The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-12-22

ing the main spot where the attack had
been checked. but the white flag was al
ready there and strings of coolies were
digging the trench which often is the
soldiers resting place.
I'VE rode back to the Boer posltion-the
little kopje upon which Schiel and his
twenty-three men had made their last
stand. The bodies of the fifteen who had
fallen of this little band were grouped as
death had taken them. Some lay with
heads sunken on their rifle stocks, fighting
to the end. Another had placed his hat
upon a prominent stone five yards away
and had died with his fingers pressing a
charge into his magazine. What remained
of the laager was the litter of shell fire.
Tents were torn and burned, wagons
splintered and overturned, foodstuff, dead
horses and explosives lay in wrecked pro-
fusion. There remained no doubt that our
shell fire had played upon the position 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 retreat the extended files of the Man.
chester regiment overlapping the reverse
of the kopje sweeping the northern foot
patch, while the rain Of shrapnel destroyed
every living thing on the western slopes.
And the scene at the farmhouse nesting
at the foot of the ridge on the far side
bore out this statement. 1t was here that
the Beers had brought their horses for
cover, and carcasses lay piled on every
side. The slaughter among the horses must
have been almost as heavy as that Of the
men," '''
Bennett Burleigh, the Daily Telegraph's
war correspondent, supplies full account
of the annihilation of the armored-train
contingent at Chievely, when Winston
Churchill was captured. The train, II ap
pears, with the exception of the engine,
tender and two trucks. was badly wrecked
by the removal of fish plates. and the sew
enty-two men of the Dublin Fusiliers and
the ninety-five men of the Durham Light
Infantry, to say nothing of five blue jack
cts from the Tartar. were thrown out. Cap
tain Haldane, of the Gordon Highlanders,
who commanded the party, rallied his
bruised and shaken men. and amid hail
of bullets from the Beers began to clear
the line, while others were pouring deadly
volleys into the almost unseen Beers. hid
den behind the rocks about one thousand
yards off. The blue jackets, bravely COM
manded by their petty officer, who was
the incarnation of GOODNESS, got their sew
en-pounder into action. They sent in two,
it not three well-aimed shells at the Beers,
several hundred of whom lined the hills.
But just then a shot from the enemy's
hree-pounder or field gun, hit the small
naval seven-pounder, knocked gun and car
riage on to the veldt, and wounded several
of the seamen. But the men were not a
whit beaten.
The Pail Mall Gazette's correspondent de-
scribes Winston Churchill's conduct on this
occasion as follows: "a party of volun-
teers, consisting principally of plate layers,
etc., led by Winston Churchill, who be-
haved throughout with most heroic cour-
age, succeeded in placing the rails. Mr..
Churchill had previously assisted in carry
ing in no less than twenty men under a
terrible fire. Some idea of the accuracy
Of the enemy's fire and of Mr.. Churchilrs
courage may be obtained by narrating the
fact that Boer shell burst in front of Mr..
Churchill, killing two men on each side of
him. Our wounded were now dotting the
veldt on each side. The continued rifle fire
and the weird sound of the quickfirers add
ed to the horrors of the situation. At last
the line was clear, and the engine, with
one carriage of the armored train, was en-
abled to return to Frere, leaving Captain
Haldane's party fiercely engaged The
Beers gave it passing salvo of shells, hit
ting the tender and nearly derailing the
train second time"
The Daily Graphcs correspondent de-
scribes visit to the hulk Penelope at Som
ers bay, where the Boer prisoners are con-
fined, undertaken in the company of Col
Stowe, the United States consul general,
writes: 1.-The majority of the prisoners are
sleek, contented and Indifferent. They told
me they thought the war would be a pic
mic; that they would rush Natal before the
imperial troops arrived, that England
would be involved in foreign complications,
and that they would be able to dictate
terms from Pietermaritzburg and Durham
They thought to view the Cape Peninsula
as conquerors, not from a prison ship
Colonel Schiel steps with difficulty. His
wound in the thigh is nearly healed, but
he still requires the use of a stick. Schiel
is typical soldier of fortune-grizzly, gray
hair. cropped close, aggressive military
mustache, shrewd gray-blue eyes, a thick
neck, figure still Enthusiastically active,
but tending to stoutness. AS to bearing,
he is genial man of the world. He intro
duced us to some Of his brother officers,
including Van Leggelo, a benevolent, good
looking cosmopolitan of kindly expression
and modest mien, who told us he was born
in Holland, educated in Germany, and had
a sister in st. Louis