The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1900-11-24

daughters of Erin gave Il rousing wei
come to twenty members of the Chi
cago Boer ambulance corps, who
reached Chicago last Sunday after
noon by the Lake Shore, fresh from
five months brisk fighting in tho
Transvaal, says the Daily Inter- Ocean
The homecoming reception double
discounted the send Off of the corps
and the enthusiasm of the welcomcrs
well repaid many of the boys for the
hardship they underwent. On the
streets the men were almost mobbed
by their frantically joyous friends In
several cases the men narrowly es.
capped being trampled to death by
their overjoyous acquaintances.
Immediately after their arrival the
members Of the corps fell into line,
and, headed by the Clan-nu- Gael
guards, marched to the Seventh rcgi-
ment armOry, where addresses of well
come were delivered by Colonel John
II. Finerty, the Rev. Father Reynolds
and NJ. V. Cannon. Suitable responses
were made by Captain Patrick O'Con-
nor and Lieutenants Enright and
Quinn.
After that the returned fighters left
the armory for McCoys hotel, where
they were banqueted by the Irish Ma
tionalists. At this dinner speeches
were made by ColOnels Ricard O's,n-
Ivan Burke and Maurice Il. Colby,
after which there was a general jolli-
fication.
The members of the corps who re-
turned were: Captain Patrick O'Con-
nor, Lieutenant II. Il. Ryan, Licutcn-
ant Michael Enright, Thomas Murray,
William Dwyer, Patrick Griffin, james
Coyne, Edward Hcaly. Martin Nc
Tiguc, Thomas Cashell, John Costello
Daniel DAILY, Hubert O'Hara, james
Slattery, John II. Murphy, John Duff,
John Welsh, John Quinn, William
Hurley and Patrick Carroll.
''There are just twenty of us here"
began Captain O'Connor, "of the forty
two who left Chicago last February.
We have had n lively time of it since
we set foot In I.ourenzo Marques, but
fight was what the boys were after,
and they got enough of it to gladden.
their hearts,
1--WE went right to Pretoria after
landing Mt Lourcnzo Marques. On the
way we met Colonel Blake ut Middle
burgh with an American scout named
Jack Hinton. Blake is n ringer for
Buffalo Bill--a splendid looking fellow
and IL grand leader. He accompanied
the corps to Pretoria, where we were
all presented to President kruger,
who treated us admirably"
Captain O'Connor, when asked as
to the criticism of the members Of the
corps for violation Of the obligations
Of the Red Cross badge, said:
1--WE left Chicago with the intention
Of entering the hospital service of the
South African Republic. When we
reached Lourcnzo Marques we found
that a telegram had been sent from
the state department ut Washington
directing that we be treated not as an
ambulance corps but as individuals.
The telegram had been sent to Lisbon
and forwarded to Lourcnzo Marquee.
We were compelled to pay for every
thing we secured, and received no
such attention as should have been
bestowed on an ambulance corps. We
then determined to enter the Boer
army. We have no regrets for our
action"
Lieutenant Daniel L. DAILY, formerly
of the Seventh Illinois, received great
praise from all the members Of the
corps for the manner in which he took
care of the sick and wounded, al
though he did as much as any one
else with his muskct.
"We had our first brush," said Lieu
tenant DAILY, "at Brandfort, where l
lost my whole outfit carrying a wound
ed comrade named Dunn to the hos
pital. All the boys were in the bat
tie, and it was a hot one, with lyddite
and shrapncl bursting all around us.
1--WE always had to cover the Boer
retreat, and when we withdrew at
Brandfort we took up position ut
the Vet river and held the kopje that
the Heidelberg command, abandoned.
We kept it until dark, and saved the
four Boer guns. There were just 200
men in our bunch, and between 10000
and 10000 British on the other side,
with forty big lyddite guns, besides
] pompoms and Maxims throwing an