Sullivan republican. [volume] (Laporte, Pa.) 1883-1896, 1890-02-07

Inen Que SGruck JIG ueaVy DrOCks VI
stone with duh ring. We took turns
as sentinel, while the other two slept,
and soon after midnight all was quiet.
1t was 10 o'clock next morning before
we were troubled again. Then the
members of the old gang seemed to have
been added to, and fifty or moremuskets
kept up pretty steady fire until 8
o'clock in the afternoon. By this time
we ought to have been all shot'to pieces,
as the bullets had cut throughaevery foot
of the Jungle. The natives believed it
was time to advanceand see. We could
locate them by their.loud talk and con-
slant dissensions, and when we found
that all had gathered on the eastern
edge of the thicket and were about
to advance, we climbed out, crept
forward, and lay down behind big
block of stone to receive them. They
entered the thicket as a mob would have
done, and the first three men sighted
were dropped in their tracks. This
caused a panic, sand they Withdrew, and
aside from fewAstray shots fired to let
us know that we were still .besieged, we
were not annoyed until next morning.
Then we heard great hurrah, and after
a little were given the information that
they had brought down the two pieces of
artillery from the station to shell us out.
They were very slowtn getting to work,
and when they began firing it was plain
enough that they. knew nothing about
artillery. On the first four shells fired,
all went too high and burst far beyond
us. The fifth one burst,short and threw
the dirt over our walls. Then we de-
cided to cool their ardor bit. We
climbed over the walls, got out of the
line of fire, and crept to the edge of the
thicket. There we saw mob of over
hundred natives with the two guns
planted within pistol shot. One of
them had become d;Sabled by ramming
the ball down before the cartridge, and
the other was about to be fired. We Sc
lected three of the gunners, fired togeth-
er, and they fell dead on the grass. Be-
fore the gang could get out of range we
killed two more and wounded
third. Then Wilds ran forward
under cover of our rifles and
spiked both pieces by driving
some nails, which he happened to have
in his pocket, into the vents. Seeing a
move to flank us we returned to our
shelter, and all the rest of that day and
all night were left in peace. On the
third day there were but twenty natives
in the besieging force, and they fred
into the thicket only at long intervals.
On the fourth day this force was re-
duced to ten. At noon Wilds made a
scout and found them eating dinner, and
we crept up and killed one and wounded
two, and consequently raised the siege.
We could have gone away now had we
had any place to go to, but we had de-
cided to remain.
On the fifth day, about 9 o'clock in
the morning, rabble of about 900 ma
on their way to Cawnpoor, were turned
aside to attack us. Each one had gun
ap1 ,,la,fu If oyn,rup;<;,p ooI Co. -.
hours they kept up creditable fire.
They could see nothing to shoot at, but
fired into the thicket, and at least five
hundred bullets hit the walls of our
fortress. We did not fire in reply, as it
would only have betrayed our position.
At noon, when their fire began to
slacken, we made ready for charge.
There were two spare guns, and all
well loaded. Then, while waiting,
Wilds piled up couple of hundred
stones about the size of his fist from
the plentiful supply once used in the
rubble work of the buildings. The
thicket was surrounded two lines deep,
and at a signal general advance was
made. Had we been without cover we
should have been killed or captured.
When they saw our fort the orders were
to storm it. The walls were so low that
one could "boost' another up. and be-
fore we opened fire there was living
fringe all around us. In one minute only
the dead were in sight. Wilds fired
once and then resorted to the rocks, and
l honestly believe he disabled dozen
men. Four of the killed fell into the en-
closure, and the bodies of two more were
pushed outside.
This ended the fighting. The rabble
went off, and for the next ten days not
native came near us. At the end of that