The Lamar register., 1899-10-25
GREAT LOSS OF LIFE.
MANY BRITISH OFFICERS KILLED

Bosr sharpshooters Get in Their Work
Thought That Beers May BE Plan
ming a strategic Move.
LONDON, Oct. 21.-Generals White
and French attacked Elandslaagte,
Boer stronghold, Saturday afternoon,
and silenced the enemy's three guns
and carried their position. British cav
airy are in pursuit of the Beers, who
left their position and retreated.
The victory over the Beers near
Glencoe, Natal, yesterday, was obtain
ed at a fearful cost. The British rout-
ed the enemy, but they lost eleven
commanding officers killed, including
Sir William Penn Symons, the general
commanding. and twenty-one wound
ed. General Symons died to-day of
the wound he received yesterday while
leading his men where the fighting was
hottest.
Extremely official news respecting
the battle was given out to-day at the
war office. Up to p. IN. the squadron
of the Eighteenth Hussars. numbering
400 pursued the Beers after the fight.
They have not returned to camp and
it is feared they We're drawn into a
trap and killed by the enemy.
Besides these two bodies of troops
there are thirty-three enlisted men
missing from the various commands
in the fight. They are believed TO be
either captured or killed.
The battle ut Glencoe as even official
reports admit, was no skirmish, but
battle that lasted eight hours. The
lighting WIS fierce.
The Beers displayed remarkable
courage when once driven from their
cover by the advance of the British.
who paused neither for shot nor shell,
but kept on and on, merely stopping
for breathing spell or TO reform ranks.
The British artillery displayed aston
ishing craftsmanship. This soon ST.
lenced the Boer guns on the top of Te-
Ian hill and then the order came TO
charge.
The British troops behaved with
great gallantry and at no time We're
beyond the control of their officers.
But the slaughter in their ranks was
pitiful. The percentage of officers thar
fell was far in excess of the enlisted
men. About per cent of the troops
engaged We're officers. vet - per cent.
of the dead are offers. Among the
wounded they number 16 per cent.
In other words. five times as many
officers We're killed as enlisted men, in
proportion TO their numbers. and more
than three times as many wounded.
The explanation is simple. The Off
GERS followed the tradition of the En-
glish army and refused to take advan-
tage Of cover. while they ordered their
men to do It, This valiant and in
splrlng conduct cost them bitter losses
but 1t helped them win the day. They
stood behind their men when the ranks
We're lying down and thus made them
selves tnrgets for Boer shnrpshooters.
and they stood in the open while their
t,,gr nf
fallen timber.
Cape Town. Oct 22.--3:0o p. NIT is
now definitely known that Glencoe
was attacked yesterday by the Boer
main northern column under General
Joubert. Our forces are entrenched in
good position. The situation there is
not yet fully cleared up.
1000 p. ma dispatch has Just ar
rived announcing that the Beers are
shellinE Dundee, east of Glencoe. at
long range. but that their fire Is in
effective.
Kimberley. Oct. 2O.-CBy dispatch
rider from Orange river.l-This is the
sixth day of Kimberley's investment
by the enemy. An armored train went
ont yesterday and found the Beers
still in the direction of Spytfontein.
Their position is believed to be strong.
Two dispatch riders TO Mafeking, Mr..
Stapleton ana ME-. Harding, were cap
tured by Beers October 18th
The local tradesmen are proving their
loyalty by an agreement to keep down
the price of foodstuffs.
Cape Town. Oct. 23.-It is rumored
here this morning that Barkley West,
northwest of Kimberley, has been sur
rendered to the Beers without firing a
shot.
More spies have arrived. Two Eng
lishmen who had been imprisoned by
the Beers escaped last evening and
have just arrived here.
Probably the Boer movement was
curbed by the defeat at Glencoe. but ii
seems reasonable TO believe. Judging
from the determination and fanaticism
of the Boer forces, that they will soon
er or later. any way before Buffers
corps take the. field. return to the field
with redoubled aggressiveness in n
desperate attempt to break the back
bone of General Whites forces, hay
ing previously endeavored to weaken
it by feint and flank movements.
Such a supposition regarding the
Boer plans is based upon the belief
that Commandant General Joubert's
main objective is to break up or rout
General Whites command before the
British reinforcements arrive. But it
is possible the willy Boer general has
carefully concealed strategy which he