Evening journal., 1898-09-05
FALL OF OMDURMAN.
Kitchener In Possession of the
Dervish Stronghold.
A DEATH BLOW DEALT TO MAHDISM
Terrible Onslaught of the savages Of No
Avail Against the Brilliant Defense
OF the sirdars Army-Khar-
tum Reported Fallen.

tum Reported Fallen.
OMDURMAN, Opposite Khartum, on
theNNile Nubia, Sept. o by Camel Post
10 Nasri.-The sirdar. General Sir Her
bert Kitchener. with the khalifa's black
standard, captured during the battle
entered Omdurman, the capital Of
mahdism, at o'clock this afternoon at
the head of the Anglo Egyptian column
after completely routing the dervishes
and dealing a death blow to mahdism.
Roughly. our losses were 200, while
thousands Of the dervishes were killed
or wounded.
Last night the Anglo Egyptian army
encamped at Agalza, eight miles from
Omdurman. The dervishes We're three
miles distant. At dawn today our cav
airy patrolllng toward Omdurman. dis
covered the enemy advancing TO the at
tack In battle array. chanting war
songs Their front consisted of infantry
and cavalry, stretched out for three or
four miles Countless banners fluttered
over their masses and the copper and
brass drums resounded through the SER
ried ranks Of the savage warriors, who
advanced unwaveringly with all their
old time ardor.
Our infantry formed up outside the
camp. On the left were the First bat
talon northumberland fuslleers, the
Second battalion Lancashire fusileers
and the First battalion grenadier
guards. with the Maxim battery, man
ned by the Royal Irish fusileers. In our
center were the First battalion War
wickshire regiment, the First battalion
Cameron Highlanders and the First
battalion Lincolnshire regiment. with
Maxims worked by detachment Of the
royal artillery. under Major Williams.
on our right were the Sudanesc bril-
gades. commanded by General Maxwell
and General Macdonald. The Egyptian
brigades held the reserve. and both
flanks were supported by the Maxim
Nordenfelt batteries.
At 1920 a. m. the enemy crowded the
ridges above the camp and advanced
steadily In envelopng formation. At
7:40 our artillery opened fire. which was
answered by the dervish rihemen.
Their attack developed on our left,
and, in accordance with their tradition
al tactics. they swept down the hillside
with the design OF rushing our flank,
but the whitening fire maintained for 10
minutes by all arms in our line frus-
trated the attempt. and the dervishes,
baked. swept toward our center, upon
which they concentrated a fierce at
tack. A large force Of horsemen, trying
70 face continuous hail of bullets from
the Cameron Highlanders. the Lincoln
shire regiment and the Sudanese was
literally swept away, leading TO the
withdrawal OF the entire body, whose
dead strewed the field.
The bravery of the dervlshes can
hardly be overstated. Those who car
rled the flags struggled to within few
hundred yards OF our lighting line, while
the mounted emirs absolutely threw
their lives away in bold charges.
When the dervishes withdrew behind
the ridge In front Of their camp. the
whole force marched in echelon OF bat
talions toward Omdurman. AS our
troops surmounted the crest adjoining
the Nile the Sudanese, on our right
came into contact with the enemy, who
had reformed under cover Of a rocky
emlnence and had massed beneath the
black standard OF the khalifa In order
20 make a supreme effort to retrieve tho
fortunes OF the day. A mass 15.0Ol
strong bore down on the Sudanese.
General Kitchener swung round tn,
center and left of the Sudanese ant
seized the rocky eminence. and tn,
Egyptians, hitherto held In reserve
Joined the firing line in ten minutes an,
before the dervishes could drive thei
attack home.
The flower OF the khalifas army wa
caught in adepression and within zon
OF whitening cross fire from three bri
gades, with the attendant artillery. Tn
devoted mahdists strove heroically 4
make headway. but every rush wa
stopped while their main body was NJ
orally moved down by a sustained an
deadly cross fire.
Defantly the dervishes planted thei
standards and died beside them Thei
dense masses gradually melted to com
panies and the companies 10 driblet
beneath the leaden hail. Finally the
broke and lied, leaving the field whit
with jibbah clad corpses, like a snow
drift dotted meadow.
At 1915 the sirdar ordered an ad
vance. and our whole force in line drov
the scattered remnant OF the foe int
the desert. our cavalry cutting OFF the
retreat to Omdurman.
Among the chief incidents of the bat
tie was a brilliant charge by the Twer
ty-frst lancers, under Lieutenant Cole
mel Martin. Galloping down on a dc
tached body OF the enemy, they foun
the dervish swordsmen massed benin
and were forced TO charge home again,
appalling odds. The lancers hackc
through the mass. rallied and kept IN
dervish hordes at bay Lieutenar
Grenfell, nephew of General Sir Franc
Grenfell. was killed. four other officer
were wounded, p men We're killed an
20 wounded.
The Egyptian cavalry was in clos
fighting throughout with the Baggar
horsemen. For a short period the en-,
my captured and held a gun, but 1t WI
brilliantly retaken
The heroic bravery of the dervish,
evoked universal admiration. Time az
er time their dispersed and broke
forces reformed and hurled .themselv,
upon the Anglo Egyptians, their emil
conspicuously leading and spurnir
death. Even when wounded and in deaf
agonies they raised themselves to fire
last shot
Among the wounded Is Colonel Rhode
the correspondent, a brother OF Ces
Rhodes
KHARTUM IN RUINS.
The Khalifa Reported Fleeing Towar
Kordofan.