The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-03-15
|DED At THE LD|)PHO[ES
DURING A SORTIE FROM BE-
LEAGUERED MAFEKING
BRITONs FOUGHT DESPERATE
stOrmed an ImpregnabIe Fort, and
Did Not Yield Until Their
Forces Were Practical
ly AnnihIIated.

Correspondence of the Associated Press.
LONDON. March from Mafeking
the Times correspondent sends more
thrilling account of the sortie of the gar
rison on Dec. 26 than has yet reached
this country. 1t will be remembered that
Baden-PowelPs men endeavored to cap
ture Game Tree. a particularly annoying
Boer fort After relating the start OF
the sortie, the correspondent continues:
FOR moment 1t seemed al though
the place opposed to the rush of Capt,
vernon and Capt. Sanford was q mere
wall, requiring only to be scaled for the
tort to be captured. But when the men
approached within 300 yards of the fort,
rifles rang out from every possible point.
and the ground was swept by Mauser
and Martini bullets. Capt Sanford was
the first to fall, MORALLY wounded with a
bullet in the spine. He fell down calling
TO his men to continue the charge, but
where be had fallen he died.
oar men now began to drop rather
rapidly ard Capt. Fitzclarence was dis
abled with a bullet in the thigh. His
place was taken by Lieut. Swinburne,
who at once continued the charge, that
officer and Lieut.. Bridges, Of the same
squadron, being among the nine who,
upon the termination of the fight, were
unWounded. The ground around the fort
was becoming dotted with the figures of
our wounded men, who, although they
were but an irregular soldiery, followed
their officers with pluck and logged de-
termination of veterans.
A
The brunt of the fight now fell upon
the companies under the immediate COM
mand of Capt. Vernon. who undaunted
by the impossibiity of his task, steadily
fought his way forward AS they aD-
preached nearer his men, undisturbed by
the shower OF bullets which fell about
tnem, cheered repeatedly, the echo or
their cheers giving rise to the impression
that the capture of the position was i'm
minenr. The steady rush of cur men, uri-
daunted by the worst that the enemy
could do, was rapidly demoral.ziEg those
who were firing from behind the loop,
noies IN the fort, and ii may have been
that. had We not had our responsible Of
llcers shot or killed before we reached
the walls of the fort, a different story
might have tn be told AS 1t happened,
when Capt. Vernon. with whom was
Lieut.. Patton. steadied his men for the
last charge, bullet struck aim in the
body. For a brief interval he stopped,
but; refusing the entreaty of Lieut. Patton
that he should fall out he Joined the Of
ficer once more In taking the lead
From, the point which they had gained
the character of the fort was seen, and
the heavy fire under which it was de
Tended showed 1t 10 be iInpregnable fl
from the edges of ditch with sides that
1t was almost impossible to climb. 1t
was certain death which stared them IN
the face within twenty-five yards, but
not nan was dtsmayed. They con-
tInued. The ditch was before them, the
fort before them, and through three
tiers of ioophoies came the enemys fire.
HAND TO HAND.
Cur men from one side of the ditch
fired point blank at an enemy whc, from
behind his loOphoie. fired point blank at
him. Here those who rad survived until
now were either killed or wounded and
it was here shat Capt. Vernon was hit
again as he. with l4eut Patton and the
scout. Cooke, whose tunic at the end of
the engagement was found to be riddled
with bullets, endeavoring to clamor into
the fort.
Capt. Vernon and Lieut. Patton man.
aged by -superhuman efforts TO reach the
loopholes. into which they emptied their
revolvers. Their example was eagerly
copied by the few wh) remained. ard
who were shot down as they piled thcir
bayonets through tl.e apertures. Here
Capt. Vernon, Lieut.. Patton, Corporal
Pickard Sergeant Boss and many others
were killed. Capt Vernon was shot in
the head the third wound which he had
received within 200 yards. Lieut. Patton
was shot in the region of the heart.
Bugler Morgan. who was the first to ply
his bayonet. was shot in three places,
but it is believed that he will live.
~ mighty roar rose up, and we who
had not taken part in the charge again
| thought that the position had been car
| ried. But it was the triumphant shout oS
| the Beers. Those of our men who We're
| left fell back savagely. and sullenly, with
| a contempt OF the enemy's fire and the
desire to renew the attack. When they
| fell in again. out of the sixty who had
| been engaged in the charge. only nine
| were wounded. Our killed We're twenty
| one, wounded thirty, of whom four have
| since died. There were also three who
were prisoners in the hands of the
! enemy"