The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-01-18
GRAPHIC STORY.
CONCLUDED FROM FIRST PAG


Transvaal army. 1t is dated Farmers
Kopje, Natal, Dec 2, 1899, and is in these
terms Look at the heading of my let
ter-Natal. Can you imagine that / should
thought me to be in Chicago? 1 am now
in the entertainments of the Boer army
before Ladysmith. AS soon as war was de-
clared 1 made up my mind TO go as vol
unteer and at New York presented myself
to the Dutch committee there, who paid
my travelling expenses and / embarked
on the 'Sidonia Fftwe, bound for Madeira.
On Nov. we landed at Lourenzo Marques;
on the 9Th / was in Pretoria, and on the
7th already here. l had company of Ito
soldiers intrusted to me. and a pioneer
officer my task is very important.
Bearded. stalwart, hardy fellows are
these Beers. / speak English, and that,
with the Beers, is the universal language.
Good people, but how terribly they hate the
English. We never hated the Turks so
much. All of them are good shots. good
horsemen and good Christians. Those of
them who have finished their tasks OF dig
ging sit down to rest with their bibles in
their hands; they know no other book.
They believe in God and their rights. Our
tactics here and everywhere along the
fighting line are keep in your trenches
we get ourselves entrenched and wait for
the enemy. The English make their attacks
III the open, thinking that they fight the
Sudanese. We fire volleys at them and
make havoc in their ranks. Hundreds are
left on the battlefield and the others retire.
AS we are well mounted we do our move
ments quickly. The hardest things we have
to endure are the terrible heat which keeps
us in our shirt sleeves all day and the
Siberian cold of the night, the heavy down.
pours of rains and the dust storms"
A correspondent who was at the battle of
heard that David st. John. the heavy
weight champion boxer of the guards was
killed here at Belmont in the charge up the
Kafir kopje. He came face to face with
&c m a n
a scuffie. The guardsman gave Mr. Boer
lunge with his bayonet, so hard that he
drove 1t right over the hilt and crossguard,
and not being able to extract 1t, he was
practically unarmed, and while endeavoring
to withdraw, another Boer shot him clean
through the temple. / saw them lying one
on top Of the other, both quite dead
PLAIN HOME TRUTHS.
The Globes correspondent at Magersfon-
tein, presumably Earl DE la War;, writes
some plain home truths; in fact, part of his
letter has been eliminated by the censor.
"It is not he says, 'the numerical loss Of
soldiers and men-ghastly and terrible
enough in itself-which makes the position
so serious; it is the effect which these re-
verses have on the morale of our troops
and on the Beers, which constitutes the
real danger. If we could point to one real
victory, if our men could see that these
hardfought battles, with their bloody re-
suits, were clearing the road to Pretoria.
they would know they were doing some
thing good. But all along the line, from
Chievely to Modder river, we are facing
well-night impregnable positions occupied
by men determined to hold them with their
last drop of blood, hurting forth one unani-
nous defiant message: Thus far and no
farther 1t is useless to disguise the fact
large
beginning to lose heart in this campaign.
Can you blame them? A close succession
of frontal attacks on an invisible foe
strongly entrenched, where retaliation is
almost impossible, will shake the nerve of
the bravest. Our men have fought well;
their conduct under most trying and adj
verse circumstances has been admirable;
but they have been asked to perform mira
cles, and being human. they have failed
Do not blame them. Do not blame that
gallant general who. on Monday last. was
the first victim of the terrible disaster
which overcame the Highland Brigade"
A correspondent of Reuters Telegram
Company, writing from Cape Town under
date of Dec 20, says: 1T has been ex-
pected. certainly hoped, that the Beers may
be compelled to assume the offensive, not
from any desire to come into the OPEN
quite opposite is the case-but because it
may become absolutely necessary for them
to bring the war to an early conclusion, IL
they can. Not only do the Beers find 1t
difficult to keep up their supplies of feed.
but also of ammunition. Their transport
arrangement are of a primitive kind. The
OK wagons. even the mule wagon. Is very
slow and cumbrous rReans of moving
heavy goods, such as projectiles and food
stuffs, from one point to another with long
distances between the base of supplies and
the army I'm the field. Again, the extent to
which ammunition Of all sorts has been
used must have made serious inroads even
upon heavy stocks accumulated in the
Transvaal and Free State capitals within
the last two years A failure in the food
supply or the supply OF ammunition is fatal
TO any army. and there are some signs that
supplies are falling somewhat short and
that the fact is having a demoralizing eff
feet This applies, of course, purely 10 the
Beers. So far the British mobile forces
in the field are concerned, excepting Kim
berley. Ladysmith and Mafeking, which are
cut off from communication, there is an
unlimited supply of food and ammunition
for the British army and 1t is equally pleas
ing to Britons that Mafeking is amply
supplied. 1t Is hoped that both Mafeking
and Ladysnlith have food enough to last
them until they are relieved. The pros
poets of the Beers in the matter of fresh
supplies are not cheering. No ammunition
is likely 10 reach the republics through De-
lagoa bay whilst the capture of the Bulu-
wayo with her cargo of -four consigned to
the Transvaal indicates that Great Britain
has an eye upon the food supply OF the
enemy as we'll.