Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-01-15


launched they leaked, so that half an
hours baling had to be done before
we dared let them start. Everything
had to be done by the soldiers, and the
ships crew were all employed in try
ing to shut the water-tight door to keep
the keep the sea out of the engine
room. If it had got in there before
| the fires were put out a fearful explo-
sion would have occurred and the ship
would have been blown in half"
Modder river battle with its many
dramatic incidents, its heavy losses, its
long duration. proves a never-failing
topic for the war correspondent lucky
enough to have witnessed it. Julian
Ralph, in the Daily Miles gives a
lengthy and vivid account of this n
| gagement:
"a ommon reliance of the Boer,"
he writes, was upon gin. Empty gin
bottles, bottles still containing gin and
one full bottle of that liquor were to be
seen stuck in the loose dirt of the
trenches"
Speaking of the Boer losses, this cor
respondent declares:
First in the mind of the Boer is the
desire to hide his dead and to lie about
their number. 1t is from their own
that they most desire to hide the truth.
The prisoners we took all said that
only eighteen had been killed, but the
deserters said the loss of life was very
great, and that in the river alone n
hundred were sunk with weights. For
my part / shall not be surprised If we
learn some day that in killed alone
the Beers lost quite 800.
after the battle the veldt had been
dotted with Boer horses in conse-
quence of the custom of bringing two
horses for each well-to-do man, and
in consequence OF the loss of riders
by death and wounding. But both
previous battle fields combined showed
IO SuCu AullDC vi iCSS AOAoCo az
Modder River. There were literally
hundreds of them. l had lost mine in
the fight, but in the first half hour of
the next morning l took my choice of
four, and might have made my pick
from a hundred, saddled and briddled,
before l had gone half over the field.
zone word as to that phase of their
warfare, which must be touched upon
in justice, in every account we CORE
%spondents write of it. With my w
eyes, being upon the scene, l saw the
putt-putt gun and the fire of the sharp
shooters trained upon our ambulances
three times and upon our stretcher
bearers on innumerable occasions. In
fact, whenever they rose to their feet
Con tn right of the line) and attempted
to perform their work"
Ralph relates with the feeling of one
who suffered the hardships which lack
of water imposed on Methuen's men
during their march towards Kimber-
ley.
I'VE never joke about water now"
he says. "The first time we really APP
~preciated it we were starting out from
Orange River. We were marching and
watching the day break. In breaking
it seemed to rend the earth's blanket
of atmosphere and let the SUMS heat
out upon us as if We were so many
thousand stokers in the broiling belly
of a ship. On and ON we marched, in
heavy sand, or over stones, or STUN
bling across furrowed ground-all
gasping like fishes thrown or a beach.
cat first our lips dried and cracked,
then our mouths parched, and finally
our threats became as If they were
coated with plaster of paris. The hair
shriveled on our hands and our feet
grew dry as deviled bones. Here and
there a man fell forward on his hands
and knees or stumbled out of the ranks
and lurched prone on the veldt.
I'VE came to Finchams. a yellow,
Spanish-looking house, all set about
with trees. In and out of its yard
horses and mules passed in scores, and
behind the house the Tommies crowd
ed like bees around a honey pot, filing
their cloth-clad bottles out of a stone
tank, while other Tommies walked
around and around a sort of a wind
lass that pumped new water into the
tank.
Every man filed his bottle, emptied
it down his throat and filled 1t again.
"a water mania. a thirst madness.
was upon the army We padded in
spilled water and the sounds it made
in pouring. gurgling and splashing
were as delicate music to all our ears.
we have learned what war is. and
more about the Boer than we Knew a
month ago. but above all. we have
learned the value of water"
More Canadians.
LONDON. January 15.-The Asso-
ciated Press learns that Lord Lans-