Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-12-30

Lady Sarah Wilson at Mnfeking Tells
of Her Adventures.

A London war office dispatch from Col.
Baden-Powell. dated December - after
announcing that Lady Sarah Wilson had
arrived safe and well at Mafeking. adds
that the bombardment and musketry fire
continue daily on all sides, and that the
health and spirits of the garrison are very
satisfactory.
MAFEklNG, Sunday, December 10
Lady Sarah Wilson is living in a bomb
proof shelter of her own construction. I'M
der the private residence of Mr. Wen.
There she is enabled to exist with some
degree of comfort, and if she chooses to
spend a part of the time in the house, her
shelter is close enough TO enable her to
take cover between the ring of the warn
ing bell and the arrival of the projsctile.
The correspondent of rhe Associated
Press in Mafeking TO whom she granted
an interview, was struck with the fact on
entering her bomb-proof refuge, that she
Is unquestionab!y an old campaigner. Even
in this noisome. dark hole. dug under the
ground, she manages TO make herself com
Portable. She has whisky and soda, as well
as cigarettes, to offer visitors.
Lady Sarah's adventures were exciting
sometimes amusing, and often spiced with
considerable danger. 1t was on a Thurs
day that she lett Mafeking She arrived
at the Setlagoli Hotel that night. Before
morning she aroused by the rattle of
musketry and the boom of guns. 1t was
Capt. Nesbitt of the Mashonaland mounted
police, now a prisoner in the hands of the
Beers, who was fighting desperately una
bic to get back or to go forward, but hold
ing the wrecked armored train until the
last.
As soon as daylight would allow, Lady
Sarah pluckily rode to the scene Of action
and photographed the wreck.
Finding that her presence at Setlagoli
exposed her to insults, the Beers moved
her to Mosuti, where she enjoyed the hos
pitality of a colonial farmer. BY means OF
heavy brides she persuaded natives to car
ry information to and fro. Extraordinary
stories regarding her were circulated
among the Beers. One was that she was
the Wife of an English general, another
that she was a granddaughter of the
queen and had come to spy upon the do
fngs of the Beers. and third that she was
the only male survivor of Mafeking, haV-
ing escaped in the guise of a woman.
Lady Sarah visited Vryburg. She was
driven there by young Boer. who passed
her off as his sister She found loyalists
who gave her official dispatches and news.
She stayed in the hotel all day and stole
out at night to do shopping. On visiting
the hospital she found the orders had been
issued that no one should leave the town
The gallant Boer had to answer some curl
Gus questions put by the landrost before he
could get permission for himself and his
sister" to leave. They set out at 4 O'Clock
in the morning, in fear of being recognized
and got away safely.
After the Beers discovered that she had
been mixed up in dispatch running, she
went to Commandant Snyman's camp with
a view of getting back to Mafeking, but
Snyman refused to let her go to Mafeking
or even to Setlagoli. He proposed sending
her to Zeerust as a prisoner of war, or as
an alternative, to release her, IL Nfljoen
We're given up by the British. At first she
refused to ask Col. Baden-Powen to do
this, but finally she changed her mind
Lady Sarah gathered from her varied
experiences among the Beers that they are
heartily sick of the war.