The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-10-21

In Their p recipItate Flight They Leave
All Their Gums on the Field-They
Are Also thanked and Suffer Very
Severe Losses-British Loss Also Heavy
General symons Perhaps Mortally
Wounded.
Glencoe Camp, Oct. 20-2:5O p. NJ
After eight hours of continuous heavy
fighting to-day Talana Hill was carried
by the Dublin Fusileers and Kings
Rifles under cover of a well served arti-
lery fire by the Thirteenth and Sixty
ninth batteries. The Beers who threat
ened the British rear have retired. The
fight was almost an exact counterpart
Of that of Majuba Hill, except that the
positions of the Boer and British forces
were reversed. General Symons was
severely but not dangerously wounded.
Details of Fight
Later.-The battle to-day has been
brilliant success The Beers got re-
verse which may possibly, for time at
any rate, check all aggressive action.
The British artillery practice in the ear
ly part of the day decided the battle.
The seizure of Dundee Hill by the Beers
was a surprise, for, although the pick
cts had been exchanging shots all night.
il was not until 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
artillery got to work with magnificent
energy and precision. The batteries
from the camp took up positions to the
south of the town and after quarter of
an hour s magnificent firing silenced the
guns on the hills.
Magnificent Chnrge.
The correspondent could see shells
dropping among the Boer pieces with
remarkable accuracy and doing tremen-
dous execution, for the enemy were
present in very large numbers and in
places considerably exposed. By this
time the enemy held the whole of the
hill behind Smiths Farm and the Dun
dee Kopje, right away to the south. in
which direction the British infantry and
cavalry measured distance. The fight
ing ragged particularly hot at the valley
outside the town. Directly the Boet
guns ceased firing General Symons or
dered the infantry to move on the posi-
tion. The infantry charge was magni-
ficent The way the Kings Royal Rifles
and the Dublin Fusileers stormed the
position was one of the most splendid
sights ever seen. The firing of the Beers
was not so deadly as might have been
expected from the troops occupying
such an excellent position, but the in
fantry lost heavily going up the hill,
and only the consummately brilliant
way in which General Symons had
trained them to fighting of the kind
saved them from being swept away.
General symons Wounded Early.
Indeed the hill was almost inacces-
sible to the storming party, and any
hesitation would have lost the day. The
enemy's guns, so far as the correspond
dent could see, were all abandoned, for
the Beers had no time to remove them.
A stream of fugitives poured down the
hillside into the valley, where the bat
tie went on with no abatement. Gen
eral Symons was wounded early in the
action and the comamnd then devolv-
ed on Major Yule.
Enemy's Flight-Losses Heavy.
The enemy as they fled were follow
ed by the cavalry, mounted infantry
and artillery. The direction taken was
to the eastward. At the latest report
the cavalry had not returned Some
say four and some say five guns have
been captured. The Boer artillery fir
A 1ot of r,11Ippod IA 1c
were used Although the enemy's po-
sition was carried soon after 1 O'clock
scattered firing went on almost all the
afternoon The British losses are very
heavy, but those of the Beers are much |
heavier. The final rush was made with
a triumphant yell and as the British !
troops charged to close quarters the !
enemy turned and fled, leaving all their
and guns behind them in
their precipitate flight.
The Army Thanked.
While this was going on, one battery |
of artillery, the Eighteenth Hussars
and the mounted infantry with part |
of the Leicester regiment got on the
enemy's flank and as the Beers stream
ed wildly down the hills, making for |
the main road, they found their re-
treat had been cut off, but they rallied |
for while, and there was severe fir
ing with considerable loss on both
sides. Many of the enemy surrendered.
Rough Esttmate of Losses.
A rough estimate places the British !
loss at $50 killed or wounded, and that
of the Beers at 800. A newspaper cor
respondent states that through his
glasses during the fighting to-day he
noticed how much the Beers seemed to
be nonplussed by the tactics Of the i'm
perial troops, especially of the we'll
drilled, swift moving horsemen. 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 lootng. Their animals
are mostly in a wretched condition. 1t
is understood that before to-days bat
tie several Beers had left their com
mandoes and gone home to their farms,
and many others are now likely to fol-
low. q