The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-12-26
The Dead at Magersfontein.

The Dead at Magersfontein.
MODDER RIVER, Dec 13.-Ambu-
| lances started early yesterday morn
ing under flag of truce to collect the
wounded and bury the dead who fell at
Magersfontein.
Brfgadier-Gen. WauchOpe, who led
the Highland brigade, was found dead
| near the trench and shot in the chest
and thigh A few wounded were found
near the trenches Several wounded
Beers were taken to the British hos
| pital The side Of the hill and the i'm
mediate neighborhood of the Boer
trenches showed dead bodies all about,
One wounded Boer informed cor
| respondent of the Associated Press that
their loss was terrible. The whole
Scandinavian contingent was Destroy
ed Judging from information CLEANED
from the Boer wounded and prisoners
taken in different parts of the field.
the Boer loss must have exceeded 100.
The destruction wrought by the naval
guns was enormous. Word was passed
along the Boer lines to prepare to re-
treat at nightfaIl. All confess that 1t
was their greatest loss during the war.
The British troops returned to Mod
der River, owing to lack of water near
the position held yesterday.
Sir Charles Warren, who arrived at
Capetown yesterday, will probably join
Lord Methuen and take command of
the combined forces.
The Daily Chronicles MOdder River
despatch. which is at variance with all
other reports, represents Lord Methu-
ems forces as retiring Tuesday on the
camp at Modder rtiver, as e--e result of
renewed artillery fire that day. The
correspondent says: Tuesday fore
noon the Beers brought heavy guns
into action Lord Methuen thereupon
withdrew his forces out of range and
concentrated at Modder river"
No News From Ladysmith.
LONDON, Dec. Is, As a. m.-The
War Office is still without news from
Ladysmith other than that already
published. The general belief is that
the larger forces Lord Methuen en-
countered at Magersfontein were partly
drawn from Natal and that General
Butler will strike a blow before these
have time to return.
The newspapers are calling upon the
Government to employ the Cunarders
as we'll as the White Star steamers as
transports, seeing the urgent necessity
for getting more men to the Cape as
speedily as possible. Forty thousand
men could still be sent from England
without calling upon the militia for
foreign service. The militia effective is
100000 men and from this body 10000
carefully selected men could be spared
easily for South Africa. Moreover, the
colonies are again proffering assist
ance. The greatest need, therefore, is
speedy transports
Orders have been issued a. Woolwich
to prepare a siege train to go out with
the seventh division.
French Has Skirmish.
LONDON. Dec. 15.-The War Office
has received the following dispatch
from General Forester Walker at
Cape Town:
General French wires under date of
December 13, reporting a skirmish at
4 o'clock in the morning with 1900
Beers, who were advancing southwark
toward Naauwpoort. The skirmish |
continued all morning, the Beers fight |
ing on front Of eighteen miles.
THE enemy retired with loss of for |
ty killed and wounded. Our casualties |
were one killed and seven wounded. |
including one officer and two missing"
Glencoe's Awful Field
DURHAM, Dec. 12-Uitlander refu- |
gees arriving here bring news Of the |
battlefield of Glencoe and of the. situa-
ton in johannesburg, Pretoria and the |
Transvaal generally. Heinrich Auer. /
a German, who had been forced to
leave johannesburg because, as hus-
band of an English woman. he was
Of British sympathies, says:
Il Judge there were about a thousand
dead and wounded on the battlefield of |
Glencoe when we passed it on October
Il, in the afternoon. I shall never for
get the sight. Picture to yourself heaps
1f bodies some stretched out beyond