The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-04-22
FOURTEEN DEAD WOMEN
Found in One Trench at SpiOn's kop,
Bayoneted or Shot.

BaNOneIeu shOts
From Pretoria Letter by H. C. Hillegas,
in New Yorw World.
The British have opposed 90 them at
least 1000 Boer women. They are not
nurses, cooks or camp followers They
are soldiers, as brave as their fathers,
husbands and brothers. The world knows
no finer example of heroism than that ex-
hibited by fourteen women on one of the
five days fighting around Spion's kop,
the second Majuba. A strictly family
party of Beers fourteen men and their
wives, were intrenched in one position
and held it with amazing bravery against
a small force of British. For long time
the men fought necessarily, and kept
their wives reloading their rifles
Finally fifty British soldiers, with fixed
bayonets, charged on the intrenchment
AS they came closer, closer, the Boer
men crept over the earthworks, and while
the women began shooting, tried with
the butts Of their rifles to hammer back
the British. Before their wives eyes
every one of the fourteen Beers was kill
-hayoneted or shot.
The fourteen women, so quickly widow
ed. never thought of surrender but fought
most valiantly and coolly for half an
hour. The British surrounded them; not
her husband.
Two DAYS later, when the British forces
retired across the Tugela overweight
corpses, fourteen men, fourteen women,
We're found within radius of 100 feet.
Now there is a big long mound where rest
the bodies of as brave a band as ever
fought for freedom.
Women in Every Larger.
Scores of women have been in every
commanders lager I have visited, and
only one has been without her rifle and
bandoliers-Mrs. Joubert, wife of the
commandant general of the Transvaal
forces. But their bravery does not rob
these women of any womanly qualities
love. tenderness, gentleness, pity
Not far from the Pretoria laager found
a young Boer woman under the canopy
of one of the big treklxing wagons. Her
tears were falling so copiously that they
moistened her dress waist She was about
10 years old, comedy, fairly we'll dressed
II is nothing strange to see a Boers wo-
man weeping; there is mot one but has
lost a father or brother or many reia-
tiyes in the war. But this ones grief
was so extreme that I stopped, and found
she spoke English exceptionally well. She
told me her sister had been killed by
sharpshooter the day before.
"She was my twin sister, and we never
passed
her sobs ut. breaks my heart to think
that she lies over there under the ground"
She pointed to a mound of fresh earth,
with q line of stones around and over il,
a short distance away.
She told me- too. her father, five broth
ers and innumerable relatives were fight
ing.
"Ouchw she exclaimed, as her arm sud
denly twitched. When I saw a small
hole in the right sleeve of her dress just
above the elbow"
Have you been wounded?" | asked.
"Oh, yes" she replied. "A bullet graZed
me, and occasionally ii pains me very
much"
Then this girl of 10 years explained.
rather alphabetically, that her father COM
PEELED her to remain in the wagon until
the wound was healed
"If it were not for him." she said. "I
should not be here crying. I'd be down
in yonder trench where I ought to be-
Try to imagine bride and groom going
to war on their honeymoon. Yet I have
seen them do so. When I left Pretoria
for the front a friend introduced me to a
young Boer couple who were going on the
same train. thought my friend was.
Joking when he said they were going -
fight the British, although both Boer man
and wife had Mauser rifles, and each wore
three bandolers, two over the shoulders,
one around the waist.
AS We sped the Boer and his wife chat