Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1899-11-21
.DUBLINS
DESERTED
Reports Indicate That Armor-
ed Train Left Them to
Their Fate.
CHURCHILL's HEROIsM.
He Went Back TO Look After the
MISUNDERSTANDING Of Sergeant
Rassctt, OF the Dublin
Fusiliers.

London, Nov. 17.-(By Associated
Press.)-The war Office has received
the following from Butler at Cape
Town, dated the 18th: II have receiv-
ed from billiard Pietermaritzburg
telegram, dated the 18th, of which the
following is the purport: The officer
commanding the troops at Estcourt,
reports at midday that the armored
train left Estcourt this morning with
a company of Durham volunteers and
a company Of the Dublin Fusileers.
North of Frere they encountered a
party of Beers and began to withdraw.
While retiring, some of the trucks were
derailed. The Dublins turned out and
advanced towards the enemy while
the rest of the train appears to have
returned without them to Estcourt.
The officer commanding the troops re-
ports that he is sending mounted
troops to cover their withdrawal, but
| IudS dDQut lOu dIt ullSSluS.
When Winston Churchill requested
Captain Wylie to call for volunteers to
remove the derailed car, the bullets, it
is said, were dropping on
the train "like rain. The men
throughout, stuck to the work respon-
ding to the noble example set by
Churchill and Lieutenant Franklin, un-
til the line was cleared. Churchill ac-
tually left with the engine, but got
out at the next station, took rife
from soldier, and saying that he
could not leave the wounded, walked
away in the direction of the Beers.
| Sergeant Bassett, of the Dublin Flu
siliers, behaved with the greatest gal
lantry. He took charge of firing
party and stood up unflinchingly dur
| ing the Beers hot fire. His example
electrified the fusiliers who kept the
Beers at bay by volleying. Captain
Haldane fell early in the engagement.
shot through the shoulder. Lieutenant
Franklin is reported missing.
Three british Dead.
Estcourt, Natal, Nov. 16.-(By Asso-
ciated Press THE Red Cross train re-
turned without bringing the dead and
wounded. The Beers declined to give
any information as to the names of
either the killed or injured, referring
the inquirers to the Pretoria press for
information. All they would disclose
was that three British were dead and
nine wounded.
A Censored story.
London, Nov. 17.-(By Associated
Press. 1.-THE following censored dis
patch from Pretoria, the Boer capital,
gives the details of the engagement re-
ferred to in the Associated Press dis
patch from Pretoria, under date of
November Is: The Free Staters had
taken up a position on Saal Hill, when
the English battery advanced and at
tackled them, sending fierce hail of
shells on the hill for an hour, when
the Transvaal cannon put some shells
right in the midst of the battery, send
ing the English to cover behind the
hills. Two burghers were killed and
six wounded. When the British fell
back on Ladysmith several shells ex-
ploded among them, but the execution
done could not be seen. AT midnight all
the Afrikander cannon on the hills
surrounding the town opened fire ST.
multaneously on Ladysmith. Several
buildings on fire could be seen from
Bulwan hill. During the day the
troops left the city deserted and
sought shelter on the edge of the hill,
to escape our death dealing shells.
Lieut. Churchill . Prisoner.
Durham, Natal Nov. 1.-THE war
correspondent Lieutenant Winston
Churchill of the Fourth Hussars has
been captured by the Beers and Is held
a prisoner at or near Colenso. He, un-
dertook to get through the Boer lines
to Ladysmith, leaving Estcourt yes
terday morning on an armored train,
which set out with detachment of
the Dublin Fusileers and another Of
the Durham volunteers to reconnoitre
in the neighborhood of Colenso.
At Chieverley station, four miles
south of Colenso, the train was derail-
ed, being caught in trap laid by the
Beers. When the train was brought to
a standstill the Beers opened hot fire
upon 1t from strong positions with
nine Founders and maxims.
The cars and trucks were overturned
but the locomotive and tender ulti-
mately returned to Estcourt with q
part Of the Dublins and Natals cover
ing the retreat.
Lieutenant Churchill displayed great
GOODNESS and splendid bravery.
| Lorenzo Marques, Nov. 1s.-(By As.
ISOLATED Press. 1.-The official volksten
reports that the great bridge over the
Tugla river near Colenso was COM
| pletely Destroyed Wednesday. The
4 Beers are looking forward with. great
interest to the impending encounter
between Colenso and Estcourt with
the advancing British. Six hundred
Burghers with cannon are guarding
4 Kelpmakaar Pass, eighteen miles from
Dundee. to battle any strategical at
tempt to re-occupy Dundee by the
Observation-Disclosures route.
4 Whites Sortie.
Estcourt, Natal, Nov. 17.-(By Asso.
ciated Press.)-A runner has arrived
from Ladysmith bearing dispatches
from White who reports that all is well
and adds that the Boer shells have no
effect. White recently made sortie