-known climber, on the 9th. "The party slept that night," continues the correspondent, "at the Langkofil hut. On the morning of tho 11th they started somewhat late, Mr. Neruda not feeling very well, and crossing the Langkofil Loch, -began the ascent of the fearful Schmitt's chem.uiee on the south side of the Funffinger Spitze, Mr. Neruda climbing first, then Mrs. Neruda, and last Dr. Dietrich. They .had nearly reached the top of the cheminee when Mr. Neruda, being then about 50 feet above the other two, called down to th em, ' We have now got over the worst part,' and stepped a little on one side to what appeared a comparatively safe poi nt ; but then, apparently from dizziness, or some temporary heart affection, for he had no disease, suddenly cried out, ' I am tailing,' and fell at once -some 70 feet, striking his head fatally against the rock. DaDietrich, instantly 'springing forward, held on to the rope above Mrs. Nei-uda and wound it round a rock, otherwise 1 - all must have lost th6ir lives. Climbing down some 20 feet he pulled back Mr. Neruda, utterly unconscious, on to a small flat rock, fastened him there with a rope, and, returning to Mrs. Neruda, placed her in a hole of the cliff. In this awful position, drenched to the skin by the fey water dripping from the rock, the tvvo remained for 17 hours — from 2 p.m. ou Saturday to 7 a.m. on Sunday. All the? time they heard Mr. Neruda, happily quite unconscious, talking incoherently below them ; and twice in the night Dr.' Dietrich had to descend to refasten the rope, which the poor gentleman bad detached his person. After three hours' shouting their cries were heard by a party returning from another climb, and 1 a strong party of guides, starting at 3 a.m., came to their relief about 7 a.m, on. Sunday. Mrs. Neruda and Dr. Dietrich were conveyed over the summit of the Spitze, only some 500 ft below where the accident had occurred. One or two of the guides acquainted with the fatal cheminerf — for the others were not allowed to en-> gage in the hazardous work — undertook; the lowering of Mr. Neruda by the way, which he had ascended. He was alive,; though unconscious, but died just as the perilous part of the descent was over.

The Socialist leader, P. Holm, until re-< cently a member of the Folkething, and Vice-President of the Copehbagen Municipal Council, died on the 26>t£ September in prison, where he was »confined on a charge of having participated in questionable speculations in connection with certain safes of land to the Copenhagen municipality. -