Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1900-02-24

when DR.. Jameson made his celebrat-
ed raid, and also, to slight degree, an
actor in the epilogue of that drama,
while assisting in nursing the wounded
in that memorable fight, after they had
been taken to the little hospital at
Krugersdorp.
Without presuming to account my
self either a civic politician or a mill
tary tactician, have always felt that
that wild ride of jameson and his men
was simply a sort of a preliminary
skirmish of greater battle.
Had he succeeded in reaching johann
nesburg, instead of being captured
within eighteen miles of that place,
l believe that the history which is be-
ing written now would have been re-
corded then. With Jamerson as the
leader. and his little band of troopers
as the nucleus around which the Out
landers might rally. 1 cannot help
thinking that, Iii the then compare
lively unprepared state of the Beers.
the contest would have been short and
decisive, and that long before this time
the South African Republic would have
been added to the dominion of Great
Britain. But he failed as all the world
now knows, on the very threshold OF
success, and in the intervening years
the Beers, evidently feeling that a
great contest was inevitable have been
steadily preparing themselves.
Knowing the country in which the
war is being waged, and knowing per-
sonally many engaged on either side,
l have followed the reports OF the fight
with an intense interest. / need not
eXpatiate on the discipline and cour-
age of the English soldiers. These are
matters of common knowledge. But
knowing also the obstinate determine
tion of the Beers and their undying
hatred of the English, l do not regard
the proclamations of Kruger and Jou-
bert as mere idle words 1 know that
these are shrewd men, obstinate men
and brave men, and to me every word
they have uttered rings with a literal
meaning.
knowing the Boer character and the
British character, l do not think that
any one country is large enough to hold
these two types in amicable relation
ship, especially with the English as the
dominant governing race. The an
cestors of these Beers, as we'll as some
of those at present engaged on the
Boer side, deliberately "trekked" to the
north in order to establish a govern
ment of their own.
They are fighting now in the last
ditch so to speak. There is no posi-
biity of further retreat. The English
surround them on the north. west and
south. To the eastward of the Trans
vaal the Portuguese hold all the ter
ritory.
/ have always resented the extreme
criticism, particularly in this country,
of jameson and his men. Whatever
may have been the political purpose Of
that expedition, the fact that they were
responding to an urgent appeal of the
committee in johannesburg, asking
their assistance in behalf of the women
and children of that place, places them
in my eyes as gallant men who were
willing to risk their lives in a desperate
effort in what must have seemed to
them great cause.
1t is impossible for me to regard the
thirty-four wounded Englishmen whom
I came to know intimately in that i'm
provised hospital in the dry goods store
in Krugersdorp as 'murderers." land
pirates" and robbers" Such epithets
do not befit men who so bravely faced
death In the fight and in the hospital.
and the possibilities of death as fill
busters even after passing through
these other ordeals.
And, in the same breath, speaking as
an American woman, and, therefore.
to a certain extent, as a neutral, / feel
that in common justice I ought to say
word for the bravery of the four
Beers in that same hospital, and for
the unremitting care by their country
men, of their wounded opponents.
AS l recall some of my experiences
during my brief stay in that hospital
find myself wondering how the Boer
wounded are being treated during the
present fight. The Boer hatred of the
English was so intense that they would
not let an English doctor treat any of
their sufferers. And as / recollect my
dismay at seeing a Boer woman in
sisting on feeding her son, who had
been shot through the lungs, with a
thick, heavy soup and hard boiled eggs,
] involuntarily speculate as to whether
the same system of diet is being main
tanned in their hospitals now Such
diet would have killed almost any other
class of wounded men, but they SEEM
ed to flourish on it.