Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-03-30

an instant, h magnificent infantry
maintained the defense, and night
closed in with the British still in pos
session of the hill.
About 4 o'clock I rode with Capt. r.
Brecke, Seventh Hussars, to Spion Kop,
to find out what the true situation was.
We passed through the ambulance viii
lage, and, leaving u horses, climbed
up the spur. Streams of wounded met
us and INSTRUCTED our path. Men stag
gered along alone, or supported by COM
rades, or crawling on hands and knees,
or carried on stretchers. Corpses lay
here and there. Many Of the wounds
were of a horrible nature. The splinters
and fragments Of the shell had torn
and mutilated in the most CHASTITY man
ner.
I passed about 200 while I was climb
ing UP. There was, moreover, a small
but steady leakage of unwounded men
Of all corps. Some of these cursed and
swore. Others were utterly exhausted
and fell on the hillside in stupor. Others
again seemed to be drunk. though they
had had no liquor. Scores were sleeping
heavily: Fighting was still proceeding,
ground, while the Maxim shell guns
scourged the TANKS of the hill and the
sheltering infantry at regular intervals
of a minute.
I had seen some service, and Capt,
Brooke has been through more fighting
than any other officer of late years. We
were so profoundly impressed by the
spectacle n situation that we resolved
to go and tell Sir Charles Warren what
we had seen. The fight had been so
close that no proper reports a been
sent to the general, so he listened with
great patience and attention. One thing
was quite clear-unless good and efl-
cient cover could be made during the
night and unless guns could be dragged
to the summit of the hill to match the
Boer artillery the infantry could not
perhaps would not-endure another day,
The human machine will not stand GER
tain strains for long.
Sir Charles Warren wanted to know
Col. Thorneycroft's views. / was sent
to obtain them. h darkness was in
tense; the track stony and uneven. It
was hopelessly congested with ambu-
~lances, stragglers and wounded men.
I soon had to leave my horse, and
then toiled upward. finding everywhere
streams of men winding about the al
most precipitous sides of the mountain,
n desultory crackle of musketry at
the top. Only one solid battalion re-
mained-the Dorsets. All the others were
I found Col. Thorneycroft at the top
of the mountain. Every one seemed to
know even in the confusion where he
was. He was sitting on the ground,
surrounded by the remnants of the reg
iments he had raised, who had fought
for him like lions and followed him like
dogs. I explained the situation as had
been told and as I thought. Naval guns
were prepared to try: sappers mi work.
ing parties were already on the road
| with thousands of sandbags.
What did. he think? But the decision
had already been taken. He had never
received any message from the general,
had not had time to write any. Mes
sages a been sent to him, he had
wanted to e others himself. The
fight had been too hot, too close, too
interlaced for him to attend to anything
but to support this company. clear those
rocks or line that trench. So. having
heard nothing and expecting no guns, he
had decided to retire.
As he put it tersely: Better six good
battalions safely dow the hill than a
| mon up in the morning"