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Zurich Herald, 1956-10-11, Page 7"What A Funny Way To Die" Some 18,300 feet up on the desolate Barun glacier in the Himalayas was the camp of the New Zealand Alpine Club's 1954 expedition, a solitary speck in a vast snow waste of peaks. Jim el'arlane and Brian Wilkins had been out surveying. Sir Ed - Inland. Hillary, 1953 conqueror of Everest, crawled out of his tent, searched the glacier for them, but saw nothing. He'd told them to get back early, but now the afternoon was nearly gone, the weather was dell and gloomy. What could they be doing? At 5.30 Wilkins staggered back alone, his face covered with blood. "Where's Jim?" Hillary asked. "We fell clown a crevasse. I got out, but Jim is still down there." They were nearing a crest on the glacier, he explain- ed, when they stepped on a thin crust of Snow and plunged into deep, loose snow, 60 feet down in the narrow bottom of a cre- vasse. His snow glasses had cut his forehead and he had trouble keeping .the blood out of his eyes. McFarlane had difficulty in moving at all, and would need help. Wilkins had worked his way along the crevasse, wriggling through small ice passages, scrambling along a snowy ledge, cutting steps in the walls, and at last, after two hours' nerve- racking work, managed to claw *his way to the surface. Realizing that the hole in the glacier had to be found before darkness fell, Hillary bundled together ropes, food, water and two sleeping bags and set out with five Sherpas. It was almost dark when he found the hole, wriggled slowly over to it on his stomach, and shouted: "Hel- lo, Jim!" McFarlane called back faint- ly. He thought he'd broken a finger, and felt thirsty. Hillary lowered a rope, but McFarlane didn't seem able to get it. So he decided to have himself low- ered on two ropes and tie Mc- Farlane to one. The Sherpas _ could haul them up in turn. Sir Edmund describes the en- suing ordeal in an epic chron- icle of high endeavour, "East of Everest." As•he dropped into the hole he realized that he had mis- takenly tied the ropes round his waist instead of round his thighs. The rope was crushing his chest and restricting his breathing. Slowly, in a series of heavy jerks, the Sherpas lowered him until he could touch one of the walls, then for some reason they. stopped, leaving him hanging, gasping like a fish. Twisting frantically to ease the strain, he knew he couldn't last for long like that and began thinking: "What a funny way to die." As the Sherpas still ignored his shouts to lower him farther, he called out for them to pull him up. He gained height as the Sherpas pulled with all their strength, then jammed under the crevasse's overhanging lip, the rope, ,cutting into the edge, holding him immovably Tugging like,madmen, they tried to wrenchim free. He could feel his ribs bending under the rope pressure, and a sharp pain in his side. The smooth, slippery ice gave no purchase to his clawing hands, but he man- aged to get an arm over the top, then his oilier elbow, and they pulled him out "like a cork from a bottle." When he had recovered he shouted down: "We may have to leave you down there for the night, Jim. If we lower down a couple of sleeping bags do you think you ' will be all right?" McFarlane replied weakly, yes, so the bags were lowered. This time he got the rope; so Hillary called down to him to tie • it round him, then signalled the Sherpas to pull, But again the rope stopped, with McFerlan'fe jammed under the overhang as Hillary had been. Hillary tried jerking to free it—in vain. Stretching down. he just managed to touch Me- Farlane's hand. Then dreadful choking sounds told ;theni that they'd have to lower him down again, quickly. When he reached bottom Hil- lary shouted to Jim to crawl into the sleeping bags for the night, then anchored the 'rope -end solidly into the ice and started back to camp. "I felt bruised and weak and it was painful to breathe," Hil- lary says, "but worse than this was the awful sense of shame in having to leave poor McFarlane sixty feet down in the ice." At 4.30 a.m. he was up again to retu ti to the hole, this time with Wilkins as well, Now there was a fall of driving snow which could prove disastrous. He shout- ed down, and to his intense re- lief heard McFarlane call out that he'd had a good night, but was feeling cold and thirsty. As there was now danger of dis- lodging the corniced edge and engulfing McFarlane, Wilkins offered to descend again by the route by which he'd escaped. After making a sling for his thighs and arranging a • code of signals, ,they watched him climb into the second jagged hole fifty feet to the right. It seemed an eternity before he signalled. to be pulled back. He'd reached McFarlane, he said, but only af- ter great difficulty. The route was quite impossible for anyone unable to help himself. Instead of getting into his sleeping bags, McFarlane had just draped them over his knees. He'd taken off his gloves, and his hands were cold and stiff. He was obviously suffering from - concussion. Wilkins had tied a sling round him, and decided that the only chance was to lower a rope straight down the other hole and hope that Jim could clip it to the sling. • This was done, but again Mc- Farlane stuck under the over- hang, again he had to be lowered to the bottom. Now they decided to take the risk of cutting the edge away. Held on two ropes Wilkins and a Sherpa chipped away in small pieces, then they had another go at hauling him up. When yet again McFarlane jammed, Hillary, leaning hard out on the rope, stretched down, got a hand on the slings around his body, and with a mighty tug pulled him to safety. His battered hands were whit- ish -blue, frozen stiff like claws, his feet hard and lifeless. When the doctor was sum- moned from base he diagnosed mild concussion, badly bruised back with the chance of a minor fracture, very bruised ribs, frostbite in hands and feet and some fingers probably broken. Shortly afterwards, Hillary him- self was down with a severe illness. It was a miracle both had not died. How Can I? Q.How can I keep berries fresh for a longer time? A. Always dump fresh berries from the box into a plate or dish where the air can circulate through them. Q. How can I prevent window' screens from rusting, when they - are not made of copper or bronze? A. Wipe , them carefully' with machine oil. The odor of the oil will also• keep away mosquitoes and flies. Q. How can I remove tar from linen? A. Rub thoroughly with oil of turpentine, or lard, let it stand for 'awhile, and then wash in soap and hot water. 'TRAFFIC CASUALTY" — Minnie the Mannequin suffered mul- tiple "fractures", including a broken back and was "scalped" When a woman driver plowed her car into a dress shop, Mrs. Roby Warwick, the proprietor, found Minnie's "scalp„—a. bright blonde wig --in the debris and promptly glued it back in place DONT PASS THE BUCK — That's the message concerning fire prevention that this buck wants to convey to you concerning your conduct in the tinder -dry autumn woods.. A long-time resident of Katandin Stream camp ground, he seems to be studying one of the signs erected throughout the park system as a reminder to "keep Maine green". TIW FAM FRONT Farmers are among the first do-it-yourself experts — from necessity. Many times in • the past they have had to improvise to meet minor emergecies—but today they find modern tools and know-how ready to make their do -it -themselves jobs easi-. er and farm living more pleas- ant. * * * Bringing this good news to farmers is the purpose of "Oper- Agee eeeteteee seeteere DRESSY DENIM—Once banished to heavy duty on farm and in factory, blue denim is taking a step up the ladder of fashion. Casual coat, above, has straight and narrow cut, with huge patch pockets. ation Farm Improvement," a program sponsored by the Thor Power Tool Company. Focus of the program will be a "research center for better farm living," a • $250,000 "farm shop" at Huntley, Ill., northwest of Chicago. * To open the enter to the public the Thor company invit- ed Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson to speak. In addi- tion, more than 200 agricultural authorities from colleges and universities across the country have been asked to participate in a seminar on ".Power Farm- ing—a Better Way of Life." * * In the Thor "model farm shop," set up on a 160 -acre farm, more than 2,000 tools, machines, and accessories made by 50 dif- ferent manufacturers have been assemuled for leisurely inspec- tion. "Many farmers have not re- alized that they now have enough machinery around the farm to warrant their owning specialized tools for mainten- ance," Neil C. Hurley, Jr., com- mented here to newsmen. "To- dey, with fewer farmers work- ing bigger farins and feeding :More and more people, it is in - creasingly important for them to save time — and make their work easier where they can. * * * "Many of them, without city worker factory experience, do not know that there are power tools that could help them," he said. Still others, he added, do not know that with some tools they could attempt major repairs and improvements to their homes. * * * Quoting Department of Com- . merce figures of 1950 that 4,319,- 000 farm homes out of 6,187,000 queried reported they do not have home plumbing, Mr. Hur- ley explained: "We want to show farmers that with tools they can cut three-inch holes through' a wall or. a concrete foundation; that they cah go ahead with home plumbing or other im- . provements with the same kind of equipment they can use prof- • itably in the barn for repairs." • * * * Many farmers are aware, he acknowledged, that power equip- ment power mowers, belt lifts for grain, grinders for forage, and so on — are worth far more than their cost in this period of high hued -man wages. But few, he argued, have realized that maintenance of this increasing investment in equipment is as vital as owning it. "The farmer is still making bailing-wi:e re- pairs in a jet -plane age," com- pany representatives reiterated from time to time. + * * * No one as yet is ready to set down on paper a "minimum list" of the tools the farmer presum- ably needs around the home- stead, for every farmland region has its own specialized equip- ment. No one rack of tools could be expected to repair them all. What's A Oarthl an? Or A Fagg Manager? Napoleon described the Eng- lish as a nation of shopkeepers, but that was because he never had a look into the government's new handbook called "Classifi- cation of Occupations," Published by the Stationery Office and available to the pub- lic for 30 shillings, it lists the thosuands of occupations by which Englishmen who .are not shopkeepers earn their steak pies and Yorkshire puddings. The occupations are listed ac- cording to industry but no de- scription of the individual job is given, leaving the reader to 'make what he will of some curious -- and often rather frightening—names. What for example is a fang manager, a bogie man, a back stripper„ a small bruiser, a lyncher, a sticker -up, and a head setter -out? They are workers in the min- ing, pottery, and leather dress- ing industries. A fang manager in coal min- ing looks after ventilation; a bogie man handles coal trucks; and a back stripper breaks coal underground. A small bruiser in the metal industry pulverizes samples of ore with a hammer. A lyncher fastens movable limbs in the soft toy trade. A sticker -up fixes pieces of pot- tery such as spouts on teapots; and a head setter -out stretches leather. Then there are the gay sprites who toil at being joy loaders and bobby lads. A joy loader loads coal onto trucks, and bobby lads measure work done by the miners. Picture the thin miner, • the fat boy, the endless rope boy, and the hip and valley maker. The thin miner works on thin coal seams, the fat boy is a ju- venile, unskilled general work- er in the coal mines and the endless rope boy attaches dr de- taches the trucks to "endless" ropes. Hip and valley are names of curved roof tiles. A pan doctor repairs convey- ors in a coal mine and a pud- dler lays bricks above or below ground. The -mumbler is another name for a glassblower. Then there are the trolloper and the whammeller. A trol- loper catches shrimps on the . east English coast and a wham- * * * But the company nonetheless feels that several tools are ba- sic. An electric drill is known by almost everyone as a tool . almost as useful as a can open- er. But fewer know, and this company plans to tell the farm-' land family, that an "impact wrench" may be even more prac- tical. (Fitted with a drill, an impact wrench does not stall when it his rough going. Instead, a clutch mechanism continues to deliver pounding blows on the cutter, pushing it, without a re- action force on the operator, through thick wood or concrete.) * * *. Electric sanders, pneumatic spike drivers, auto and tractor valve refacers, hoists, presses, and electric grinders are among the other items these experts recommend for a farm shopping list. meller fishes for salmon or sea treat in estuaries, using a spec cial drift net, Here's a riddle: What's a rud- dlernan? A hwsmOn? A Barth- man? Answer: a ruddleman brand& sheep, a hwsmon is a headman on a Welsh farm and a garth- man is a herdsman. Tongue twisters are the stack thatcher and thistle spuddler Ort the farrn, No guesswork about the crow scares, the Colorado bettle Op- erator or the root grubber. The warping worker clears out ditches. For the chap who is a drown- er, no sympathy and flowers. He just floods pasture and Other land. Other occupations are listed with what appears to be un- called for editorial comment- the pushover man, rat assistant, thickset cutter, shoddy grinder, sleeper pickier. Then from out of the charm- ing past there are the whale- bone straightener and the corset threader. For further queries a "profes- sion solutionist" is at your serv- ice. Paid The Rent In Red Roses A fine red rose, freshly pluc- ked from the garden of the Port of London Authority in historic Seething Lane, was taken re- cently to the Mansion House and ceremonially handed to the Lord Mayor of London. A sim- ilar ceremony takes place every year, but few people know the origin of the custom and why the gift must always be a rose. It is because way back in the fourteenth century a lovely woman defied the building re- gulations. She was the wife of Sir Robert Knollys, a distin- guished knight who fought with the Black Prince at Crecy While he was away fighting in the wars his wife decided to carry out a little impt'Ove- ment scheme in their garden. She had a footbridge built across the public way to con- nect two parts of the garden which was very close to Seeth- ing Lane. As a result, the City author- ities took swift action. They fined Sir Robert, ordering him to surrender to them every year a red rose picked from his gar- den. Red roses were also used to pay rents centuries ago in Eng- land. In the reign of Edward I more than ten per cent of the recorded tenures were held on an annual rent of one red rose. For this fall's bride who is busy planning a color scheme for her new home, here is a tip that will make things easier: choose the drapery material first. Then you can take your cue from the colors in the fabric when painting walls and selecting furnishings. AWAY ALL SCOOTERS — Two -adventurous ladies plan to cross the English Channel the "easy" way—on a water scooter. The show girls, Kay Harris, front, and Una Denton, will scoot from Calais to Dover—they hope. The machine has a speed of 20 knots, and will automatically slow and circle back if the riders fall off. The pair is shown, above, on practice run at Folkestone, England. PILED FOR THE DURATION — The old hospital truism that more babies are born during sx,t,;ty weather than on calm days got a big boost at Ryukyus Hospital on Okinawa durinr ee recent Typhoon Emma, Some of the 14 new arrivals who blew in with the storm are shr win In an emergency evacuation shelter, sound asleep in their desk -and -file -drawer beds. Cribs were brought from the hospital proper when the storm abated.