New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-12-22
BATTLEFIELD STORIES.
SCENES AND INCIDENTS DESCRIBED By
THE WAR CORRESPONDENTS.


London. Dec 13-Letters from British Of
icers and soldiers fighting in the Transvaal
and long descriptions from war correspondents
that filter into print through the mails TEEN
with thrilling and pathetic incidents Writing
10 his mother a young officer Of the Manches-
ters, wounded in one Of the first engagements,
relates that while he lay on the hillside. ex-
pecting to die through the night which had
already fallen, bleeding from bad wound in
his thigh and shivering with cold, there STUN
bed over him a Tommy OF my company
ramed Rogers" This Tommy" quickly
whipped off his own overcoat. placed it around
the boy officer and lying down put his arms
around him. and FOR the rest Of that long, cold
night kept him beautifully warm" And there
are now being told many such incidents
TRYING HOURS AT NICHOLSON's MEX.
The Times's" correspondent gives a graphic
account and explanation Of the British disaster
at Nicholso1s Mex where Cartoons column.
consisting Of six companies Of the Royal Irish
Fusiliers. four and a half companies OF the
Glcucestershire Regiment and No. 10 Noun
tain Battery surrendered. The correspondent
says:
Two hours before daybreak while the column
was IN inclOsed country. either a shot was nTed
or a bowlder rolled into the battery in column OF
route The mules stampeded and easily broke
away from their half asleep drivers. They
came back upon the Gloucestershlre regiment
the advance party OF whom fired into the mass,
believing in the darkness that II was an at
tack. This added 10 the chaos the ranks were
broken by the frenzied animals, and they
dashed through the ranks OF the rear guard
carrying the first and second reserve ammunl-
ton animals with them. 1t became hopeless
panic The animals wild with the shouting
and the turmoil tore down the mulah into the
darkness and the last that was heard OF them
was the sound OF the ammunition boxes ana
panniers as they were sphntered against the
powders.
The hubbub II those few minutes was suf-
fcient to have alarmed the enemy. BY a strenu-
Gus effort the officers succeeded in getting the
men again under control and when dayhght
came they seized the first position Whlch pre-
scented itself, and which was about TWO inues
short Of the original goal Irey were forced
10 take advantage Of the first kopJe, as Boer
scouts were all around them, and the day was
ushered in with desutory firing. 1t was a sorry
position which they had chosen. and the men
were IN a sOrrieT plight. All their reserve
ammunition was gone. and. though they hao
saved pieces Of the screw guns, they were not
able with these pieces 10 patch UP a single
mounting.
From earliest daybreak Boer scouts were re-
connoitring. and about o'clock mounted Beers
could be seen galloping in small groups 10 the
cover at the reverse OF the hill on the west.
Later. two strong parties OF mounted men TOOK
position on the far side Of the two hills COM
handing the kOpje from the west About
o'clock these two parties had crowned the hills
and opened heavy fire at short ranges right
down upon the plateau. our men made plucky
attempt 70 return this fire, but II was impossi-
BILE; they were under a cross IRE from TWO dlrec-
lions. flank and rear. The TWO companies or
Gloucesters holding the ridge were driven from
their shelter and as they crossed the open on the
lower plateau were terribly mauled, the men
falling in groups. The Beers on the west had
not yet declared themselves, but about two hun
dred marksmen climbed 20 the position which
the two companies Of the Gloucesters had just
vacated These men absolutely raked the
plateau. and II then that the men were
ordered 10 take cover on the steep reverse Of the
kopje As soon the enemy realized this move
the men on the western hill teemed on 20 the
summit and opened upon our men as they lay
on the slope They were absolutely hemmed IN.
and what had commenced as skirmish seemed
about 70 become a butchery. The grim order
was passed around:
.Faugh-a-Ballashs fix your bayonets and die
like men"
There was the clatter Of steel, the moment Of
suspense and then the cease fire" sounded
Again and again it sounded. but the Irish Fusi-
Hers were loath 70 accept the call, and continued
firing for many minutes. Then IL was uncon-
ditonal surrender. and the men laid down their
arms.
AFTER THE FIGHT AT ELANDsLAAGTE.
The correspondent at Ladysmith Of the same
paper, describing the battlefield at Elandslaagte.
writes:
The battlefield. as it stood on the Sunday con-
veyed sufficient proof Of the severity Of the fire
The wounded had been removed by daylight
but the burial parties had not arrived TO per
form the last duties 10 the dead. The men lay
there as they had fallen, a sad, pathetic trib-
ute TO the courage Of the British soldier. We
followed this tragic Observation-Disclosures. Man
Chesters and mounted volunteers lay indiscrimi-
nately grouped Then solitary figures under
the stones showed how little the cover had
awaited them. There were places where the
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
dot Tor he clrv Of
the tableland the dead lay thickest. this being
the main spot whore the attack had been
checked. but the white flag was already there
and strings Of coolies were digging the trench
which too often Is the soldiers resting place.
We rode back 10 the Boer postion-the little
kOpje upon which Schiel and his twenty three
men had made their last stand. The bodies Of
the fifteen that had fallen Of this little band
We're grouped as death had taken them Some
lay with heads sunken upon their riiestocks,
fighting 10 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
lager was the litter Of shelfre Tents were
torn and burned. wagons splintered and over
turned; foodstuff dead horses and explosives
lay in wrecked profuslon. There remained no
doubt that our shellfre had played upon the
position with full effect. and one could only
marvel that the Beers had stood 10 their guns
go long. But as one Of the wounded prisoners
told me later in the day. there was no room 10
retreat the extended files OF the Manchester
regiment overlapping the reverse Of the kopje
sweeping the northern fOOtpath. while the rain
Of shrapnel destroyed every living thing on the
western slopes And the scene at the farm
house nesting at the foot Of the ridge. on the
far side. bore out this statement II was here
that the Beers had brought their led horses for
cover and carcasses lay piled on every side
The slaughter among the horses must almost
have been as heavy as that OF the men.
WINSTON CHURCHILLS HEROISM.
Mr. Burleigh The Daily Telegraph's" war
correspondent supplies a full account OF the
humiliation OF the armored train contingent at
Chieveley. when Winston Churchill was capt
ured The train. It appears, with the exception
OF the engine. tender and two trucks. was badly
wrecked by the removal OF hshplates. and the
seventy-two men OF the Dublin FLsiliers and