The Independent. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1895-1905, 1900-03-27
The Victoria Cross.

may be in store for England as tho
outcome OF her campaign against
Paul Kruger and his people, it is at
least cons olatory to know that the
old Anglo Saxon spirit OF bravery
that knows no reason, OF blind dar-
ing that recks naught of results,
leading "duke's son and cooks son"
straight into the jaws OF masked
battery, burns brighter than ever.
The war is not 6 months old, yet al
ready the records glisten with the
stories of individual bravery that
add lustre and glory to British arms.
1t is certain that the end OF the
cam paign will give us plentiful
crop OF V. C's. The Victoria Crosse,
most coveted of all military tro-
phies, because 80 rarely bestowed, is
common alike to officers and men.
Rank holds no place in the reasons
which dictate its bestoNal. 1t is
the one decoration created by the
Queen, and bestowed by her own
hand. 1t is common to master aud
man alike. And it has more than
once happened that the naughty
major.general, glittering with de-
corations, has stood side by side
with the humble private in the ranks
to receive this distinction at the
hands Of the gentle woman whom
both delight to serve.
The disastrous Boer war Of 1881
gave nearly 20 new wearers Of the
VIC. Does any one in these days re-
call the names Jas. Murray and Pat.
rick j. Danaher, of the Connaught
Rangers? Yet in all the annals of
war there is no finer instance Of self
forgetting sacrifice than that afford.
ed by these 2 young 1rishmen. 1t
was on the morning of Jan. l6, 1881,
just after a skirmish with the Boers,
that they saw Cyrne and Davis, two
men of the Scots Fusilier Guard,
lying wounded on the plain. Muir.
ray and Danaher were wounded, but
rode to the rescue. Murray's horse
was shot under him, and then he
struggled on foot to the side of the
wounded men. Yet even as he rails
ed Byrne in his arms he was shot
through the body, and finding that
all was lost, ordered Danaher to
look to himself. Murray, Byrne,
and Davis we're captured by the
Beers. The men whom Murray and
Danaher had tried to save died, but
Murray, long prisoner in the hands
of the Beers, lived to join the re.
giment, and with Dsnaher received
the reward for his bravery.
Does Lancet Corporal Farmer,
keeping me.books among the fact.
DRY chimneys in busy, smoky Brad
ford, recall the day at Majuba Hill
when, at the finish of the slaughter,
he alone remained by the side OF the
wounded, in spite OF the bullets that
were hailing down upon him. Twice
he raised a white handkerchief TO
s low that he was connected with
the Red Cross, aud twice the hand |
that waved the flag was shot through |
and the linen hnttered to the
grou nd. Happily the captain in
command of the Boer force realized
tho situation and ordered his men to
cease firing, and farmers life YVES
spared. He suffered the loss OF his
left arm, but got the Victoria Cross
in exchange.
Major AR. Hill, OF the 5Sth Regi-
ment, now going through his second |
OF war in the Transvaal,
was, through no fault OF his own,
one of the survivors OF Laing's Mex.
The major, at that time a mere
second lieutenant, saw Captain Or
mond, a brother officer, lying wound.
ed and exposed to the fire of the
enemy Out into the open, with the
Boer guns trained upon him, ran