Three Men Killed by an Avalanche.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue III, 6 August 1891, Page 3

Three Men Killed by an Avalanche.

News was received of a sad affair on the Eyeburn Rangos, which it is fearedi has resulted in the loss of three if not. four, 1 livei; It appears that on Fridaya yffung lad named Meikle, about 15 years of age, was lo3t $!• the ranges, The weather was verj^gjte, 'and' a search party was at Among' the search pfwtyvwas'a brother of the lad jfwho was lost and two others named "Blanehftrdand Beer. They started out on Saturday morning to search for the missing lad, and were out all day. Not returning in the evening the greatest -anxiety prevailed, and

t esterday morning further search 1 parties were organised, and a de- • termined attempt- made to find them, t A cap, which was identified as bef longing to one of the young men, I was found on a ridge on the ranges, l« and a closer search revealed the fact > that the three had either fallen over » the cliff, some 50ft high, or, what j seems move probable, that while . standing near the edge of a cliff aI slip had occurred, carrying the young I men with it. The three were found : buried under some 15ft of snow and i mullock. It is understood that the ; three were dead when discovered, but on this point the information re- • ceived is not definite. The bodies of Alphonso Beer, aged 20, Robert Blanchard, 20, and i James Meikle, 18, have been disi covered. B^anchard, was found em- ; bedded in 6ft or 7ft of snow, about a • chain from where Beer's body was i found, while Miekle was discovered ; some 20 or 80 yards further up. The i body of I homas Miekle, aged 14, has '. not yet been discovered. The three first named belonged to a Star search '. party of nine, and disappeared from . their companions' view by the snow giving from under them, and eonv pletely enveloping them in the avalanch which slipped for fully 400 yards down the mountain side into a gully, and then was was precipitated i with awful velocity over a perpen- ■ dioular cliff cliff 50 feet in depth. i The bodies were discovered yesteri clay by a search party of 200 men i from Kyebum. Blanchard and Beer wore evidently killed outright from • the fall, but Meikle's body showed , no marks of injury, and it is thought ; he must have lived some time alter , reaching the bottom. — Press Asso--1 ciation.