The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1898-10-08
FOUR DRAMATIC EPISODES OF THE
GREAT STRUGGLE.
OF The WOUNDED DERvIsHEs
MILITARY SERVICES AT THE GRAVE
OF "ClIINESE'' GORDON,
ExEMPLIFIcATIoy OF BRITISH BARBARIry
THE DISPLAY OF HEROISM BY THE
FAMOUS EMIR YAkUB.

There were several remarkable events
which received only casual notice in the
cable dispatches, describing the battle
of Omdurman and Gen. Kitchener's great
victory over the Deryishes. Full details
now at hand tell of the cruel and un-
Christian treatment of the wounded Der
wishes, thousands Of whom were mas
sacred by the British soldiers. The ex-
traordinary bravery of the khalifa's
faithful fighters was another intensely
dramatic feature. The day after the
battle military and religious honors were
paid to the lamented Gen. Gordon, with
impressive ceremonies at his grave in
Khartum. The release of Carl Neufeld,
who had been for thirteen years 4 prls-
oner Of the khalifa, was another interest
ing incident and calls attention to the
strange career of the "Grea5 White
Pasha" in the camp of the Mahdists.
What happened to tie thousands of
wounded Dervishes as they lay on the
plain before Omdurman after the battle
constitutes the one dark chapter in the
story of the brilliant British victory.
There were no wounded Mahdists left
after the battle" said a dispatch from
London. Cruel and bloodthirsty as it
may seem, the wounded almost without
exception, were massacrad by the British
and Egyptian soldiers. Since Gordon s
death this has been the custom"
England in the Soudan was fighting
the Dervishes with the Dervishes' own
weapons, and massacreing them after the
battle, according to the Dervish custom
of thus treating their wounded captives.
A wounded Dervish, they say in the
British camps in the Soudan, is more
dangerous than we'll one, reports the
New York Journal. Gen. Kitchener
brought no hospital tents into the Sou
dan to nurse the 10000 wounded Der
wishes in, and the surgeons who went
along with the expedition had quite
enough wounded British soldiers on
their hands to keep them busy. 1t was
as much as any ones life was worth to
go near wounded Dervish. He would
lie on the ground, glaring about him like
a wounded beast. Approach him and
out came his curved ham -stringing knife.
With it he would make vicious sweeps,
,,,1,; mo i'm
for life.
A story is told of how parties of Eng
lish soldiers, commanded by English Of
ficers, went out to kill the wounded. One
private prodded the helpless body be-
tween his shoulders and his bayonet. If
there was no movement the party went
on; if the Dervish proved alive and
squirmed, another private instantly blew
out his brains.
During the night after the battle
mysterious cry was heard repeatedly
from the battle field. Three men were
told off to get upon the sand bags OF the
little redoubt at the corner of the zcrcba,
and when the moon came out from be-
hind the clouds to fire volleys in the di-
rection from which the cry came. The
yolleys were fired but the cry went on.
Finally it ceased. Whether the man
was thus silcnced or not was not ascef-
tanned, but in the morning there were
only dead men in that part of the field.
Another story has been going the
rounds how an officer, going up to
group Of surgeons round wounded Der
wish, and inquiring what was the matter,
was told that nothing could be done with
him, no one could approach him. He
Law there with his knife out, ready with
one of those sweeping ham-stringing
cuts for any one who dared to come near.
Whereupon the officer, still under the
blood-madness of the fight, and seeing
red" whipped out his own sword, avoid
ed the rapid sweep of the wounded
mans weapon and drove his own to his
heart.
This is not the first time victorious
army has, under orders, done to death
their wounded enemies. 1t will be re-
called with what horror the world read
of the massacres of the Chinese at Port
Arthur by the infuriated Japanese SOL
diers. 1t was not to be expected, how
ever, that Christian England would per-
nit the infliction of a similar barbarons
method of vengeance upon their fallen
victims in the Soudan.
The fanatical bravery of the Dervishes
in the face of hopeless odds was dra-
matte feature of the historic battle of
Omdurman. Again and again the Der
wish hordes hurled themselves against
the British line. Following the Dervish
custom, they would advance. take up a
position, plant their standard, and, rally
ing around it, shout defiantly. Where
they planted the standard they stood
ready to die.
In the forefront Of the khalifa's battle