"Woman Plunges To
Death, Lured By Dizzy Height".
"Crying "Save
Me", Seattle Teacher Falls 800 Feet Head-long From Pinnacle Peak".
"Broken , Crushed Body Is
Carried Four Miles".
"Miss Charlotte Hunt Is
Victim of Tragedy of Final Y.M.C.A. Camping Party".
reads the headlines from the
August 13, 1912 , The Tacoma Tribune, Tacoma,Washington.
The article goes on to state
" Crying "Save me", in a shriek that rang out far and wide over
Paradise Valley, Miss Charlotte Hunt, school teacher of Seattle, plunged from a
height near the Summit of Pinnacle peak on Mount Tacoma, yesterday forenoon and
fell 800 feet to her death on the rocks below. She had stepped to the edge of
the precipice to look out and the peculiar fascination of the height seemed to
draw her on. Miss Hunt was a member of the Y.M.C.A. party of climbers that had
all but concluded its 10 days' camp on the mountain".
"In her fall, she first
struck head-long on a jutting rock just below where she had stood, and this
first blow probably was the fatal one. Her body then hurtled and bounded with
increasing momentum, passing two men on the trail below and finally bringing up
on the rocks 800 feet lower down in the valley". The party had just left
the summit for the return, having mad a good climb, when the accident occurred.
Unnerved by the tragedy, the girls of the party were well-nigh helpless in the
face of the task of making the descent, but were calmed and quilted by the men
and impressed with the necessity of making their own way in safety. Let down by
the men from crag to crag, they
finally reached the bottom".
"H. R. Carter, physical
director of the Y.M.C.A. and leader of the party, accompanied by Frank Walton of
the Tacoma Y.M.C.A., F.W. Hanawait
of the University of Puget Sound and George Scott of Portland, made all possible
haste to the foot of the steep, where they were joined by Walter Hart of Tacoma
and W. A. Eller of Victoria, past whom Miss Hunt's body had hurtled in its
flight.
They found the body lodged
among the rocks. Nearly all of the bones were broken and the skull was
split".
"Improvising a litter from
their alpenstocks and the wrist thongs with which they secured , the six men
commenced the arduous trip over snow fields and cragged rock to the road four
miles distant, carrying the body . It
took them three hours, Miss Hunt was a woman who weighed 180 pounds and the
journey was exhaustive". At
the road the litter bearers were met by a large baggage automobile, provided by
Manager, William Nish of Tacoma Baggage company, which took the body to camp and
from there , with Frank Zellusky as driver , Mr. Carter and the body made the
trip to Tacoma at frightful speed. completing the journey in three hours and a
half .The body was taken to the Hoska- Buckley-King undertaking establishment and Miss Hunt's mother, Mrs. Atkinson of Tama,
IA was notified by telegraph. So far as known, Miss Hunt had no relatives in
this section of the country. She was about 30 years old. The coroner was
notified and a written report prepared for the superintendent of parks".
"Mr. Carter returned to
the camp immediately this morning , having arrived only last night at midnight.
The campers decided last night that they would remain and break camp Thursday
morning, as they had planned". "They
were pretty much unnerved , said Mr. Carter, who himself appeared worn and
haggard from the experience, "but they acted right nobly and last night
decided to take the day for getting their baggage together and to come back
Thursday. The boys acted like Trojans in getting the body that terrible trip
over the rocks and snowfields. They expended every atom of energy that was in
them. I cannot say too much for them".
The party was the third Y.M.C.A.
part of the season and the trip up Pinnacle peak was the last regular climb
before the ascent of the summit was to have been attempted. Miss Hunt had made
the climb across the Nisqually glacier and had seemed to enjoy it and the climb
up Pinnacle peak was entirely successful. The fascination of the view from the
heights seemed to draw her on as she stepped to the edge to look and before
anyone could reach her, although she was in sight of the whole party, she was
gone".
"The members of the party
had had a merry climb , Miss Hunt being one of the merrier. She had been in a
particularly happy mood the night before. She had proved an entire success at
climbing in the crossing of the Nisqually glacier, which was even more difficult
than the Pinnacle peak climb. A number of girls of the party had made the trip
before and it was not considered dangerous. Two of the Y.M.C.A. trips have been
made previously this summer and on each occasion , just before the final ascent
, in which the hardiest have climbed to the summit, large groups gave climbed to
the top of Pinnacle peak. At the summit the members of the party had their
pictures taken by Homer Blair, official photographer of the camp and all
registered in the Y.M.C.A. book which had been at the top".
"It was after we had
started back, said Mr. Carter , that Miss Hunt stepped on the brink of the
precipice to look out and she must simply have been overpowered by the peculiar
fascination of the height and have gone right on forward". She cried,
"Save me", so that it could be heard everywhere around. It was without
warning and was unavoidable. Miss Hunt who was a large woman, weighing about 180
pounds, simply lunged forward and there was no saving her. We had left camp at
about 8 o'clock and all reached the top about 11:15 or so in top shape".
"Miss Hunt had been a
teacher in the West Seattle school for two years. She went to Seattle from
Davenport IA, where she had taught since her graduation from the Iowa normal
school at Cedar Falls, half a dozen years or so before. Miss Hunt's work was
with the seventh grade and she was rated as a very successful teacher. Ambitious
for improvement, she had spent the summer in the summer school of the University
of Washington, working for the degree of Bachelor of Arts and several of the
other campers were companions , who had been associated with her in the
university , but there were none of them who knew the details of her family
connections. Miss Hunt was an active religious worker and was connected with the
West Seattle Congregational church, where she was a teacher in the Sunday
school. She had been a member of the Y.M.C.A. in Iowa. Her residence was at 2884
California Avenue , West Seattle".
In another follow up article on
August 15, 1912 the head line reads above a photo reads
MISS CHARLOTTE HUNT , WHO
FELL TO DEATH, TOP WOMAN AT THE RIGHT
Y.M. C.A party near the top of
Pinnacle peak, on the ascent. This photograph was taken half and hour before the
accident. Mount Adams is seen in the distance. H. R. Carter, who rescued the
body, is the man whose face can be seen at the lower right hand corner of the
group of climbers.
Suspense more awful than the
announcement of the tragedy paralyzed the Y.M.C.A. camp at Paradise valley for
hours Monday while the body of Miss Charlotte Hunt, borne in many places by
Physical Director H. R. Carter alone, was being carried through the boulders and
snowfields.
Pinnacle peak is in full view
from the Y.M.C.A. camp and the climbers as they scoot down the snow in the long
slide at the foot of the final steep, can be readily seen outlined against the
whiteness. Monday, however, according to members of the party, the climbers were
so long in appearing again at the top of the snowfield, after they first came
into view for the descent that something was known to be wrong. Then when they
appeared at the top of the white incline and began marching slowly down instead
of sliding, the suspense became such that is was almost a relief , when word was
received telling definitely of Miss Hunt's tragic fall.
Where the body lodged, it was
accessible to but one person, so
that H. R. Carter, leading the rescue party, was compelled to go in alone and
lift the body weighing 180 pounds to his own shoulders and carry it out. In
other narrow places also, he was compelled to carry it by himself, doing work
that his fellows report as heroic. Although he weighs no more than 175 pounds
himself, Mr. Carter has had long experience in packing in Alaska and elsewhere,
so that it is said he can "carry anything he can get on his back."
The campers broke up their
quarters at Paradise valley this morning and will arrive in Tacoma tonight.
Miss Hunt's father, who is now
on his way from Iowa to take the body back with him, telegraphed from Omaha to
General Secretary Harry Booth of the Y.M. C. A. that he would arrive in Tacoma
on Saturday.
August 16, 1912
CAMPERS RETURN FROM FATEFUL
Y.M.C.A. TRIP
Members of Party Caught in
Snowstorm on Mountain Height
Following their memorable
mountain trip, pleasant until marred by the death of Miss Charlotte Hutn, who
fell from Pinnacle peak, the members of the third and last Y.M.C.A. camping
party of the year returned home last night on the Tacoma Eastern.
Nine of the party climbed to
the summit Tuesday, starting Monday night at midnight. They were overtaken on
their return by a blinding snow storm, but had passed Gibraltar rock and were
not exposed to danger. The nine who made the ascent were George T. Crockett, R.
Lond, Carl Caddy, B.T. Longsno,
George R. Scott, O.L. Lance,
Sam Barrett, S. W. Hanawait and W. R. Waterman. They were met below Muir on
their return by 13 of the remaining Y.M. C. A. campers.
Although the tragedy cast a
gloom about the camp, it was thought best to keep up the daily walks than to sit
about the camp. The climbers to the summit were passed several times by the
party of 10 under the guidance of R. H. Tuell, who ascended to the summit on the
same day.
August 17, 1912
BOTH CHARLOTTE HUNT'S
PARENTS COME FOR BODY
Elderly People Bereaved by
Pinnacle Peak Accident Reach City
The father and mother of Miss
Charlote Hunt, who was killed by falling from Pinnacle peak last Monday, Mr. and
Mrs. J. R. Atkinson of Tama Iowa, arrived in Tacoma last night to take the body
back with them.
After viewing the body they
went to Seattle on the sorrowful mission of collecting Miss Hunt's belongings.
Returning to Tacoma, they will start with the body Monday evening taking it to
Jefferson, Iowa. Mr. Atkinson was Miss Hunt's stepfather.
August 19, 1912
MISS HUNT'S BODY TO BE TAKEN
TOMORROW
Parents of Victim of Pinnacle
Peak Accident in Seattle
The body of Miss Charlotte Hunt
, victim of the tragedy of Pinnacle Peak, will be taken East probably tomorrow
by her parents , Mr. and Mrs. J. R. Atkinson, who are in Seattle today settling
Miss Hunt's affairs and gathering her belongings. They are expected back in
Tacoma probably tonight. It was originally expected that they would be back
today.
August 20, 1912
FUNERAL SERVICE HELD OVER
MISS HUNT'S BODY
Father of Pinnacle Peak Victim
Appreciates Western Sympathy
Following a brief funeral
service this afternoon, the body of Miss Charlotte Hunt, who was killed by a
fall from Pinnacle peak a week ago, will start for the East late tonight,
accompanied by Miss Hunt's parents,
Mr. and Mrs. J. R. Atkinson of
Tama, Iowa. The body will be taken to the old home of the family at Jefferson,
Iowa for burial.
This morning's service was held
at the Hoska-Buckley-King chapel. It was attended by a large group of Miss
Hunt's church and school associates from Seattle and by several of the party
which made the trip on which Miss Hunt met her death. The service was conducted by the Rev. E. Tremay Dunstan ,
pastor of the West Seattle Congregational church , in which Miss Hunt was an
efficient worker and Sunday school teacher.
"Some day the Silver Cord
Will Break" was sung as a duel by C. Barnes and E. B. King, and " Son
of
My Soul, Thou Savior
Dear", as a trio by Mr.
Barnes, Mr. King and W. B. Buckley.
"I have had severe trials in my life before", said Mr. Atkinson , " but I never was anywhere that I met so much sympathy and hospitality among strangers. My every need has been anticipated".
