The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-10-24
DESPERATE FIGHTING
NECESSARY TO REPULSE THE B0ERS IN
THURSDAYS BATTLE.
THE BRITISH LOSS VERY HEAVY.
They Have a Number of Officers Killed
Another Engagement Yesterday.
Their Position Carried and Their
Guns and Camp Equipment Captured.
All Well at Kimberley and Mafeking


London, October 21.-The earliest dis
patch regarding yesterdays battle con-
Veyed the impression that the whole
affair was over in a couple of hours.
the British artillery silencing the Boer
guns and infantry and then simply
charging right over the hill.
According to the latest advices, how
ever. the battle lasted eight hours and
nearly seven hours elapsed before the
last Boer gun was put out of action.
The Irish Fusileers and the Kings
Rifles, meanwhile, had advanced to the
assault and were shooting their way
up the hill, driving the Beers back
from shelter to shelter, until the final
rush of the British carried them to the
summit
It was a bright clear morning, which
enabled the operations to be followed
by the staff officers without difficulty.
A curious fact was that several times
a lull occurred in the firing on both
sides, the British infantry apparently
taking breathing space in the stiff
climb and the Beers also holding back
their fire.
The magnificent practice of the Brit
ish guns was an immense help and the
success of the assault was greatly due
thereto. An enormous quantity of am
nlunition was expended.
Once the British bayonets showed on
top of the kopje, the Beers retreated
and When,- on descending the other side,
they found a British battery and Brit
ish cavalry outf1anking them, the re-
treat became rout. The British guns
followed, and from time to time threw
shells among the flying foe. The latter
did not wait to try conclusions with
the Hussars and mounted infantry,
who apparently seldom got near enough
to deliver effective volleys. The pur-
suit was continued until dusk, when the
Beers were completely ~demoraliZed. A
heavy rain began to fall late in the af-
ternoon, which naturally impeded ar
tillery work.
1t is striking coincidence that yes
terday was the second anniversary of
a similar feat of British arms in India
when the Gordon Highlanders stormed
Dargai heights.
London, October 21.-The war office
announces that in the fighting yester-
day between Glencoe and Dundee, in
Natal, 81 non-commissioner officers and
men were killed and 151 wounded.
A later dispatch from Sir George
Stewart White says that Sir William
Penn Symons is brighter today, but
that the doctor can give no further
opinion.
A dispatch from Cape Town an
nOunces that a British naval force with
field guns, landed yesterday at Simons
Town and took train for the north.
The exact destination was not revealed
int ho
southern frontier of the Orange Free
State, where the Beers are assembling.
The paramount chief Of the Basutos,
according to a dispatch from Cape
Town, has asked permission to assem-
ble the other BaSutO chiefs, with a view
of inviting them to pledge loyalty to
the queen. This is assumed to be a
fOrerunner of a Basuto movement and
the Orange Free State burgherS near
the BaSutO border are said to be in a
state of CONSERVATION, fearing that at
any moment, the Basutos, despite i'm
perial instructions to the contrary, will
take the field and invade the Free
State.
ENGLAND'S HEAVY LOSS AT
GLENCOE
London, October 21-The war office
has issued a list of casualties in the
battle between Glencoe and Dundee;
yesterday received from the general
commanding in Natal Sir George Stew
art White, dated Ladysmith, October
21st, at 1920 a. M: In additional to Sir
William Penn SymOnS, who is mortally
wounded, two colonels, three captains
and five lieutenants were killed and a
colonel, three majors, six captains and
ten ieutenants were wounded.
This heavy loss among the officers
was due, as the latest dispatches from
the front show, to their gallant but in
sensate conduct in sticking to the ira
ditions of the British army and refus-
ing to use the cover of which the men
availed themselves in storming the
Boer position on the summit of the
kopje.
Among the rank and file the Hussars
had seven wounded; the artillery one
killed and three wounded; the Leices-
tershire regiment one wounded: the
Kings Rifles eleven killed and sixty
eight wounded; the Irish Fusileers
fourteen killed and thirty wounded;
the Dublin Fusileers four killed and
forty-one wounded, and the Natal po-
lice two wounded.
The Outlook publishes a dispatch
from Cape Town, dated yesterday, al
leg1ng that the Beers are not likely to
make any further considerable offensive
movement. The correspondent says:
They are utterly demoralized. and the
men refuse to take risks. They are
growing to distrust the aged Joubert.
The mixed mercenaries are proving
troublesome. The artillery is badly
handled and the administrative depart
ment is revealing marked defects"
The first news for a long time from
Rhodesia comes in a telegram from
Tuli, dated October 10Th. The dispatch
says: Major Pilson, from Rhodes
drift, with fifty Beers. passed Pont
drift this morning, shouting that they
would make the British sit up an
other body of Beers has crosse the
river at Bain's drift and is marching
on MacLoutsie, where the postmaster
declares that he thinks he can hold the
Beers at bay. The garrison is throw
ing up entrenchments. This shows that
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