Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1900-05-12
TALES FROM THE FRONT
Some Grim Realities Of the An
glo-Boer War.
STRENGTH OF BoER CONVICTIONS.

/ views of an Old Fighting Burgher
who Helped TO Corner Jameson
and His Mcn-sights on the Hond to
| kimberIey--How Boers Helped TO
| Bury the suffoil<s.
one Of the London Daily News war
correspondents, in the course Of prl-
vate letter to friend. gives some vivid
pictures of the realities Of war under
modern conditions "In former days
he writes, the enemy could be seen,
the smoke could be seen. and the rifle
had TO be reloaded after every shot. At
900 yards you were in comparative
safety, and the infantry, after receiy-
ing one volley, could charge knowing
that until the enemy had loaded again
each man was practically safe. Nova
days that is all changed. Nothing is
seen-no man, no smoke. The only
thing seen is the dust thrown up by
the bullets like a rainstorm on the sur
face of n lake. the artillery throwing
shell and the shells bursting. In CON
trast to this is the noise, which is infer
as if a million kettledrums were being
played, a constant tra-rara-ra, with
the boom. boom, of the big guns and
the harsher sound of the Maxims,
Hotchkss, Maxim Nordenfeldts and
machine guns In general. The discord
is appalling. as every gun has a differ
ent sound, and each shell going through
-. h tel
to it's breed After a time you can tell
what is coming or. if it is one of your
own. what is going.
1.-THE most terrifying of the enemy's
guns is q sort of Hotchkiss, which fires
about five rounds time and throws a
one pound shell, which bursts. You
are safe nowhere, as bullet fired at
an object at 800 yards which misses
hits and kills at 1000 or 5000 yards.
1t practically means with these rifles
that bullet is never spent until 1t hits
something and remains there. When
bullet strikes, you hear nothing. 1t
goes right through a man and probably
travels on another 1000 yards. You
hear a grunt or gurgle, and the man
collapses and doubles up. Sometimes.
if hit in the arm or leg. he spins around
and falls and probably gets up again,
as it is only the Shock which knocks
him down, and he hardly feels it, At
Modder river | went down with three
guns of the Eighteenth battery to with
in 1900 yards and saw five men go
over one after the other, but only one
killed.
'The worst thing is a bullet wound
in the stomach. which is mortal. The
pain is excruciating and they howl like
shot hare: it sounds like a child
screaming. and is horrible, but you see
such a lot of beastly sights and hear
such a lot OF heartrending sounds that
you become accustomed to 1t and cal
lous | found a wounded Boer at Ma
gersfonten who was shot evidently
while lying down, through the top OF
the head, above the right ear. The bull
let had travelled through his head and
out of the back of his jaw on the left
side 1t had then broken his collar bone
and taken turn, travelled around his
ribs and out at his side. He was not
pretty to look at, but did not seem
much the worse, and while | gave him
water he explained to me the course of
the bullet. Some of the recoveries are
perfectly marvellous | suppose after
the thing is over the doctors will pub
lish some of the extraordinary cases
which have passed through their
hands"