The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-01-18

V8InIy the iduCtFS TVut TeGhbtS5iy W uAg
duce the human rock-limpets to come out
and cut them Off. Cronje knew the mettle
of our men, and nm ironical laugh played
around his Iron mouth. and still stayed
within his native fortresses: but death sat
at his elbow, for our gunners dropped the
lyddite shells and the bowling shrapnel
all along his lines. until the trenches ran
blood and many of his guns were silenced.
In the valley behind his outer line of hills
his dead lay piled In hundreds, and the
slope of the hill was u charnel house,
where the wounded all writhed amidst the
masses of dead. a CHASTITY tribute to Brit
ish gunnery. When, at 1880 p. m. on
Tuesday, we drew Off to Modder river to
report, we left nearly 5000 dead and
token that the lion of England had barred
his teeth in earnest" As i
The last mails from the Cape brought
numerous accounts of Magersfontein. but
none SO vivid as this.
Julian Ra1ph's Blunt Account.
Julian Ralph, i'm the Daily Mail. very
bluntiy writes of the Highlanders after
the first volley from the hidden trenches:
.'They turned and ran, literally colliding
and climbing over one another In their
confusion. A chaplain forward in the
ranks was knocked down and trampled,
as brave man as any, yet one VINO de-
clared that there lived no man who would
have behaved differently.
at has been as If the earth had opened
and from a cleft that ran as far as our
men reached fire had belched and shot
swept the veldt.
1.-THE fever of fright lasted only while
the men ran 200 yards, and they regained
some measure of order"
Times correspondence story.
Says the Times correspondent. Of the
same occurrence:
Back they came in wave that no Of
fieer could stop. From a point of vantage
on the horse artillery hill, one could see
them swarming like bees over the veldt,
until they were almost ont of range, and
the guns were left cut on the open with
no one to support them. 1t was perhaps
the most unpleasant sight that British
soldier Of today has ever beheld--tt was
certainly a sight never to be forgotten.
1T was difficult to say what would hap
pen next until Maj. Ewart, brigadier major
of the Highlanders. rode up with an order
from the commanding officer, which was
almost hn entreaty. to the effect that all
he asked of the Highland brigade was
to hold the position until dark. So riddled
and shattered was the brigade that Ewart
had actually no other officer with him TO
help him to give the order to the scat
tered men, and he was glad to have the
not as soldier but as q civilian, survey
ing the battle from the horse artillery
hill"
How n Boxer Died.
A correspondent who was at the battle
of Belmont writes:
81 dare say you have heard that David
st. John, the heavyweight champion box
er Of the guards. was killed here at Bel
mont at the charge up the kaffir kopje.
IA 70 a fnaa yfyft n a a q
az himself. They had a bit of a scuffle.
The guardsman gave Mr.. Boer a lunge
with his bayonet so hard that he drove
1t right over the hlt and crossing, and
not being able to extricate it, he was prac-
tically unarmed, and while endeavoring to
withdraw another Boer shot him clean
through the temple. I saw them laying
one on top of the other. both dead"
Plain Home Truths.
The Globes correspondent at Mayors
fontein, presumably the Earl De Lawarr,
writes some plain home truths; in fact
part of his letter has been eliminated by
the censor: ut is not" he says, 'the nu-
merical loss of soldiers and men-ghastly
and terrible enough in itsef--which makes
the position so serious. 1t is the effect
which these reverses have on the morale
of our troops and on the Beers which
constitute the real danger. IL we could
point to one real victory, IL our men
could see that these hard fought battles.
with their bloody results were clearing
the road to Pretoria, they would know
they were doing something good. But all
along the line from Chiveley to Modder
river we are facing well nigh impregna-
BILE positions occupied by men determined
to hold them with their last drop of blood,
hurting forth one unanimous defiant mes
sage: Thus far and no further
at is useless to disguise the fact that
a large percentage of our troops are be-
ginning to lose heart in this campaign
Can you blame them? A close succession
of frontal attacks on an invisible foe,
strongly intrenched, where retaliation Is
almost impossible, will shake the nerve
of the bravest. Our men have fought well,
their conduct under most trying and adj
verse circumstances has been admirable,
but they have been asked to perform mir
acles and being human, they have failed.
Do not blame them. Do not blame that
gallant general who, on Monday last, was
the first victim of the terrible disaster
| which overcame the Highland brigade"