The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-01-06
DETAILS OF THE SOR7IE.
Boers Said to Have Used Dunn Dums and
 Robbed the Killed.

London, Jan. 6, 4:45 a. m.-The Times publishes the following despatch from
 Mafeking, dated December 26:
 At dawn to-day Colonel Baden- Powell organized an unsuccessful at tack upon a strong position of the en- emy at Gametree, two miles from Mafe- king, from which the Boers have been
 maintaining a desultory but annoying shell and rifle fire for several weeks. The railway has recently been recon structed between the town and Game tree, where the Boers had destroyed it, the final repairs being made in prepara- tion for the sortie. During the night the armored train, with Maxim and Hotchkiss guns, under Captain Will Hams, and troops, took up positions for attack from two sides. Captain Lord Charles Bentinck and squadron were in reserve upon the left, while the ex- treme left wing was occupied by ar tillery under Major Panzera and gal 1oping Maxim of the Cape police the whole being under Colonel Hore.
 "Emplacements were thrown up dur ing the night, the orders being to attack at dawn and the artillery fire to desst upon prolonged footing from the ar mored train. At daybreak the guns op- ened fire and rapidly drew the reply of the enemy, our shells bursting within effective range. Captain Vernon gave the signal to cease firing and to ad- vance, his squadron leading off.
 "As our men engaged the position with their rifle fire, it was soon found that the strength of the fort was great CT than We had supposed. The enemy concentrated such an exceedingly hot fire that the advance of Captain Yer non was almost impossible, but with remarkable heroism and gallantry, Cap tains Sanford and Vernon, Lieutenant Patton and Scout Cooke, who guided the squadron and few men actually reach ed the sand bags of the fort within 300 yards of the area of the fort.
 But nothing living could exist there, since the ground was swept by Mauser and Martini bullets. The men who charged through this zone of fire suf- fered terribly and, in following their officers to capture the 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 of the lOIl. utSG lWO OlllCcIS, CllIllDlllS d ditch which surrounded 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 confused the men who had followed Captain Vernon and who saw him and his brother officers killed. Being with out commanders. they were driven off at one point but they endeavored to scale the fort at others. They found the position of the Boers, however, al- 1 most ilnpregnable.
 "When we retired under cover of the armored train so many men had been wounded that a suspension of hostili- | 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 were scattered within but l short radius of the fort. We had al- | most completely surrounded it and had ! it not been so extraordinarily well pro- | tected we should have been in possess | sion.
 q went with an ambulance to Game tree The fort itself is circular, with a wide interior and a narrow frontage, between six and seven feet high, pierc- ed with triple tiers of loopholes and surrounded by a ditch.
 q was permitted to assist in dressing the wounds, ;majority of which ap- peared to have been caused by eXplo sive bullets the point of entry being small, but the area of injury covering wide region. While the wounded were being attended numbers of Boers left their entrenchments and gathered round. At the conclusion of the dress ing I spoke to several tattered and dir ty, but physically fine men. Many of