The evening times., 1900-03-31
TALES OF SOUTH AFRICA
Beers Said to Allow Mercenaries
to Do the Fighting.
Battling Beneath Burning sun for
Eight Hours-Retreating Under
Painful ConditiOns--A Paradise for
Masherwomen How a Dinner
Was Captured From the Burghers.

NasherW - How Dinner
Was Captured From the Burghers.
| LONDON. March ga curious feature
of the Boer methods of warfare is de-
scribed by an officer of the Queenstown
Volunteers in a letter to the Morning
! Leader" Whenever We get at the Beers
and punish them il is always the German
Irish, johannesburg or Scandinavian con-
| tingent. Trust the Boer TO save his own
| skin. Not but what | think they are quite
right in pushing these comparative outsid-
! ers to the front line. They were hired 10
! fight long ago, and are now being kept TO
their bargain. These are the people who
are working the guns TIE B0er proper is
still behind the stone. and when the hire
lings chawed up. which they must be
soon. anticipate sudden collapse, though
some people think they will fight all the
way to Pretoria | must say do not
Private H. Willis. who killed at
Spearman's Camp. had sent the following
letter to a friend in London of the battle
of Colenso We fought for eight hours in
the burning sun, ard then had TO retire at
night. Don't forget, if any letters come to
mothers place you must take them in. be
cause you don't know but that any time |
might get killed or wounded As soon as
any man gets killed the officers in my regi-
ment write to the mems wives. if they
are married; if not, TO the parents. | had
narrow escape this time of my life Bul-
/ lets were flying all around us. and shells
going in all directions. | shall be glad
! when it is all over. | hope to get through
| safe once more. Keep my medal safely uu-
til | come home
Writing from the hospital ship Umbria
/ to the Morning Leader" Trooper Parry.
of the Inniskillins. says: When one sees
the doctor and nurses bandaging up the
wounded everything and every body seems
lost or confused got down on my stom-
ach lin the battle OF Colensoi keeping my
! eyes fixed on The front. and with my hands
| pushed myself backward for, about half a
mile. You can imagine the state we were
! in when we reached camp. We have long
whiskers and plenty of mud"
! Sergeant Wilson OF the H3wtzer Bat
| terry. writes from Modder River: We
! battle now every day and wash our own
! clothes. Like The poor lodger Dickens
wrote about We go half naked while we
/ swill our shirts. This would be paradise
/ for washerWomen. with the sun shining
and wind blowing nearly every day. Our
! things are dry enough to put on q few
! minutes after they are washed That is
| the one remarkable thing about this cli-
mate. You may get soaked TO the skin and
| go to sleep in the open air all night but
in he FfF.rg
! daisy"
Drummer Hearn. OF the Second Battalion
/ Royal Berks Mounted Infantry. write.
from General French's camp: We were
fighting on Christmas Eve at place call
ed Pen Hoek. We did the Beers a tanker.
I capturing eighty OF their oxen and horses.
( besides TWO wagons containing their
I Christmas dinner. which were going 10
StOrmberg. We drove them back for about
seven miles. That's what I Iike-getting
them on the open. You should see them
go with bit of cold steel at their backs,
/ had a Christmas dinner after all ! took
q duck and bout a peck of green peas of
the wagon. This was enough for our mess
SO l had buster at the expense of the
Boers,"
Trooper F. Whitby. Tenth Hussars. de-
scribes how hardened one gets to the fly
ing bullets. He says: Myself and the
other remount take IL in turn 70 go out
with the boss. He is very daring fellow
and takes you in some very dangerous
places He does not stop for shot or she'll
Nobody can describe the feeling when the
bullets are coming round you like hail
stones, with an occasional shell from Long
Tom. You look round after the dust has
passed and find three or four of your com
rades and he Nses have gone down You
think TO you 1 wonder who's next?
But you take l. tice; simply press your
spurs into your oOr horse grind your
teeth, grip like iron. hold up your sword |
and go on like mad
Private Domeney of the ROYAL War
wicks, writes from De Aar: We are the |
next lot 10 go on to the front and we
shall not be sorry either, TO get away from |
this place. There is too much duty here
We are having three nights sleep out of |
the six; the rest We are on the hills or on |
outpost duty. We have caught a lot of |
Beers. and they look half-staryed a |
good few giving themselves up, as they |
are sick of fighting. The sand here is |
something cruel. 1t comes on like Lon |
don fog. generally when you are getting
your dinner; you get your can half full of |
it. But we get it down somehow. Though |
it is quiet here, we are in responsible |
place. All the provisions and other things |
10 supply the troops come here so we |
have 10 be on the watch especially at |
night time
a Boer correspondent tells a story
that is not believed here. He says that !
after the defeat of Colenso Sir Godfrey |
Langdon. British Commissioner in Basuto-
land assembled the principal chiefs of the /
country and announced TO them that the
English, having just achieved a series OF |
victories. were on the point of making a |
triumphal entry into Pretoria. The sim
ple-minded negroes opened their eyes in
wonder. Thereafter. they said they could
refuse nothing to the vanquishers of the
Beers.
Mr.. Steyn. President of the Orange |
Free State. got wind of the boast and un-
derstanding the English intention found
immediate means of saying to the great
chiefs of Basutoland that if they could
send some men on whom they could rely
to Pretoria their representatives would see
what was really occurring there
The natives held council instantly, !
and delegated the oldest son of their most
powerful chief to go at once into the
Transvaal on the mission.
When he arrived at Pretoria he as
given place Of review on the public
square, and before him, without drums or
trumpets, were marched the English Off
GERS and soldiers, numbering about 2,500
who had been made prisoners on recent
battlefelds.
The son OF the chief seemed spellbound
by the sight. He looked first as If he |
thought he was dreaming, then little by
little the humor of the situation broke
upon him, and he roared with laughter,
forgetting the dignity of an envoy and
performing one Of the dances that are the