The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-01-06

lery under Major Panzera, and a galloping
Maxim of the Cape police. the whole be-
ing under Colonel Hare.
"Emplacements were thrown UP during
the night. the orders being to attack at
dawn and the artillery fire to desist upon
prolonged footing from the armored train.
At daybreak the guns opened fire and rap
idly drew the reply of the enemy, our
shells bursting within effective range
Captain Vernon gave the signal to cease
firing and to advance. his squadron lead
ing off,
'.As our men engaged the position with
their rife fire ii was soon found that the
strength of the fort was greater than we
had supposed The enemy concentrated
such an exceedingly hot fire that the ad-
vance of Captain Vernon was almost i'm
possible. but with remarkable heroism and
gallantry Captains Sandford and Vernon,
Lieutenant Patton and Scout Cooke, who
guided the squadrons. and few men actu-
ally reached the sandbags of the fort,
within three hundred yards of the area of
the fort. But nothing living could exist
there, since the ground was swept by Maui
ser and Martini bullets. The men who
charged through this zone of fire suffered
terribly, and in following their officers to
capture the fort twenty men lost their
lives. Captain Sandford was the first to
fall, and Captain Vernon, already twice
wounded, and Lieutenant Patton were killed
at the foot of the fort. These two off,
GERS, climbing ditch which surrounded
the fort, thrust their revolvers through the
enemy's look holes, ONLY to be shot them
selves the next moment.
"Gametree is surrounded with scrub,
which contained many sharpshooters. and
their accuracy of fire still further confused
the men who had followed Captain Vernon,
and who saw him and his brother officers
killed. Being without commanders they
were driven off at one point, but they en-
deavored to scale the fort at others. They
found the position of the Beers, however.
almost impregnable.
when We retired under cover of the
armored train, so many men had been
wounded that suspension of hostilities oc-
Cured under the auspices of the Red Cross.
The veldt around the Boer position was at
once dotted with flags of mercy and it
was seen that our wounded were scattered
within not a short radius of the fort We
had almost completely surrounded it; and
had 1t not been so extraordinarily well
protected we should have been in posses
sion.
ST went with an ambulance to Gametree
The fort itself is circular with a wide in
terror and a narrow frontage, between
six and seven feet high, pierced with triple
tiers Of loop holes, and surrounded by a
ditch. was permitted to assist in dress
ing the wounds, majority of which ap-
peared to have been caused by explosive
bullets. the point of entry being small. but
the area of injury covering a wide region.
While the wounded were being attended,
numbers of Beers left their intrenchments
and gathered round.
AT the conclusion of the dressing 1
spoke to several tattered and dirty, but
physically fine men.
MANY of them were undersized, and all
wore boards. They referred me to the field
cornet who denied the use Of explosive bull
lets. On being shown the horriDie wounds,
he admitted that at one time explosive bull
lets had been served out but he said he
was certain they-..ad -aif-ibeAA-pxe~fessssy
expended and that none could have been
used on this occasion. He then produced
a bandolier filled with dunn dums and 1
pointed out that as far as Mafeking was
concerned these had been recalled.
Later on / called the attention of the
field cornet to four of his own men who
were rifing dead bodies. lie expressed his
regret to British officer that, despite his
instructions to respect the dead, the young
er Beers were unruly and beyond control,
and he accused the British soldiers of
stripping General Kock and leaving him
naked and wounded on the field, thus in
directly causing his DEATH
The correspondent then describes a scene
Of angry recriminations between the field
cornet and the Beers regarding the exist
ence of orders about robbing the dead and
also about the facts themselves, some Of
the Beers asserting that they only took
arms, despite the arrival at that very mo-
ment Of the bodies of five British under
Boer escort, with the pockets of their uni
forms turned inside out. He goes on to
say: Some of the British wounded fatty
accuse the Beers Of stealing their money,
rings and other valuables. We had great
difficulty In getting permission to use the
armored train to remove our wounded. We
believe that spies carried the news of our
contemplated sortie to the Beers. The field
cornet admitted that he was reinforced
during the night by one hundred mounted
men and acknowledged withdrawing his
guns