The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1900-01-15
STRIKING ACCOUNTS
OF WAR IN AFRICA.
\ Boer Bav of Seventeen De
scribrs a Battle to His
Mother.
DEFEAT AT ELANDSLAAGATE.
The Young Warrior Draws Fine
Picture of the stubborn Fight
and Flighl-Somp Vivid
Incidents.

'''Tre-I -INonde1re " the Associated P-eSs
London, Jan 6.-Letters from tho soldiers
hEh'inE against the Roers are published in
large numbers and in many cases are Just
as interesting as the accounts hy trained
under Lord Mr'hUen. describing tho battle
Of Nodder E!yer. writes.
A Iat Of the North Lancashire mon wcre
horribly Wounded. ! turned over a Scr
Eeant hlack ir the face dead one man
was brought to me who had hccu struck
hy a shell fragment face mutIatea. throat
cut and chest ;aceratcd.
go. GOO! the sight was sickcnins: blood
everywhere. Very few Of our men being
wounded. went over near sunset to aid
the Highlanders. They had been living all
day under that frightfll sun and their
wounded We're stiIl there. No stretcher- bear
ers could advance. as they were all shot
at They shouted To- me to crawl on the
ground. as. though most of the firing WAS
over. there were still three or four Ro.-rs
with express rifles and explosive bullets.
" h" We're under cover and who kept pick
ing off our men. Some men utterly col
a
TO their wounds and m, whisky flask 10
their lips. | then vrawled back to my
horse and made nv WAY to some amhu.
larCes two miles distant To- Cet their aid.
] Was under FIR. all the time bullets dane
Ing around me. fri; a kind "f solemn dis
regard. As had been exposed to greater
dangers before"
In a letter written TO his father from
Mooi River. on November ., officer in
the queens Royal West Surrey Regiment
says:
Against an enemy Ike tho Boers in
fantry IS useless. The Beers have spies ev-
ervwhere. and as they are well mounted
they can move away hours before our In
fantry can set within striking distance. ON
tne other hand. they will never attack. and
when We advance toward Pretoria COM
mRnirs will ba left al th,. country
looting and burning farms. The only people
who have Il chance with them are the local
volunteers. II the Government would only
raise about @.0,l volunteers and send out n
lot Of mounted infantry. which could work
with the local volunteers. thcs" Isolated
BoeT forces would soon he wiped out. Al
present VIC are helpless. they make rings
around uS'
At Kimberley.
The special correspondent Of the cape
Argus thus describes a homhardment OF
Kimberley:
-he annals Of history to R"er poSteritY as
the homharimsnt Of kimberley. occurred
on TUESDAY. November = and IL ever the
farcical element was introduced into such
serious business as war the puerilS at-
tempis to rdze Kimberley can surely Law
claim TO it. The Beers had two guns
mounted. one at Scholz Nek. trained on
the Premier Mine at Wesseiton at a range
az something like 3.5Io yards. and the other
on Spytfontein quite 1000 yards distant A
'o'.p pie OF shots were fired between 3 and s
o'clock In the morning. but then the Beers
desistei until about 10 O'Clock. when one
gun at Scholz Mex. apparently a a-pounder
firing French shell, opened fire on Wes-
selton
The fire. however. proved quite harmless
nearly all the shots falling in the debris
heaps. and our guns at Wessel;ou. rsplyin.
and quickly Eetting the range induced the
enemy 20 cease firing and they cleared of
about noon. So little was thought Of the
Roer fire that the alarm was not even
sounded and business was carried on just
the same. Thus ended the borlhardTnent Of
Kimberley. SO little alarm did It create
that the men In the garrison were actually
playing cricket while IL was going on
The following is from letter from a
Sergeant in the Coldstream Guards. who ia
with MethuenS column. He was at the
battle of NO,ider River and says:
''DurinS the afternoon some one seemed
TO nave spotted me- from the trenches.
First shot struck the side of my boot and
another struck my rife just in front of my
face. filling my eyes with dirt and splnters
| rose mp a little, when another bullet
struck the middle finger Of my left hand.
I had got on my knees when y bullet struck
me fair in the chest on the buckle of nay
haversack. breaking through II. and caus-
ing "A slight punCture OF the skin. and
hruising my chest I have been cOngratu-
lated as being the luckiest heggar In my
battalion"
BOer Roys Letter.
From the Boer side come reports Inst = g
interesting. a lad Of Il wrote "a his mother
after the battle of Eiandslagate. and the
letter ia published I'm tho Journal de
Gencve as follows:
We Were on a kopje. our horses were
behind it In a hollow. AS the infantry ad-