Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-10-21
A GRAND CHARGE
Made by the British Troops
at Glencoe.
THE Beers DRIVEN OUT
OF What Seemed Practically an In
accessible POSitiOn--WaS Majuba
Hill Only With Conditions Re-
versed--Symons' Wound

continuous fighting Talana hill was ear
ried by the Dublin fusileers and the
Kings rifles, under cover of a well-di-
rected artillery fire by the Thirteenth
and Sixty-ninth batteries. The Beers
who threatened the British rear. have re-
treated. The fight was an almost ex-
act counterpart of that of Majuba hill.
except thai the positions of the Boer and
British forces We're reversed. General
Symonds was severly but not dangerous
ly wounded.
Morning-General Symonds was shot
through the thigh but no bones were
broken. He is cheerful.
Aftenoon-the battle to-day has been
a brilliant success. The Beers got d
reverse which may possibly, for a tinne
at any rate, check all aggressive actlon.
The British artillery practice in the early
part of the day decided the battle. Inc
seizure of Dundee Hill by the Beers was d
surprise, for, although the pickets had
been exchanging shots all night, II was
F, not until a shell doomed over the town
! into the camp that their presence was
discovered, Then the shells came fast,
| The hill was positively alive with the
| swarming Beers. still the British arui-
| lery cot to work with magnificent ener-
gy and precision.
The batteries from the camp took up
! positions to the south OF the town anu
after a quarter hours magnificent mr.
ing silenced the guns on the hills. Inc
correspondent could see shells dropping
among the Beers with remarkable ac-
curacy and doing tremendous execution
for the enemy was present IN very large
! numbers and in places considerably eX-
posed.
By this time the enemy held the whole
% the hill behind Smiths farm and the
Dundee kopji, right away to the south,
a direction in which the British infantry
and cavalry moved.
The fighting ragged particularly hot at
the valley outside the town. Directly
the Beers guns ceased firing General Sy-
monds ordered the infantry to move on
the position. The infantry charge was
magnificent. The way the Kings royal
rifles and the Dublin fusileers storlned
the position was one of the most splendid
sights ever seen. The firing Of the Beers
was not so deadly as must have been eX-
pected from troops occupying such an
excellent position, but the infantry lost
heavily going up the hill and only the
consummately brilliant way in which
General SyInonds had trained them to
fighting of the kind saved them from be-
ing swept away. Indeed, the hill was
almost inaccessible to the storming party
and any hesitation would have lost the
day. The cnemy's gins. so far as the
correspondent could see, We're all aban-
doned. for the Beers had no time to re-
move them. A stream of fugitives pour
ed down the hill side into the valley
where the battle went on with no abate-
ment.
General SymOndS was wounded early
in the action and the command then de-
volved on Major Yule. The enemy. as
they fled, We're followed by the cavalry,
mounted infantry and artillery. The di-
rection taken was to the eastward. AT
the latest reports the caNalry Lac rot re-
turned. Some say that four and some
say that five guns We're captured. The
Boer artillery firing was weak. A lot of
plugged shells We're used. Their position
was carried soon after 1 O'clock. Seat
tering fire went on almost all the after
noon. The British losses are very heavy,
but the BOerS' loss was much heavier.
With a yell the British troops jumped
to close quarters the Beers retreating
and leaving runs behind them in their
precipitate flight.
While this was going on one battery of
artillery, the Eighteenth hussars and the
mounted infantry, With a part of the
Leicester regiment. got on the enemy's
flank and as the Beers streamed wildly
down the hills, making for the main
road they found their retreat had been
cut off, but they rallied for a while and
there was severe fighting with consider
able loss to each side. Many Of the
enemy surrendered. A rough estimate
places the British loss al $50 killed o.!
wounded and that of the Beers at 500.
A newspaper correspondent states that
through his glasses during the lighting
today he noticed how much the Beers
seemed to be ~nonpulssed by the tactics
OF the imperial troops. especially Of the
well drilled. swift moving horscmen. The
enemy are still, as Of old. a mob. They
are without horses and forage and many
Of them rely for food upon what they
can obtain by looting. Their animals are
mostly in a wretched condition. 1t is
understood that before t0day's battle
several Beers had LEFT their commands
and gone home to their farms and many
others are now likely 20 follow.