The age-herald., 1900-01-15
Interesting Letters Receved from Boers and EngIiShmen.
SOME MIRACULOUS ESCAPES
The Reports of Battles Written by the Men in the Ranks Are as In teresting as Those of the
 Correspondents
1convrlghtea hv AssoeIated Pressl.

diers fighting against the Boers are pup lished in large numbers, and in many cases are just as interesting as the accounts by trained war correspondents. A medical officer under Lord Metluen, describing the battle of Modder River, writes:
 "A lot of the North Lancashire men were horribly wounded l turned over ser geant, black in the face, dead One man was brought to me who had been struck by shell fragment-face mutilated, throat cut and chest lacerated. o, God. the sight was sickening, blood everywhere. Very few of our men being wounded, I went out near sunset to aid the Highlanders. They had been lying all day under that frghtful sun, and their wounded were still there. No stretcher bearers could advance, as they were all shot at. They shouted 10 me to crawl on the ground, as, though most of the fight was over, there were stil three or four Boers with express rifles and explosive bullets, who were under cover, and who kept picking off our men. Some men utterly collapsed, and all I could do was to put pad to their wounds and my whisky flask to their lips l then crawled back to my horse and made my way to some ambulamces two miles distant to get
 
 bullets dancing around me. I felt a kind of solemn disregard, as l had been exposed to greater dangers before''
 In letter written to his father from Mooi River, November 23, an officer of the Royal Infantry says:
 Against enemy like the Boers in fantry is useless. Tue Boers have spies everywhere, and they are well mounted they can move away hours before our in- fantry can get within striking distance. On the other hand, they will never attack, and when we advance toward Pretoria, commandos will be left all over the ceun- try, footing and burning farms. The only people who have chance with them are the local volunteers. If the government would only raise about 20O0 volunteers and send out a lot of mourted infantry, we could work them with the local volunteers and these isolated Boer forces would soon be wiped out. At present we are helpless, as they make rings around us.&
 Descr. bes a Bombardment
 The special correspondent of the Cape Argus thus describes a bombardment of Kimberley:
 What will probably be handed down in the annals of history ito Boer posterlty as the bombardment of Kimberley oc- cured Tuesday, November ' and if ever the farcical element were introduced into such serious business as war tele puerlle attempts to rage Kimberley can surely lay claim to it.
 'The Boers had two guns mounted one at Scholz Nek, trained on the Premier mine at Wesselton, at a range of some thing like 3,500 yards, and the other on Spytfontein, about 1000 yards distant couple of shots were fired between , and o'clock in the morning, but then the Boers desisted until about 10, when one gun at SoAolz Nek apparently nine-pounder firing French shell, opened fire on Wes- selton. The fire, however, proved quite harmless, nearly all the shots falling in the debris heaps, and our guns at Vessel ton, replying, and quickly gelbting the range, induced the enemy to cease sfr.ng and they cleared off about :Io5n So little was thought of the Boer fire that the alarm was not even sounded, and business was carried on just the same Thus ended the combardment of Kimberley So little alarm did it cause that the men in the redoubts were actually playing cricket and quoits while it going on."
 The following is from a letter of a re- servist sergeant in the Cold Stream Guards, who is with Methuens column. He was at the battle of Modder river, and says:
 During the afternoon someone seemed to have spotted me from the trenches First a shct struck the side of my boot and struck my rife just in front of my face, filling my eyes with dirt and splinters. l rose up little, when another bullet struck the middle finger of my left hand. had got on my knees when a bull let struck me fair in the chest on the Buckle of my haversack, breaking it. and causing a slight puncture of the skin and bruising my chest. I have been counted as being the luckiest beggar in my battalion"
 Reports from Bocr Side
 From the Boer side comes reports just as Interesting A lad of r wrote to his mother after tine battle of EIandslaagte. and the letter is published in the Journal De Geneveve, as follows:
 We were on a kopje Our forces were behind it in hollow. As the enemy ad- vanced against lis We began shooting. When It looked as if we were going to be surrounded a number of our men fell back into another position. About hundred of us renamed on the kopje. But the fire from the Maxims and other guns became so hot that We withdrew a little to find cover.
 ''The General and Commandant yiliean rallied us and brought us back to the ion of the hill and advised us to get under shelter there as much as possible. I follow lowed the general with a dozen others to the right and viljean led the rest to the left
 The English were still advancing and they wi rdc Of easy to recognize the kiltes they were wearing. We fired at them incessantIy All our bullets seemed to strike I had not time to be afraid. prayed to God and fired on, aiming each time at one of their men. You know am not bad shot. Their Maxims gave us back what We sent them without moments stop.
 "A few of us, finding our position too