The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-08-30
THE TOCHI DISASTER.

| We have received, says the London Times, the following extracts from the First Punjab Infantry, who was present at the conflict with the Waziris In the Tochi valley. The account shows the conspicuous gallantry with which
 the native troops behaved:
 Briefly, what happened was this: Gee the Political Officer, asked Col. Bunny, First Sikhs, commanding in the Tochi valley, to come out with a force to assist him in collecting revenue, and 1 imposing a fine on a tribe called Madda Kheis, who had been implicated in an attack on an escort from one of our posts The affair was to be sort of picnic, with the further object of show | ing the Waziris the strength of our garrison. The escort started in early morning on the 10th, composed as fol- lows Col. Bunny and 200 rifles of the First Sikhs under Lieut., Higginson; | r from our detachment at Data Khel, under Lieut. c. L. Seton Browne; and ] four 3-5-inch screw guns, under Capt. Browne and Lieut.. Crookshank Having settled business, the battery was un- | limbered, the sepoys allowed to rest, | but, fortunately, not to pile arms, and | the British officers sat down to eat tifiin 1 and smoke under some trees near village Food for Mussulman sepoys was brought and given out by the | Waziris. Suddenly, about 2. D. m., a man was observed to appear on the roof of house and wave his sword. A 1 shot was immediately fired as sig | nal, and the troops, at once alarmed, fell in, while the officers ran for their belts, or, in some cases, dashed off to their men without them. (Why did they ever take them off ?
 At once number of shots were fired from the village into the officers
 Browne of ours fell first shot through the thigh; next, Colonel Bunny, shot through the stomach. Browne of the battery and Crookshank were both killed at their guns, which had at once Iopened fire. Colonel Bunny told off our Sikh company, under Sub Sundar Singh, and a company of the First Sikhs to hold a wall, on which the Waziris, who were now firing and rush. ing in from all sides, were making a determined attack, in order to capture the guns. The gallantry of the men at that wall can hardly be surpassed. Un- der native officers, with only twenty rounds in pouch, they held with bay onet and rifie-fire against five times their number of foes, losing one-third of their number in killed and wounded.
 One man of ours bayoneted two men, who were rushing on Sundar Singh.
 A little Sikh bugler seized a dead
 mans rifle, and loaded and fired as steadily as any of them. The guns had
 now ceased firing q do not think that
 they had brought more than seven
 rounds per gun)-they fired case and
 reversed schrapnel-were limbered up, and retired to position where all the
 rest of the force had been ordered to
 retire by Col. Bunny. In limbering up, the gunner, carrying one wheel, was
 shot; and yet, under these difficulties,
 and with men dropping right and left,
 all was brought safely to the first posi-
 tion. Seton Browne was picked up by
 a Khatah Pathan of ours and carried
 off to the position, and Bunny, Browne,
 and Crookshank were all carried off safely by their men. All except Seton Browne and Higginson (who had been
 shot twice in the arm while leading his men back to the position), were now
 hors de combat being dead, or so near | death as to be unable to do anything
 The guns being now safe and position
 taken up, the two companies were
 ordered to retire by sections, which
 they did with the utmost steadiness
 Sundar Singh and the native officer
 First Silkhs remaining with the last section were now both shot-our pool
 chap, who was one of our best native officers, being killed at once, the other native officer wounded Most of oul . Sikhs who were killed were young
 sters of eighteen or nineteen years, who
 had done their recruits musketry un.
 der me last year. The greater number of the dead and wounded mems rifle:
 were brought back by our men.
 The command now devolved on Setor Browne, who, although unable to walk got himself taken about by two men
 resting on their shoulders. Higginson though the bones of hls arm wer' , shattered by two bullets, tied it up and walked as if nothing had happened l The enemy, now numbering over { 3 . thousand men, were able, on account O 5 | commanding heights on either side t
 turn position after position, ant D Browne, who had sent cavalry int 5 Datta khel (fifteen miles off) to brinE