The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1899-12-28
Battle at Elandslaagte Graphic
ally Described by London
Times Correspondent.
PROOF OF The SEVERITY OF THE FIRE.
Fifteen of Schill's Brave Band Fell il
aGroup Oh KOpje as Death
Had Taken Them.
Gen. Buffers Repulse at Tugela River 10
Attributed to n Mistake of Col.
Long British Casual
ties Heavy.

London, Dec. 23.-A correspondent
of the Times at Ladysmith, in de-
scribing the battlefield of Glands
laagte. realistically details the hor-
rors of war He writes:
"The battlefield. as it stood on the
Sunday. conveyed sufficient proof of
the severity of the fire. The wounded
had been removed by daylight, but
the burial parties had not arrived to
perform their last duties to the dead.
The men lay there as they had faGen,
sad, pathetic tribute to the courage
of the British soldier. We followed
this tragic trail-Highlanders, Man.
chesters and mounted volunteers lay
indiscriminately grouped. The soli-.
tary figures under the stones showed
how little the cover had availed them.
There was places where wire fences
had impeded the advance. Here the
carnage had been great, and one
brave fellow, stopped in death, cut Off
as he strove to wrench post from
it's foundations. On the sky line of
the tabeland the dead lay thickest,
this being the main spot where the
attack had been checked, but the
white flag was already there, and
strings of coolies were digging the
trench, which so often is the soldiers
resting place.
1--WE rode back to the Boer position
the little kopje upon which Schiel
and his 23 men had made their last
stand The bodies of the IS that had
f.. L.
ed as death had taken them. Some
lay with heads sunken upon their ri
fie stocks, fighting to the end. An
other had placed his hat upon prom
inent stone five yards away and had
died with his fingers pressing a
charge into his magazine. What re-
manned of the laager was the litter
of shell fire. Tents were torn and.
burned, wagons splintered and over
turned, foodstuff, dead horses and
explosives lay in wrecked profusion.
There remained no doubt that our
shell fire had played upon the posi-
tion with full effect and one could
only marvel that the Beers had stood
to their guns so long. But, as one of
the wounded prisoners told me later
in the day, there was no room to re-
treat. the extended files of the Man
chester regiment overlapping the re-
verse of the kopje, sweeping the
northern footpath while the rain OF
shrapnel destroyed every living thing.
London. Dec. 23.--Belated South Af-
rican dispatches throw no light upon
the present situation at the seat of
war. There is no confirmation of the
report that Ladysmith could hold out
several weeks longer, and it is feared
that this was circulated by the Beers
for their own purposes.
The Daily Telegraph has special
from Chievely, dated December Is.
which tells how Lieut.. Roberts, son
of Lord Roberts, fell at Tugela river.
1t says:
"The horses of the 14th and Goth
batteries had been killed and lieuten-
ant Roberts Capt. Schofeld and Capt.
Congreve, of the rifles, attempted
with gunner volunteers, to drag out
the guns. Capt. Schofeld succeeded,
helped by corporal and some men.
Lieut.. Roberts was hit by a shell.
Capt. Congreve was struck and wound.
ed slightly. After while Capt. Con-
grcve, Capt. Foster and Maj Baptie
brought Lieut.. Roberts from the
open into little ravine, where he lay
hidden from the enemy's terrible
fire.
Fourteen gunners, 16 men of the
Devonshire regiment and men were
with Col. Bullock. When the retire.
ment was ordered these men, with iso.
lated parties of Devonshires and Scots
Fusileers, together with some of the
Queens, were cut off and captured
Many fought until late in the after.
noon, part of the Irishmen runninb,
the gauntlet of the Boer Mausers
from hiding places along the river
bank.
"At 5 p. m. 40 Beers approached the
abandoned guns. On espying Col. Bul,
lock, Capt. Corgreve and the Others
in the lavine they called upon the
British to surrender Col. Bullock de
clined, End threatened to shoot al
though MS party had only IA rifles
The Beers retired from the guns and
pGrley ensued. Then 10C Beers rode
up within a few yards of the party
but Col. Bullock swore be would not
be mad" prisoner, whereupon q
Boer knocked him down with his rifle
butt"
a disps tch TO the Daily Mail from
Chievely, dated December II, esti
mates tn" casualties in Gen. Bullock
repulse as 1,15O, including 1872 missing
1t announces that portion of tn,
British troops have returned tt
Freere.
The Chievely correspondent of tn,
Standard, who attributes the Who'll,
disaster involved in Gen. Buffers re
pulse to the mistake of Col. Long il
taking the artillery too close to tn,
river, saysA
"Col. Long fred for 90 minutes an,
simply exhausted his ammunition"
John M. Meddins, formerly a well
known politician of Lancaster county
Neb.. was Wednesday declared insan