New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-06-10
]. FIRESIDE FIGHTER.
uE TALKED WELL, BUT HIS RECORD
BELIED HIS WORDS.

London May ga L. Hales. the Australian cor
rcspondent writes thus to The Daily News:
Many and wonderful are the stories written and
Unfinished concerning the Boer and his habits when
~ The warpath Most of these stories are written
bpiyndred miles of the lighting line. but content
themselves with an easy chair cigar bottle Dot OF
good motel in pretty little Boer town. To scribes
81 Cent who is always full the very of his
Cvn dauntless courage. his deathless loyalty to the
S,aen and Empire, his love for the soldier and his
SsIred Of the Boer This gallant class of British
resident has half million excuses ready a to his
fight when the war summons rang clarionlike
Ouga 1ns cnches hs e hands ms in spasmode
wrath. throws cut his chest and tells his auditors
whisky, what he intends to Go the next time the
eer may have whelped a few million good tghting
stock in his time, but this class OF animal is no
ners shaliow-brained, cowardly creature always
howiing thu 5oer, but too discreet to go out
him, 70 TGone a ir feast to his bybrd animal
TO tell hm grewsome tales relative TO Boer lighting
had one Of this peculiar species at me the other
day in Burghersdorp. and he painted a Boer laager
had not seen a few laagers myself I should have
Of that laager in language so intense with gestures
SO graphic that some OF his auditors had to hold
he circumarnbent atmosphere with cardboard
fans ana 1 could not help wondering. If the por-
iteelf mus be like Flushed with success the mar
gator pursued his subject 20 The bitter extremity
among the rocks surrounding the lager. here a
rT@triiding from amid the scattered powders. Until
j had only TO close my eyes TO fancy was in
devilish revelry. The B. r. paused and dropped
balcony craned their heads further forward that
they might not miss a single word. He told of
of women who moved from campfire to campfire
with dshevelled hair streaming down their backs.
!, GfTln gTraGf CHI loF. nvaAh md
besmeared not the blood of goats kline, but the
defunct anG done for by the she f1ries
He wade: in again when the shudder which shook
Of shallow souled creatures loves to hint. orgies
Tde IKE G g gh OF IF n sn s2 o. re
the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah seemed TO be
Gncmfortable fashion Then he lay back in his
chair and sighed; but he sprang upright. and
with flashing eyes aIl extended wanted TO
know what the : Roberts meant by offering
W ea IS h sgfh them 6n Sight S %9
TER for such devils! XIII EN- off, XIII 'em Off!
telf into silence while the audience gazed on him
one who knew what war, wild. red. carnine
war.
The correspondent got the mans history from
one of the Cape police. who told him the beggar
had refused to join volunteer regiment when the
war broke out and had remained the whole time in
quiet little Boer village a British refugee and
a Beer fighting laager in all his lying life. Yet
such cravens at times help to make history-of a
kind
GRIM STATISTICS FROM LADYsMITH
The last days in Lndysmith are described by
Standard" correspondent, who gives. from Of
fetal sources these figures:
on November ?. when the investment began. We
March / when the siege was raised, the garrison
reduced 70 408 officers and s76l men leaving 1853
town there We're in hospitai CSC ocers and tne
Of whom los suffering from entertc 34l
Gysentery and ls9 from wounds. During the four
1855 soldiers or nearly 70 per cent Of the garri-
son, had been admitted into hospital. to say moth
ing of civilians and others. who had slight at
tacks of what the doctors called filth fever or
ingipent enteric. The admissions for enteric were
The progress of disease may be traced from the
eenber l. 455; December is. So: January l. 1895
@ Febrary e sS Tere died of disease and
wounds in the four months 600 men of the garri-
10 deaths viii probably be recorded among pae
feats that d rsoa Rising the total 01ssy from
The number Of deaths from enteric up to March
man fo Wounds s. To 8
ghastly array re OF figures must be added ls off,
16o men killed in assaults sortes and storrning
parties and ooers ana Ss men Tx knsd by casual
not less than 1,os3 Nor does the list end here, for
GERS and S52 men, and by casual bombardment rs
Siege, ike battle IS usually catalogue of
bIundeIs. After the non-destruction OF the railway
was the neglect TO secure heavy guns and I'M
mand Sir George White could not hope to main
tain an equal duel with the ene1nys batteries Of
four s4-pounders and Twenty-Five long-range guns
and ho1itzers. The Beers. according to the auto
matte record Of Sir John Willoughby. who, with
centre OF the town. fred l5.5oo shells within the
perimeter. Our expenditure of ammunition did
not exceed 47Ss rounds. including 3TO5 fired by
field guns IN actions and assaults. The Al
naval guns expended GA rounds, the three I2-
FOUNDER naval guns 7si rounds and the two old
fashioned howitzers that did excellent service
fired 776 shells made thirty years ago. the be-
ginning Of the siege our stock of ammunition
follows: Al, $50 rounds: 12-pounders ,035 how
uzers, ST. field guns. 11,437 On March we had
~ rounds for the AZ guns. 70 rounds for the Ion
12pounder 1s2 for the short 12pounder Ill for the
e-inch howitzer and 1872 for field artillery.