Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-01-06
British Could Not Drive Out
the BOerS.
Was Most Brilliant But the B0er Fire
Was So Fierce That Nothing Could
Withstand It-Several Officers
Were Killed.

London, Jan. 6, 4:45 q. m.-The Times
publishes the following dispatch from
Mafeldng. dated Dec. 20:
AT dawn Colonel Baden Powell organ-
Used an unsuccessful attack upon a strong
position of the eEemy at Gametree, two
miles from Mafeking, from which the
Beers have been maintaining a desultory,
but annoying shell and rifle fire for sew
eral weeks. The railway has recently
been reconstructed between the town
ard Gametree, where the Beers had de-
stroyeid it., the final repairs being made
in preparation for the sortie.
During the night the armored train,
with Maxim and .Hotchkiss guns, under
Captain Williams and troops, took up
positions for attack from two sides. Cap
tain Lord Charles Bentinck and a squad
ron were in reserve on the left, while the
extreme left wing was occupied by artil-
lery under Major Panzerra and a gallop-
ing Maxim of the Cape police, the whole
being under Colonel Hore.
"Emplacements We're thrown up dur
ing the night, the orders being to at
tack at dawn and the artillery fire to de-
slst upon prolonged footing from the ar
unored train. At daybreak the guns
opened fire and rapidly drew the reply
from the enemy, our shepis bursting with
in effective n Captain Vernon gave
La w. Z cas- i dIlu / dutdHNGa
his squadron leading off.
LAS our men engaged the position
with the rifle fire it was soon found that
the strength of the fort was greater than
we had supposed. The enemy concentrat
ed such an exceedingly hot fire that the
advance of Captain Vernon was almost
impossible, but with remarkable heroism
n %gallantry Captains Sanford and
Vernon, Lieutenant Patton and Scout
Cooke, who guided the squadrons, and a
few men actually reached the sand bags
of the fort within three hundred yards Of
the area of the fort.
But nothing living could exist there.
and Martini bullets. The men who
charged through this zone of fire suf-
fered terribly and in following their Of
ficers to capture h fort twenty men lost
their lives. Captain Sanford was the
first to fall and CAPTAIN Vernon, already
twice wounded. and Lieutenant Patton
were killed at the foot cf the fort. These
two officers climbing a ditch, which sur
rounded the fort, thrust their revolvers
through the enemy's loopholes only to be
shot themselves the next moment.
"Gametree is surrounded with scrub
which contained many sharpshooters and
their accuracy of fire still further con-
fused the men who had ollowed Captain
Vernon and who saw him and his brother
officers killed. Being without their COM
manders, they We're driven off at one
point, but they ~endeavored to scale the
fort at others. They found the position
of the Beers, however, almost impregna-
bic.
When we retired under cover of the
armored train so many men hat been
wounded thai a suspension of HOSTILE
ties occurred 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 We're scattered within but a
short radius of the fort. We had almost
completely surrounded it, and, had it not
been so extraordinarily well protected.
we should have been in possession.
II went with an ambulance to Came
tree. The fort itself is circular with a
wide interior and a narrow frontage. be-
tween six and sever feet high, pierced