Matterhorn disaster of july 14. One of our correspondents, mr. Pajot, who was in the valley of zermatt when the matterhorn disaster occurred, sends us a sketch that he made on the places, according to the accounts of one of the witnesses, ocular; he has attached the article from journal de genève which reports on this deplorable accident and which we reproduce. Mr. Edward whymper and charles hudson, members of the committee of the alpine club, of london, mr. Haddo and lord francis douglas, members of the same club, met in zermatt on july 14, each desiring to defeat the colossus of the matterhorn, inaccessible until now. Mr. Hudson had brought wire cables from london which were to facilitate his ascent; but finding mr. Whymper ready to appear, he left his engines at the hotel and set off with his improvised comrades, who had no other aim than to elude the route. They took with them as guides mr. Michel croz from chamounix, and zum taugwald with his sons, from zermatt. It was july 13, no member of the expedition believed they would succeed that day; they only intended to seek the passage which would lead them to the desired goal. They had in fact left their gear in zermatt, and were only equipped with seven bottles of wine. One of the zum taugwald sons even left them and went back down to the village. Our travelers passed on the snow, at the foot of the matterhorn on the night of july 13th to 14th, lord francis douglas alone fell asleep from fatigue (he was only nineteen years old), the others remained awake. At daybreak, they set out again and finding the ascent easier than they had hoped, they pushed forward and reached the summit around two o'clock in the afternoon. It was at this time that they were clearly seen from zermatt using telescopes. They remained at the summit until around three o'clock then they set out to go back down. Michel croz was in the lead; after him came the four travelers, mr. Douglas, haddo, hudson and whymper. Zum taugwald's son and his father brought up the rear. They were all attached to the same rope, and were descending joyful at their success when lord francis douglas slipped and giving the rope a violent jerk, he in turn caused mr. Haddo, hudson and the whole band, who were dragged with frightening rapidity onto the wall of rocks. Zum taugwald senior, the last of the chain, did not, however, lose his presence of mind; he had the good fortune to pass his rope over the crest of a rock, and for a moment thought he had stopped this terrible fall; but the cord broke between mm. Whymperet hudson, and the four unfortunates, michel croz, lord francis douglas, haddo and hudson, jumped from rock to rock from a height of about 4,000 feet. The three survivors returned to zermatt this morning, at ten o'clock, i'll leave you to think in what state. About twenty men left immediately to find the corpses which we believe we saw through a telescope. Separated two by two, the rope which held them having consequently broken again. The entire village and the numerous travelers there are in dismay. This sad catastrophe, which will arouse the deepest sympathy everywhere in our country, will remain attached to the memory of the first ascent of mount matterhorn. It was the only summit of the mount rosa group which has until now resisted the efforts of man, the last virgin summit in the vicinity of zermatt, the gabelhorn having been climbed on the 7th of this month. For excerpt:a. Hermant. Date: 5 August 1865.
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