, 1898-09-06
THOUSANDS KILLED.
DESPERATE BATTLE FOUGHT
WITH THE DERVISHES AT
OMDURMAN.
Toward the Town Was a Mag
nificent iPanorama-Flower Of the
Khalifa's Army Caught In a De-
preston and Moved Down by a
Deadly Cross-Fire.

Deadly Cross-Fire.
L~u.~-, .ar.. ---raocAes LIoAI
ou.~...--- A..~.. .Ao. ..S LI"srrate.
na..s h4r.eu, was IA uas sa.IaL. cnaI sc
u tAe meA.y-nIsL Lau~els. Inese
.uoops Wele scouting Wien they saw III
.ue uusu " oVv auu 40 Der
yISleS. u lancers cne1Sed the enemy
ana suddenly found themselves face to
lace with 2,UUU swoIdsmen, being thus
|OutLumbered at least four to one The
DervIsnes were hidden from view in a
hollow. The iancers charged through
them, reformed and charged back to re-
cover their wounded, who were being
savagely slaughtered.
The official list gives the number OF
British officers killed in the capture of
|Omdurman as two, while thirteen were
wounded. OF the men twenty three
were killed and ninety-nine wounded.
The loss sustained by the Egyptians
was: Officers. J. killed, 8 wounded;
men, 20 killed, 221 wounded. Colonel
Rhodes, a brother of Cecil Rhodes and
correspondent OF the London Times,
was severely wounded, a bullet having
struck him in the shoulder.
The advance toward Omdurman was
a magnificent panorama. Our whole
front was covered by the English and
Egyptian cavalry and camel corps
spread out like a huge fan, four miles
in advance and protecting a front of
three miles. The gunboats Melik,
Sultan and Sheikh steamed in single
file, their decks cleared for action.
Later the correspondent says:
The Omdurman forts replied inces-
sanity, but they had no chance against
the quick-firing guns on our boats. No
better amphitheater could possibly be
found for an engagement. The plain
smooth, bushless and stretching to tho
south, is perfect for cavalry and ar
tillery. On the right are low hills and
On tho lett the NilA~r fooasd
marshy country for miles westward.
Ahead to the right are Tuti islands and
Omdurman, the mahdi's tomb rising
white above the interminable line of
brown mud houses in the center OF the
town.
THE bravery of the Dervishes can
hardly be overstated. Those who car
ried the flags struggled to within a hum
dred yards of our fighting line.
when the Dervishes withdrew be-
hind the ridge in front Of their camp
the whole force marched in echelon OF
battlions toward Omdurman. As our
troops surmounted the crest adjoining
the Nile, the Soudanese OF our right
came into contact with the enemy, who
had reformed under v OF a rocky
eminence and had massed beneath the
black standard of the Khalifa In order
to make a supreme effort to retrieve
the fortunes OF the day. A mass, IL, 1000
strong, bore down on the Soudanese.
General Kitchener swung around
the center and left OF the Soudanese and
seized the rocky eminence, and the
Egyptians, hitherto in reserve, Joined
the firing Line in ten minutes and be-
fore the Dervishes could drive their at
tack home.
The flower of the Khalna's army
was caught in a depression and with
in q zone Of whitening cross-fire from
three ,brigades, with the attendant ar
tillery. The devoted Mahdists strove
heroically to make headway, but every
rush was stopped, while their main
body was literally mown down by a
sustained deadly cross-1re.
Definitely the Dervishes planted
their standards and died beside them.
Their dense masses gradually melted
to companies and the companies to
triblets beneath the leaden hail. Fin
ally they broke and fed, leaving the
field white with jtbbah-clad corpses,
like a snowdrift dotted spot.
Our victory was not easily or cheap
ly Won The Dervish loss was enor-
nous. It Is estimated that the killed
Of the enemy were not fewer than
5000"