The Butler weekly times. (Butler, Mo.) 1881-1918, 1899-12-21
METhUEN SAYS HIS
LOSS WAS 1872 MEN.
Highland Brigade Sustained
the Heaviest Casualties.
1T LOST OVER SEVEN HUNDRED.
British Artillery and Scots Guards Pre-
vented Rout
1T LOST OVER SEVEN HUNDRED.
TERRIFIC FIGHTING.
Beers Are Believed to Have Suffered
Heavy Losses.

-Ambulances started early Yesterday
morning under a flag of truce TO get
the wounded and bury the dead who
fell at Magersfontein.
! General Wauchope, who led the
Highland brigade. was found dead
near the trenches. shot i'll the chest
and thigh. 4 few wounded were found
near the trenches. Several wounded
Beers We're taken TO the British hos
pital. The side of the hill and the
immediate neighborhood of the Boer
trenches showed dead bodies all
about.
I One wounded Boer informed cor
respondent of the Associated Press
that their loss was terrible. The
whole Scandinavian contingent was
destroyed Judging from informa-
tion CLEANED from the BOer wounded
and from prisoners taken in different
parts of the field, the Boer losses
must exceed 700.
The destruction wrought by the
naval guns was enormous. Word was
passed along the Boer lines TO pre-
pare to retreat at nightfall. All con-
Tess that it was their greatest loss
during the war.
The British troops have returned
to Modder River. owing to the lack
OF water near the positions held yes
terday.
London. Dec 1.-THE correspond
ent of the Standard at Modder River
describing the fight says:
six miles had to be covered before
the Highland Brigade could reach
the Boer stronghold. 1t is not vet
clear through what mischance the
force, which was led by guides, came
upon the Boer trenches SO unexpect-
eddy, and SO suddenly. Beyond
question the Beers were aware of the
appearance of the British and had
prepared to receive them.
According to one version, two
Highlanders, through nervousness or
clumsiness, discharged their rifles pre-
maturely, but it is equally probable
that the advance Boer scouts convey
ed the intelligence.
Our men were totally unprepared.
The disaster was all the more eXas-
perating because of the consciousness
that had the brigade been extended
and with bayonets fixed, the trenches
might have been successfully rushed
with far less sacrifice of life."
METHUEN's LOSSES.
The British losses in the battle at
Magersfontein were S32 killed. wound
ed and captured, according to Me-
thuen's reports.
The Highland Brigade evidently
for it alone lost over 700 men.
The British casualties among Off
GERS were severe
The Beers also suffered heavily, es-
pecially from the lyddite shells
thrown by the artillery.
General French reports a skirmish
battle with 800 Beers who were ad-
vancing on Naauwpoort. He says
his losses were ten and the Beers
forty, the latter retiring.
He has fought several minor en-
gagements.
Buffers efforts to draw the fire OF
the Boer batteries along the Tugela
river have failed. Joubert refuses to
unmask them. The British thus are
kept in the dark as to where the
Boer generals main positions are
located
The British war office has issued a
notification to the public that it is
|mobilizing more troops and that it
intends to call for still another divi-
sion.
Winstan Spencer Churchill is re-
ported to have escaped from his Boer
captors at Pretoria.