The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-02-13

their bulleta with such accuracy that II one o
the oxfords stood upright for q moment tn
chances were even that he would be killed
The enemy came nearer and nearer until thei
voices could DO heard q few yards away. Tn
HANDFUL Of the oxfordshires waited two hours
until IL began TO get dark, before they dared u
move. Then Capt. Parr and Lieut.. Fielding
made a gallant charge with q few Of their meI
and drove the enemy back long enough for thu
rest TO get on with their wounded to an empty
village which was near at hand. Capt. Parr al
the same time FASTENED to get enforcement
from Capt. Davies. who, with sixteen men, wa
picketing n height q long way up the valley
Capt. Davies and his men arrived just In time
to assist in the retirement, and tho:Inniskillings,
firing from another village, and tho Gurkhas
from a hilltop, did excellent work in driving of
the enemy.
Capt Parr was wounded seriously In the leg
toward the last. The wounded wero carried
into two different villages. There were scarcely
a score Of men to guard them. Two OF the dead
had to be left out on the field. The enemy had
already occupied neighboring villages and were
firing at every moving object they saw. Strange
to say, Col. Plowden's servant and horse turned
up at the village where the Colonel lay wounded.
and n plucky bugler. Crowhurst, volunteered to
take message to camp asking for reinforce
ments. The bugler must have had at least 100
bullets fired at him, but cleverly and fast he
rode. leaving the road and taking to protected
valleys or ''nullahs'' as far as possible. Hap
PLY. he reached camp. and in three minutes
after he had reported to the General tho latter
was on the road with his staff and a large force
to the rescue. "
Darkness had set In and the troops expected
to- be attacked at any minute. They reached
the village where the Oxfordsbires were still
holding their own and proceeded at once to re-
move the wounded. Col. Plowden and Lieut..
Owen. with several men. lay wounded in one Of
the little clay dens that were ranged around
the walled Enclosure. When / entered. the
Colonel. in his characteristic way, looked up
smiling. In spite Of his wounds and the intense
cold, and greeted me with q humorous remark.
1t was a disagreeabie walk back to camp by
the suffering mon in the litters and not know.
ing how near the enemy might be. Many Of
the latter were communicating with each other
by uttering the cries of owls or jackals.
The wounded men behaved like the soldiers
that they are. Some of the poor fellows who
had their arms nearly shot of marched una.ded
all the way to camp, q distance of three miles.
There were in all seventeen casualties, including
four men killed. Some Of the wounds are very
dangerous, but the patients are doing as well
as can be expected. 1t is strange there were not
more fatalities. since many of the wounded men
IL OoCdpCu "OEO LII I"lCC III ulhug
others had their clothing or parts OF their &C.
cut by the bullets. Lieut.. Carter
has kindly allowed me to copy a portion Of a let
ter which he wrote to his family describing his
experience, and I give It without alteration:
You will probably have news about 1t in the
papers a long time before this reaches you, but
1 know you will like to have my own account
of it. Last Thursday the regiment was ordered
to picket the road toward Ali Masjid to get the
mail through. 1 was posted with fifteen men
of my own company furthest down the road.
At $3.50 P. NJ. we were ordered TO retire. /
must tell you that the Colonel, Fielding and the
doctor were with me, as also a Maxim gun.
We were allowed to retire till a half company
of PARIS joined us, and then the enemy opened
fire on us from about 200 yards. Luckily there
was a nullah on our right, into which we got,
but three men were hit in the first volley and
We had to get them away up the nullah first.
The devils kept on shooting II q hand was shown
above the nullah. When the wounded had
been sent forward We retired and held n small
pond, and in this place our first man was killed
shot through the head. The Colonel, Fielding
and another man tried to drag him away up the
nullah and in doing 30 the Colonel was shot
through the side and a bullet passed through
Fielding's helmet. Just then poor Butler was
shot through the leg and Parr and myself tried
~ SS ~ y " - a. "oc ~ Ia MI
artery. I got him on my back and bolted across
a.bit OF open ground, but In the middle he was
hit again in the back and the force knocked me
clean over. However, Fielding and myself
managed to drag him under cover and he knsw
me and asked me to write hoaie to his people.
''Then I was sent to get reinforcements and
had to double about a mile when l found Davies.
who took sixteen men down the nullah and told
me TO cover his advance with another half COM
pany. About half an hour after ward they sent
up to me to take twenty men and get away the
dead and wounded. All this time the enemy
were firing like blazes. When I got into the
nullah again i found them all lying down and
Parr and the sergeant-major wounded, in addi-
ton to two dead and five other wounded men.
By this time the enemy had closed all around
us and were throwing stones TO make Us look
up. We heard the devils talking away not
twenty yards from us. Then they started veil.
ing and charged home to us, but we went out
on them and exchanged shots at about ten
yards. rfancy VIC must have got into them, as
they were quieter after that. and we got all our