The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-05-14

LONG !: c. SIEGE 81 6
Lady Sarah Wilson on
Its Incidents.
NO SMELLING. ON SUNDAY
One Day in Seven When the Gal
rison is at Peaee--CoI. I
Baden-PoweII.

-.
LONDON, April 22.-That most dramat-
ic of all the features of the war, the seSe
OF Mafeking, continues to occupy the
first place in the attention of the Brftc-
lsh people, and every scrap of informaS
tion.that cones from the beleaguered lit
tie garrison fseswelcoIned. There > are
strong expectations in official as well as
general circles at. this time of writing.
-that news of relief by Plumer's or somS
thef'forces will come soon. 1t is certain
that no disaster in South Africa would
cause such deep and widespread .disam
pointment and grief in England as the
failure to save Baden Powelrs brave .
band. A budget of interesting details of /.
the siege, which somehow has found it's
way through the Gordon of Beers around
the town and then through Rhodesia and
overland to the sea- has at length reached
Le ndon. 1t brings down the story of the
siege TO January 80, three long months
ago. Later news has come by cable but
II is the bald, scrappy intelligence The
writers OF these communications are Lac5
dy Sarah Wilson and the correspondent
OF the Times. Lady Sarah's letter APP
pears in the Mail of yesterday, and from
1t the following paragraphs are taken: -
A feature of the town at present = Is
IT'S bomb-proofs or shelters from shell
nIe. FROM rough holes, hastily dug and
covered over with deal boards and earth,
which We're at first constructed cat the
arrival of the monster .Creuh6f ~ Boer
(which fires ia projee Tile of ninety
fsnr i,sS pounds. . these he refnges have been inn.
chambers, rooted over with, best. steel
rails and sandbags, ventilated and Eiigfit
ed by round windows and large drain
pipes.
Mine, for instance measures Is feet by
10 feet and is feet high with boarded
noor covered with mating and panelled
lor
rorthoies for windows, it much resembles
the cabin of a yacht, and it's efficacy has
been thoroughly tested, it is, l think,
OF which 94-pound shell actually ex-
ploded-without even making the glasses
jingle, or disturbing various war tro-
phleS hung on the walls inside As an
example of the curious effects of these
shells and the marvellous escapes record
this one went through a room of Mr.
Wells adjacent house, taking a canary
and cage with it through the window
and leaving them at some distance while
another piece went into a house across
the street, making mince-meat of a sew
ing machine and a new dress a young
lady was making, and which she had left
but three minutes before Except this
misfortune and the death of the canary
no harm was done-but alas! the same
tale cannot always be told.
Scarcely a day passes without some
white man or native being added to the
already sadly long list of those in this
I
to this one-sided bombardment. Women
and children have not escaped scot free:
| only this morning a shell exploded in the
women's laager, the locality of which
the Beers know perfectly weli-kiling.
curiously enough, little Dutch girl of
II years of age. holding a baby Che lat
ter was uninjured), besides fatally in
juring a kaffir girl.
And thus it is most days; apart from
our losses among the soldiers-B. S. A. p.
(british South African Police and Cape
nf
which have been all duly recorded in
the representations and innocent indi-
vicuals are struck down and terribly mu-
tilated, suddenly and almost without
warming. / say almost, for when the big
gun is loaded the lookout at headquar-
ters, from whence all her movements can
be accurately watched, gives the alarm by
sounding a deep-toned bell, and when
| the gunners go to fire her this is supple
mented by the shrill tinkle of smaller
| bell-not much louder than our ordinary
muffin bell-but which can be distinctly
heard in this clear atmosphere. After
| this second warning about three seconds
/ elapSe before the explosion.
"Apropos of this wise measure, which
has been the means of saving many lives,
the town dogs have by now fully grasped
its meaning, and whenever the bell rings
/ begin to bark loudly in all quarters; so
| hasty shrill tone of our trusty little friend
the dogs voices in unison cannot fail to
warn one to take shelter.
The dogs, indeed, play a great part in
J this siege-one belonging to the base COM
mandant has been wounded no less than
three times; another, a rough Irish ter
rier, has accompanied the Protectorate
Regiment in all it's engagements a third
amuses itself by running after the small
Maxim shells, barking loudly and trying
hard to retrieve pieces; while the Resi-
dent Commissioners dog is a azprudent ami
NAL, and whenever she hears the alarm
bell tears into the bomb proof attached
to her masters redcubt, and remains
there until the explosion is over.
What are even more to be feared than
smells from the velocity KrupTJ gun, for
which no warning can be given, as the
nash and explosion are practically stimuli
taneous and the poisonous little 1-pounder
Maxim shells, which seem to come every
| where, and are generally fired in threes
the sound resembles that of a very long
cattle whip sharply cutting the air. crack
ed and manipulated by a master hand:
very different is the sckening whirr of a
big shell, followed by the dull thud and
crash denoting where ii has dealt death
and destruction. At least 700 of the a.
pounder shells have been fired into this
undaunted little town. and it is computed
In all certainly 5000 missiles of different
KINDS OF destructive power from the Boer
artillery have found their billets here.
There is something very cowardly in the
gun, which is usually loaded and aimed
at sundown and fired off between S and
p. m, or even later, over a partially
sleeping town, very early hours being
kept here, when the Beers must know
men and women may be killed indis-
criminately.
For this last shot wearied women and
children generally wait before leayins,
/ their shelters and seeking their beds in