The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-01-07
TERRIBLE SUFFERINCS
OF BRITISH SOLDIERS
Graphic DecriptiOn Of Scenes Witnessed By War
Correspondent at the Front.
Intense Heat Drives Men to Drink From the Exhaust Pipes
Of Steam EngineS-Pathetic Side Of the Conflict.

| Correspondence Of the Associated Press)
! London, Dec. 30.-'The men were
crowding round the engines in line Of
/ fering the drivers fabulous prices for
/ a cup of water" writes the Globe cor
respondent, describing the close Of the
battle at Enslin, but it was useless.
The drivers had been threatened with
courtmartial if they supplied any, as
there was great difficulty in keeping
sufficient supply for the engines. 1 saw
/ one soldier lying fat on the line under
an engine catching a few drops IN MS
mouth from a steam pipe"
Such extracts as this from the mailed
/ descriptions Of the fighting in South
/ Africa give some faint idea of the con-
dftions under which it is being car
sied on. Belated as these letters are
/ by the time they appear in English pa
/ pers, they throw much needed light
upon the situation 50 barrenly reported
! over the censored cables.
The heat drove the British soldiers
to drink gratefully from the exhaust
pipe Of an engine after seven hours
/ fighting at Enslin where they lost 17S
killed and wounded. Surgeon Makins,
Z
under date of the field hospital at Or
ange river:
Wounded Suffer From Heat.
During an eight days stay some 800
wounded men have passed through the
hands Of the royal medical army corps
here. in one night alone 800 patients
arrived from the fight at Modder river.
Yesterday the thermometer registered
f ~ "a tlcff in nf
tents.
THE distance from here to the main
( hospitals at Wynberg, which takes
twenty eight hours. emphasizes the
difficulties due to the immense length
of the line of communication. The ma
jority Of wounds have been inflicted by
Martini bullets and large prOjectiles.
A wounded BOeT referred to the Lee
MetfOrd as a 'gentlemanly bullet and
this remark is equally applicable Ia the
MauseT. The wounds made by them
are small, clean and little disposed to
superate. These bullets met with have
been little deformed unless they have
struck stones before entering, and
have seen no single instance which
would suggest of either fiattened or
s0-called explosive bullets amoR5 the
wounded here"
Night Sortie by British.
From AIafeking, under date Of Oct
26, the Times correspondent in that be-
/ leaguCTed place wildly describes a
night sortie by Captain Fitzelarence
with fifty-five men of the PrOtectorate
regiment, and Lieutenant Murray with
twenty-five men of the Cape police.
shortly after II O'clock" writes the
correspondent, Captain Fitzclarence
AND his men started on their perilOus
undertaking. In the faint light of the
night we could see their figures silently
hurrying across the veldt, In the blue
haze OF the distance a black blur be-
tOkened the position Of the enemy. and
il seemed that at any moment the
hOaTse challenge Of the BOer outposts
would give the alarm.
''The men crept on slightly in extend
ed form holding themselves in readiness
for the supreme moment. TIE silence
was intense. The heavy gloom, the
wistful noises of the veidt at night, the
shadowy patches in the bush, all seem
ed 10 heighten the tension Of ones
nerves.
IN a little while our men were with
4 in a few yards Of the enemy; then fur
( lively each fixed his bayOnet to his
/ rifle and as the blades rang home upon
/ their sockets the gallant band raised a
ringing cheer.
The Enemy Aroused.
Instantly the Boer position was gal
vanized into activity, figures showed
/ everywhere, shots rang out, men shout
/ ed. horses stampeded and the confusion
! which reigned supreme gave to our
| nen one vital moment in which to hurl
/ themselves across the intervening
! space.
"Then there was loud crash, for as
| it happened many of our men were
/ nearer the intTenchments than had
/ been anticipated and their charge had
/ precipitated them upon some sheets
] Of corrugated iron which the Beers had
/ torn from the grand stand Of the race
/ course for protection from the rain.
/ With our men upon the parapet Of the
trench a few rapid volleys were fired
/ into the enemy, who, taken completely
/ by surprise, were altogether democrat
lied.
''Those in the first trenches seemed
to have been petrifed by fright Where
/ they were they remand, disabled with
] bayonet, knocked senseless with the
rifle butt or shot dead. Captain Fitz-
clarence himself, with magnificent gal
1 lantry and swordsmanship, killed four
Of the enemy with his sword, his men
plying their bayonet strenuously the
while.
This was the first trench, and as the
] fighting grew hotter some little memory
! of their earlier boasts inspired the
Beers to make a, stand. They fought
we'll Commandant Botha told Lieuten-
ant Moncrieff, who had charge of the
flag party that arranged for an armi-
stice this morning. that he thought at
/ least 1000 men had been moved against
his position.
Charged With Bayonets.
After the first fury had been ex-
/ pended our men charged at the bayonet
point right across the line of trenches
It was in this charge that the Beers
/ lost most heavily. So soon as the
squadron reached the extremity of the
BOeT position their movement was COW
cred by the fianking fire of the Cape
police, which added still further to the
/ perpleXities of the enemy. The CALLING
/ FIRE Of the police disturbed them for
some time longer than wa required in
the actual retirement of the force.
The Beers had been unnerved by the
onslaught Of the ProtecJoraue men, and
a feature of the hours which elapsed
between the final withdrawal of ouI
force from the scene Of conflict and the
advent of dawn was the heavy firing
"a hiAV enemy VIC Stli tChthucU us
q charging useless volleys into space.
THE loss TO US in the encounter had
been six killed, ten wounded and two OF
our men taken prisoners. but the gray
ity Of the loss which the enemy sus-
tanned can be most surely measured by
the fact that until q late hour this af.
teTnoon they could not find the spirit
to resume the bombardment. It is said
in camp here that 200 Beers viii have
reason to remember the charge Of the
i Pr0tectorate regiment"
The doings Of the besiesed at Lady