Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1900-02-14
DOM PAUL'S SOLDIERS.
Pen Pictures of the Beers by a
British Prisoner.
INCIDENTS AT ELANDsLAAGTE.


The railway telegraph operator at
Elandslaagte, who was for some little
time a prisoner in the hands of the
Beers till the battle of Elandslaagte
Set him free. writes an interesting ac-
count of his experiences as 4 captive,
says the London correspondent of the
New York Sun. Field Cornet Pienaar
| was in charge of the Boer troops that
| took possession of the station, and as
Atkinson, the operator in question, re-
fused to stop Il train which was just
able to get off before the Beers could
hold it up Pienaar threatened TO have
him shot. But after be had handed
over his keys and cash, for which he
received a receipt, ''Pienaar" he
writes, addressed me in the following
terms. much to the surprise of the one
or two Englishmen present: I'm very
sorry, old man, that | said 10 you what
l did when l first came. l said too
much. You can understand my feel
ings. Seeing the train escape was bad
enough, because you could have stop
ped it and did not. AS rode up saw
one of my poor men fall. wounded by
II shot from the train. and this made
my blood boil. / spoke in the heat Of
passion. However, 1t is all over now.
Here's my hand. We will have a
drink
LAS the evening approached more
Beers rode in. so that by sunset 600
or 100 of them were in the vicinity
That night about 90 of us were herded
in small 10 by 10 sitting room under
armed guards. and our discomfort was
added to by Il constant stream of Beers
coming IN and out of the room in half
dozens just to amuse themselves at
our expense. Fortunately the bar was
under the control of the field cornet,
and the inevitable drunkenness was
thus 10 certain extent limited.
zone or two of the rOugher youths
amused themselves by pointing car
bines at US. and, although checked by
their leaders. there was always a doubt
whether one of the crowd might not
try his Mauser first and he punished
after the mischief was over"
Other portions Of this letter inciden-
tally throw a vivid light on the kind OF
up of. The following passage shows
~" iulNhiN AlSN So w "oAN " hNh
their scouts bring news: This morn
Ing. Oct. 30. Commandment Ben Vilioen
and his men arrived early and took up
n strong position among the stony
kopjes a mile to the east of Glands
laagte. About a. III. the scouts
brought in word of an English force
approaching. In remarkably short
time hundreds of Beers were in the
saddle and, directed first by a rather
melancholy performance on n bugle
and subsequently by numerous whis-
ties, such as are used by English po-
lice. We're off in small parties of tens
or twenties in the direction of Lady
smith. After Il couple of hours anX-
iOus wait for results the Beers return
ed, having had no engagement. so we
concluded the BOer scouts had come
into touch with some accommodating
force which had returned to camp aft
er ascertaining their locale"
In this passage there is picture of
the stern old General Koch: When
noon arrived. / went to T.. c. Pienaar
and reminded him OF his promise OF
permits. He shrugged his shoulders,
told me lie had no further authority
and referred me to General Koch, who
had arrived about 10 p. m. the previous
evening. Choosing a favorable mo-
ment, therefore. l got the general
alone. His bearing was very reSOlute
and for n man OF his advanced age and
venerable appearance wonderfully firm,
but single glance at his cold, ex-
pressionless eyes enabled me 10 antici-
pate his answer. He apparently did
not speak English with ease and called
up one who l was afterward Informed
was his son. Judge Koch. and very
deliberately told him TO inform me as
follows: You will stay here ut least
another two days until the arrival OF
another commando. when q council will
be held and a decision taken as TO
what 70 do with you. If you remain
here. you will be protected. but if any
of you are found on the veldt you will
be shot indiscriminately. We mean alb
sOlute business this time Evidently
we are fixed for time.
a couple of hours after this l was
sent for by General Koch. Could /. he
asked, find sail local for tarpaulin),
as n wagon of ammunition had broken
down in Il spruit some two miles dis
tant, and the night promised TO be wet.
promised. seeing in the commission
an opportunity TO see what was afoot
and knowing. moreover. that his own
men could have got a san anyhow IL
had declined TO find one. An escort
was found me. and l went first TO the
station. where l knew a spare tar
paulin had lain. 1t was gone. but in
looking for il found q case of dynamite
which had evidently been brought from
the colliery magazine. distant about
half n mile. a tremendous hammering
was going on in the office. and on en-
tering I found an officer using a ham
mer and apparently opening up or nail
ing down the floor. l at once con-
nected the case OF explosives with the
hammering and suspected that the
building was being mined. Before
there was time to see what was being
done I was peremptorily ordered out
side. and when l replied that General