The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-08-30
BEAT THE DUTCH.
Routed by the Rajah of
Lembok.
LED THEM INTO A TRAP.
Where They Were Attacked in
Front and Rear.
SAVAGES WHO COULD FIGHT.
Drove Back the HoIIanders to the
Capital of the Island With
Heavy Loss.
sAvAGEs WHO COULD FIGHT.

THE HAGUE, Aug. 90. - The Official
Journal today publishes dispatch show
ing that the disaster to the Dutch forces
operating against the Rajah of the island
OF Lembok, near Java. were much more
serious than at first supposed. The dis
patch says that General VetteT, the COM
mander of the expedition, was surprs ed
at II o'clock at night near the Tjakara Ne
CARA. The firing was continuous until
morning. and the Dutch in this engage
ment lost fourteen killed and fifty-five
wounded. As the water supply of the
column failed and foraging was impossi-
BILE, the Dutch troops were compelled TO
retreat toward MataTam, the capital of the
island. During the retreat the Dutch lost
heavily, being continually harassed by
the natives. and at one portion of the route
they found that barriers had been raised.
The distractions were so stoutly defended
by the native warriors that the troops
were unable to force passage. aud were
consequently compelled to make long de-
tour in order to avoid TIE blockaded route,
and in so doing they lost more men. The
Dutch succeeded in reaching Ampenan on
August 81, with total OF casualties far in
excess of the number first reported. The
killed mum bered four officers and fifty
three men; there were twelve officers and
154 men wounded, and six officers and 14S
men missing.
1t now appears that two other columns
of Dutch troops operating upon the same
island have sustained heavy losses and en-
dured much suffering. These are the
columns commanded by Colonels Van
Pabst and Bylovelt.
Later advices from Lembok say the at
tacks upon the different columns of Dutch
troops were the result of preconcerted
plan on the part of the leading native
chiefs in Balinez. Colonel Van Pabst's
column, after seeing the promises OF the
chiefs executed, was returning to the
Tjakara when it was attacked while ford
ing the river Babak by the Balinez
whose hostility was unexpected. The
column only succeeded in regaining the
road to Tjakara after sharp fighting and
heavy loss. After an hafassing retreat the
Van Pabst column was approaching
Tjakara without seeing any further signs
of the enemy, when suddenly from the
walls of the place, from every loophoe
and every point of vantage, hallstorm Of
bullets were poured into the column of
taken by surprise and began 10 falier.
To make matters worse the BalineZ had
no sooner opened fire upon the head of the
column than its rear was also exposed TO a
terrible rife fire. Thus the advance and
retreat of the column were alike cut off
and made impossible. The Dutch troops
were completely caught in a rat-trap am
bush, and had it not been that the night
fall came to their assistance there is little
doubt but the entire detachment would
have been massacred. As 1t was, under
cover of darkness the exhausted soldiers,
many of them badly wounded, succeeded
in reaching ADpenan. The Balinez cap
tured quantity Of arms, ammunition and
provisions In these engagements, and also
captured the guns and effects of General
Van Pun's force, they having been aban-
doned in order to save the wounded.
News Of the loss sustained by the Dutch
forces has caused great excitement
throughout Holland. and it is believed
when the losses of Van Pabst and Bylo-
velPs columns are added to those sus
tanned by The Vetter columns the loss in
killed, wounded and missing will be over
5O0
1t is admitted. even in military circles.
that the almost simultaneous defeat of The
three columns of troops is the most severe
reverse which the Dutch army has sus-
tanned at the hands of savage troops in all
it's wars ever fought The people are
clamoring for the latest news from Lom-
box, and the Government Is urged TO
promptly dispatch the strongest REINFORCE
ments possible to the island.
The Governor-General of the Dutch
Indies has summoned a council Of the
naval and military commanders, who arc
determining upon the decisive measures
to be taken in order to wipe out the de-
feats of the Dutch troops.
Five steamers carrying troops and field
guns leave Batavia, Java, for Lembok to-
morrow. and every effort will be made to
retrieve the disaster to the Dutch army.
AMSTERDAM Aug. 29.-The Dutch loss
in the engagement near Mataram, capital
OF the Island of Lembok, it now appears
included nine officers instead of thirty. as
announced in the dispatch 10 the NiueWe
Courant OF Rotterdam. The officers who
lost their lives Included General Van Ham.
The number of prvates and nou-commis
stoned officers killed or missing is e,ti-
mated at 175 TO 200.