The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-01-09

Correspondence of Associated Press)
London. December 30-''The men
were crowding round the engines in
line offering the drivers fabulous prices
for a cup of water" writes Th= G,oba
correspondent, describing the close Of
the battle at Enslin, but it was use
less. The drivers had been threatened
with court-martial if they supplied any,
as there was great difficulty in keep
ing sufficient supply for the engines 1
saw one soldier lying on the line under
an engine, catching a few drops in his
mouth from a steampipe."
Such extracts as this from the mail
descriptions of the fighting in South AZ
rica give some faint idea of the condi-
tions under which it is being carried
on. Belated as these letters are by the
time they appear in English papers,
they throw much needed light upon the
campaign, barrenly reported over
the censored cables.
THE FEARFUL HEAT.
The heat that drove British soldiers
to drink gratefully from the exhaust
pipe of an engine, after seven hours
fighting ait Enslin, where they lost 179
killed and wounded has proved a Sc
riOuS factor in the care of the wounded.
Surgeon Makins writes under date
of the field hospital at Orange river:
During an eight days stay some 600
wounded men have passed through the
hands of the royal army medical corps
here. In one night alone 300 patients
arrived from the fight at Modder river.
Yesterday the thermometer registered
a LNo17 0ir in of Ino
tents The journey from here to the
base hospital ait Wynberg takes twenty
eight hours and emphasizes the diff
culties due to the immense length OF
the line of communication"
CAVE DWELLERS.
If the Beers continue to so closely
hem in and continuously lombard
Whites force at Ladysn1ith the besieg
ed promise TO become full-fiedged cave
dwellers, for according to The Daily
News correspondent ait LadySmith the
prevalent tendency there is to burrow.
'tSome people, writes the authority,
having sepnt much time and patient
labor in making burrows for them
selves, find life there so intolerably mo-
notonous 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, scarcely
showing a head outside from sunrise
to sunset. They may be seen trooping
away from fragile tin-roofed houses
half an hour before day break, carry
ing children in their arms or A cat or
monkey or mongoOSe or cage OF pet
birds, and they come back similarly
laden when the night gets too dim for
gunnerS to go on shooting. There
would be a touch of humor in all this
if it were not so deeply pathetic in its
close association with possible trage>
dies. One never knows where or at
what hour a stray shot or splinter
Will fall. 1t is pitiful sometimes to hear
cries for dolly from a prattling mite
who may be herself fatherleSS or
motherless tomorrow"
HARD FIGHTING AT MODDEE
RIVER.
OF the hard fight at Modder river the
Globe correspondent says: "On the
plain where numerous white crosses
which we subsequently discovered were
marked ranges set out by the. Beers
previously. The fighting line On both
sides extended quite six miles. and th'ere
was an inceSsant fusillade and cannon
ade for twelve hours. The Beers were
never seen by US: none # me Officers
and men to whom haze spoken since
saw a Boer. 1t IS certlinly I arVelouS
how they always manage to hide them
selves.
THE heat yesterday was terriffc-no
wind, a hot, blazing sun ali day. We
were all done and literally parched;
our only refreshment during the twelve
hours was water heated by the sun in
our water bottles"
Of the same battle the Daily News
correspondent writes: THE historian
who writes truthful story of the battle
of Modder river will have a strange
story to tell, if all one hears is gospel.
Stories of guides who reported Modder
river to be held by 600 Beers; of a reg
iment sent to clear them out and find
ing 1900; OF regiments thanking the
eneTny'S position and within a few hum
dred yards Of his guns having to retire
because they were shelled by their own
artillery. Modder river was an Alma.
1t was a soldiers fight. Grit, dogged-
ness and pride OF caste made us mas
tiers of the trenches. For sixteen hours
the battle ragged. For sixteen hours on
a plain as bare Of cover as the dome Of
St. Paurs the infantry advanced by
short rushes in the sweltering heat, tu
shoot and get shot. For sixteen hours
the artillery innocent of that shelter
which tacticians in books lay down as
absolutely necessary, pounded away at
their invisible foe. The wounded felt
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 rife-
men The wounded men were useful
for the Boers-they took sighting shots
at them, and got the range perfectly"
CRITICISM OF BRITISH ARTII--
LERY.
Among the many criticism OF Hritfsh
artillery none has attractet more at
tention than that written IN November
18th at Ladysmfth by The Standards
war correspondent. Summing up, M
says: "The Disadvantages under which
we have labored have been iemonsraf
ed repeatedly At Eiandsla aste Two
officers and two men Of the FIRST field
battery were wounded at a range be-
yond that at which they coufd lire