The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-10-12
A PICTURE OF A BATTLE.
osT MAIL ACCOUNT OF THE
SCENES AT OMDURMAN.


,yas no sound from the plain Or
buls before us; there was hardly
'' from our own line. Everybody was
- silent. but very curious. Would they
20 mad as to come out and run their
10 into our fire? 1t seemed beyond hop
e,r. vet certainly they had been full
- mar the day before. But most of
~ we're expecting instantly the order to
odysnce on Omdurman-
+rooner rose out of the dimness from be
,.,1 the shoulder of Gebel Surgham, grew
I.rsar and palmer, spurred violently up to
,l., line and inside. A couple more were
su,ouetted across our front Then the
electric whisper came racing down the
r,e they we're coming. The Lancers
came 10 on the left; the Egyptian mount
"A troops drew like curtain across us
f.,ro left TO right. AS they passed a
aioler of white flags began to extend and
an tbe front in their place. The noise
Of something began TO creep in upon us; 1T
cleared and divided into the tap of drums
and The far-away surf of raucous war
,rfes A SILVER of expectancy thrilled
along our army, and then sign OF con-
tent They were coming on. Allan help
them they were coming on.
n was now $780, The flags seemed still
verv distant the roar very faint, and the
hind of our first gun was almost start
ing II may have startled them, too, but
n swung forward and mass of white
living linen swung forward with it, too.
Then came very fast, and they came very
Straight; and then presently they came no
further. With a crash the bullets leaped
ouf of the British rifles. 1t began with
4 the Guards and the UNSATISFACTORY vol
4 l4ys at 2000 yards then, as the dervishes
edged rightward, il ran along to the High
landers The Lincolns and to MaXWelPS
a BRIGADE The British stood up in double
rank behind their zariba; the blacks lay
4 down in their shelter trench; both poured
out death as fast as they could load and
a rress trigger Shrapnel whistled and
a Maxims growed savagely. From all the
N line came perpetual fire, fire, fire, ana
shrieked forth in great gusts of destruc-
ton.
81 And the enemy? No white trooper would
"A have faced that torrent of death for five
n minutes but the Baggara and the blacks
q came on The torrent swept into them
a and hurled them down in whole COM
panies. You saw a rigid line gather itself
up and rush on evenly; then before a
shrapnel shell or a Maxim the line sud
denly quvered and stopped. The line
was yet unbroken, but it was quite still.
But other lines gathered up again, again.
and yet again; they went down, and yet
6 others rushed on. Sometimes they came
q near enough to see single figures quite
plainly. One old man with a white flag
started with five comrades; all dropped,
but he alone came bounding forward to
within 200 yards of the Fourteenth Sou
danese. Then he folded his arms across
"a his face and his limbs loosened and he
dropped sprawling to earth beside his
n flag.
n 1t was the last day of Mahdism, and the
N greatest. They could never get near and
a they refused to hold back. BY now the
~ ground before us was all white with dead
mems drapery. Rifles grew red hot; the
soldiers seized them by the sings and
N dragged them back to the reserve to
change for cool ones. 1t was not bat
~ tie, but an execution.
Thus much for the right; on the left the
a British cavalry were in the stress of an
engagement less perfectly conducted. even
& more hardly fought out. They left the
zariba, as you heard, the moment the at
N tack burned out, and picked eagerly off
q TO Omdurman. Verging somewhat west
ward, to the rear of Gebel Surgham they
came on some 800 derVishes. Their scouts
had been over the ground 1000 yards ahead
Of them and it was clear for a charge.
4 only to cut them off 1t was thought bet
Ter to get little west of them, then left
wheel, and thus gallop down on them and
"a oflve them away from their supports. The
uumpets rang out the order, the troops
a gided into line, and, four squadrons in
a columns, the Twenty-f1ret Lancers swung
N INTO their first charge.
Knee to knee they swept on till they
q were but 200 yards from the enemy. Then
a suddenly-then in a fash-they saw the
q trap Between them and the 300 there
yaWned suddenly a deep raVine; out of
the ravine there sprang instantly a cloud of
dark heads and a brandished lightning of
n swords and a thunder of savage voices.
n Mahmud smiled when he heard the tale
IN prison at Halfa, and said it was their
IaVorite stratagem. 1t had succeeded.
4 Three thousand, If there was one, to a
snort 500; but 1t was to late to check now.
Must go through with it now! The blund-
eIs Of British cavalary are the fertile seed
Of British glory; knee to knee the lancers
"mrl on. One hundred yards-fifty-
knee to knee
Slap! 1T was just like that" said a
q captain, bringing his fist hard into his
q open palm. Through the swordsmen they
snore without checking-and then came
s. tne khor. The colonel at their head, rid
q ing straight through everything without
sword or revolver drawn. found his morse
& on its head and the swords swooping
ABOUT his own. He got the charger up
again and rode on straight, unarmed,
through everything. The squad
I9hs followed him down the fail.
horses plunged, Numbered, recovered, fell;
ueryishes on the ground lay for the ham
sulnsins cut; officers p stoied them in pass
ing over, as one drops a stone into a
bucket; troopers thrust till ances broke,
IIen cut; everybody went on straight
through everything
ana through everything clean out the
o'ner side they came-those that kept up
vi got up in time. The others We're on
me ground-in pieces by now, for the cruel
sword shore through shoulder and thigh,
ana carved the dead into fillets. Twenty
l0ur Oh these, and of those that came out
slEenty-four had felt sword or bullet or
spear Few horses staid behind among the
swords, but nearly 1870 were wounded
hIluI Robert Grenfelps troops cams on
pace with jump out as well as a jump
u lost officer, center guide, and both
"'NA guides ten killed, and eleven
"yunaed. Yet when they burst struggling
out The only thought was to rally and
I'm so M again. Rally, No. pr yelled a ser
i1nI so mangled across the face that
aus aus DO ny was a cascade of blood, and nose
..gl eheeks tapped hideously as he yelled,
Il