Evening star., 1900-11-09
DURIN G THE BOER WAR
INTERESTING "REMINISCENCES OF
THE CONFLICT.
Incidents Related by an Officer Who
Served Under kruGer-Character
of the BurEhers.


| Coi. Arthur Iynch IN tDlller "eehly
| When l look back at my campaign ex-
periences l am surprised to observe how
much hardship we endured and what ter
| rible tolls we undertook. Matters did not
strike me so much in that light at the
| time. for we were always in good spirits. l
think there must be something in the at
mosphere of South Africa which conduces
| to a genial state of mind, for certainly the
| Afrikanders are the most friendly of say
people l have met in my life. One of my
men haid. This is a very easy country to
| get along in, colonel; you can do most
| what you like, so long as you do not kill or
! steal''-a curious commentary on the al
| legged tyranny of the Beers At that time
killing was our trade, however; and, as to
| stealing, the notions of some of the burgh-
ers-but to be just. only of a few-had got
| so lax that under the name of commander
ing they took everything in sight they
! could lay hold of.
This was really one of the causes of our
disasters, for at the first hint of a reverse
each man was anxious to get away with
his loot. Yet there were some laughable in
cidentS connected with it.
| remember once seeing some burghers In
store looting right and left. They had
| their wagons outside, and they were anX-
| ious to get all they could before the ar
rival of the police inspector, for the Doer
authorities did their best to prevent such
practices. One of the men was absorbed
hauling out clothes, boots gowns, carpets,
costly silks and doormats, and dumping
them on the sidewalk ready for his wagon,
that he did not notice that another man
was quietly waiting outside, picking up
these articles and placing them in his own
wagon.
Musical Typewriter.
| 1t was in the same store that one of the
Beers made a typewriter. He had never
seen a typewriter before. and he was hesi-
| tatlng whether to take it or not, when one
of his comrades seized it. The original
discoverer snatched it out of his hands,
crying Indignantly, Don't you think my
children want to learn music, too?"
The Boers-even those who 1ooted--p"ay-
ed a good deal. and at one period religion
became almost epidemic | had in my mi
gade an old soldier who had fought against
tlr y crS at Ma uha Hill. | had i y ~
pected from his ordinary conversation that
religion was his strong point but one night
haFng procured some SurreD,itiOuS and
vitrioic whisky. he insisted on making a
speech. He declared that he had taken Up
arms Tor the Beers because he was a Dop-
per. MS mother was a Dopper and all his
srandfathers and grandmothers were Dnp-
pers. They were Covenanters, he roared
and that's the next thing to Dopper The
| following day, sobered by a night In the
| trenches. he was much less religious In
fact, his language was so bad that | gave
him a reminder. Yes. colonel" be .ac-
knowledged. lit is bad language, but it's
| good enough for trooper
Attacked by Our Friends.
may say that the difficulty of dis
! tinsuisheding between Boer and Briton led
US more than once to fire on our own men,
one night there was a ferocious encounter
between the commands of Carolina and
Lydenburg. Fortunately it was too dark
ff,,
most moving experiences was when near
ElaHdS. .aagte. l went out to reconnoiter
with couple of my men and suddenly
found our little party in danger Of being
attacked by a strong patrol of what |
thought We're Britishers | resolved tn
stand. We took our places behind rocks
We had our revolvers ready also for close
quarters-but l could not decide that the
horsemen who were rapidly approaching
might not possibly be Beers though thew
We're in uniform and though they did not
ride like Beers. When they got 50 close as
to be able almost to rush US SUSPENSE he
came very uncomfortable, and | decided TO
give them a shot at me SO as to dispeI
doubts. | therefore suddenly rose lIp hold
ing my rifie abo"e my head in a horizontal
direction. This was our signal though il
was not always :cted on, and though it did
not always serve. | found that the troop
was u bOdy of Beers led by some artii-
iersts whose uniform and braced manner
of riding made them resemble the English
On another occasion near the same place
we had furious chase one dark night
after the foe. Next day we found we had
been worrying party of Italian scouts
In the early gray of the morning two of
them were found up palm tree. and when
We approached they yelled madly, 'Itali-
amos! ItatianoS"'
] once dropped in for little shooting nv
self inadvertently. 1t was also near Glands
| laagto. where on the previous day We had
dislodged an advance guard of the English
They We're shifting camp, and | was watch
m fol trIa
Suddenly the bullets began to sing about.
/ turned to an aid-de-camp of Gen. Botha,
who sitting behind rock. Where is
that firing coming from?'' | inquired.
Il don't know he replied where they
are firing from, but l know what they are
firing at
"Ah?'
Yes he concluded, with a grin, they're
firing at you.
l had just realized that fact also. and 1
dropped behind rock before making fur
ther observations.
4 Prize Fighter in the Ranks.
Some of the sayings of my men were
curious. I had famous prize fighter in
my brigade, d lightweight, a finely built
young fellow, and as brave as one can
find them. He said he would follow me
like star He did till he met his Cea h
| near Johannesburg. One day, however, he
was very Respondent. 1t was the day of
| our retreat from the Biggarsberg. He did
| not like to retreat
| Colonel" he said, we've backed a
| loser
That certainly summed up the situation.
He continued by saying that he once a
| man beat another in the ring, but .'he
| wouldn't go in and finish him. Now that's