The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-01-07

smith nave been fully described by re-
cent letters. If the Beers continue TO
so closely hem IL and continuously
lombard Whites force, the besieged
promise to become full-hedged cave
jewellers, for, according TO the Daily
News correspondent at Ladysmith the
prevalent tendency there is to burrOW.
Some people" writes the authority.
having spent much time and patient
labor in making burrows for them
selves, find life there so intOlerabiy
monOt0nOus that they prefer to take
the chances above ground. Others pass
whole days with wives and families or
in solitary misery where there is not
light enough to read or work, scarce
ly showing a head outside from sunrise
to sunset. They may be seen trOopng
away from fragile tin-rOofed houses
half an hour before daybreak, carrying
children in their arms or a, cat or mon
key or a goose or a cage Of pet birds.
and they come back similarly laden
when the night gets too dim for gun
ners to go on shooting.
Pathetic Side of the Siege.
There would be a touch of humor
in all this if it were not so deeply pa
thetic in it's close association with pos
sible tragedies. One never knows
where or at what hour a stray shell
or splinter will fall, and it is pitiful
sometimes to hear cries for dolly from
a prattling mite who may herself be
fatherIess or motherleSs tomorrow. We
think as little as possible of such
things. putting them from US with the
light comment that they happen daily
elsewhere than in besieged towns, and
making the best of a menalchOly sitUa-
ton.
THE imperial light horse have
amused themselves at Ladysmith by
constructing tunnels to the river bank,
connecting dark caves, in which whole
regiments might be hidden. KnOwl-
edge Of mining is sometimes useful.
though there be no precious metal to
be dug out. In these caves the men
find cooling relief from the burning
sun"
Not a Boer In Sight.
Looking out over the smiling plain
that stretches to the southeast of the
town." writes the Standard representa-
tive at Ladysmith on Nov. 10, 1T is
hard to realize that we are in the
midst of war There is not a Boer in
sight. A great mystery of peace has
fallen on the land. That serene tran
guilty which fills the air and clothes
the sunlit hills, carries che back TO some
remote English village on a Sabbath
morning.
The scene, too, is some like level
reaches of meadow and cattle are
grazing on the prosperous farmsteads
dotting the green plain. A puff Of
smoke, followed eight seconds later by
an angry rush of air and a deafening
crash, recalls one to the actualities OF
the moment.
"On the spurs of those tawny hills
that appear not a mile away are
twenty-five guns, and the enemy lie
concealed along the ridges and among
the patches of green bush which clOthe
the rayines and kOpjes. We have
daiIy-almOst hOuTly-reminders of
their presence. The officer who ascends
in the balloon reports that they are
thick on all sides and cannot number
fewer than 10000 or $4,000.
Repulse of the British.
The same correspondent. describing
the repulse on the Prince of Wales
birthday, says: AT noon, when the
enemy had fallen back to their laager,
d royal salute of tWenty-One guns was
fired by the naval brigade. Captain
Lambleton was resolved that the S3-
lutte should be effective. One shot 81
fenced the ImSulWana. gun for the day,
while another fell into JOUbert's camp,
anG,- according to a cOOlie who escaped
in the confusion, killed twenty-five
men. 1t must be many years since the
national anthem was sung TO an ac-
Compartment of shrapnel.'
OF the hard fight at MOdder river the
Globe correspondent says; "On the
plain were numerous white crosses,
which we subsequently discovered
were marked ranges set out by the
Beers previously. The fighting line on
both lines extended quite six miles,
and there was an incessant fusilade
and canGOnade for twelve solid hours.
The Beers were never seen by US. None
of the officers and men to whom 1 have
spoken since saw q BOer. II is GER
tainly marvellous how they always
manage TO hide themselves.
Parched by the Heat.
"The heat yesterday was terrife-no
wind, a hot, blazing sun all day. We
were all done and literally parched,
our only refreshments during the
twelve hours being water heated by the
sun in our water bottles"
OF the same battle the Daily News
correspondent writes The historian
who writes a truthful story Of the bat
tie of MOdder viii have a strange story
to tell, if all one hears is gospel truth
stories of guides who reported Aodder
river TO be held by 500 BOers5 of regi-
ment sent to clear them out and find
ing 1900; Of regiments thanking the
enemy's position and within q. few hun
dred yards &C his guns having to re-
tire because they were shelled by their
own artillery.
''AIodder river was an alma 1t was
a soldiers fight. Grit, dOggedness and
pride of caste made US masters Of the
trenches. For sixteen hours the battle
ragged. For sixteen hours, on a plain
as bare of cover as the dome of st.
PauI's, the infantry advanced by short
rushes inSthe sweltering heat, to shoot
and get shot.
Fought an Invisible Foe.
For sixteen hours the artillery, in
in books lay down as absolutely neces-
sary, pounded away at their invisible
foe. The wounded fell out and were in
most cases left, for the stretcher-
+ bearers did not dare to enter the zone
[ Of fire. Each wounded man was made
a mark for the enemy's riflemen.
1.-The wounded We're useful for the
Boers-they took sighting shots At them
and got the range perfectly"
Among the many criticisms Of the
British artillery none has attracted
more attention than that Of Nov. Il at
Ladysmith by the Standards war cor
respondent. There is a frankness in it
which doubtless would never have
passed the censor. yet its details and
the evident knowledge of the writer
upon military matters stamp il with
unbeatable truth however unpleasant
reading it makes for the British pub
1 lie. Summing up, this correspondent
says:
ssr,ta d;cad.,o, "a oeoe ,,r7rr r,-1,;o1, No..