Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1900-04-16

The Philadelphia North American
prints the following as a special dis
patch from the Sardis" to the Ecbata-
ma Herald of March TO- B. G. $50, un-
der the heading "Leonidas' Comman-
do Completely Destroyed! Glorious
News from the Seat of War-Stain on
Persia's Honor Wiped Out in Blood!
A dispatch just received from Thes-
sally conveys the glorious news that
the disgrace of Marathon's mex has
been wiped out in the blood Of 3,000,-
900 Greeks. The commando of Dom
Leonidas has been annihilated. Our
losses have been heavy, the enemy
having been strongly intrenched in
the kopjes surrounding the mex of
Thermopylae, their fertilization sup
piled with 1900 batteries Of the heav-
lest and most modern ballistas, cata-
puIts, scorpions and other artillerid.
These weapons are said to have been
served by officers from the Egyptian
Ecole Polytechnique. Our forces were
greatly outnumbered, but, as usual.
Persian valor was more than match
for the foemen. Following is a de-
tailed account of this forever memoir
able victory.
AS l advised you in my last dispatch,
the enemy had intended to make
stand between Olympus kopje and Os-
sa kopje at teh entrance to Thessaly.
Finding that position untenable, how
ever, owing to the existence of large
veldt accessible to us from the sea,
in their rear, they fell back to Their
mopylae's mex, where they outspanned,
made their laager and strongly forti-
fed, as above stated, the adjacent
kopjes.
On arriving in the vicinity of the
mex, our beloved monarch and gener
al, who is affectionately called Xerxes
by the men, who would follow him
anywhere, determined to attack the
enemy's position, although our total
forces, including the two battalions OF
the Kings Own Degenerates and four
squadrons of the Princes Peculiar
Parasites, amounted to but 5000 men,
or, to be exact, 3,243. But when were
Persia's sons dismayed by odds of a
thousand to one? Aside from the dis
crepancy in our numbers, many of our
officers were suffering from chronic
paresis, while the exhaustion of the
supply of China wine had cast a gloom
over the entire camp Notwithstand
ing all this, the greatest enthusiasm
was manifested when his majesty's
intentions were made known.
The Satrap of Pimlico was given the
command of our left wing, while the
leadership of the right was intrusted
to the Satrap of Nike, Johannes
Brownius, cousin of General Mardo-
Mus.
The attack was begun by the center
moving up the mex, while the two
wings charged the kopjes on either
side. The difficulties to be surmount-
ed were enormous. The sides of the
kopjes were at an angle of IS degrees.
TIL heat was 12O in the shade. Early
in the fight it was found that the enc
my were using dum-dum arrows,
which led to an order that no quarter
should be given. Our loss in officers
was very great, those suffering from
paresis often getting in the way of
our men and suffering severe con-
tusions.
When darkness fell we had ad-
vanced but 40 plethra, to gain which
we lost 5,473 officers and men, inflict-
ing loss upon the enemy, as we af-
terward learned, of 785, $50. Notwith-
standing our losses and the exhaustion
resulting from an all-day's fight the
morale of our men was splendid. AS
an illustration of the pluck of the
soldiers, l have only to cite the case
of Oney Gheoghan, of the Heliopolis
Hessians, who, having been struck by
so many arrows that he looked like a
porcupine, insisted upon singing in a
hearty though not especially melodi-
Gus voice the words of that rollicking
camp song "Old Persia Is My Country
and My Name Is Tiglath-Pileser." The
night being very dark, we communi-
Gated with the fleet by means of the
heliograph, which worked perfectly.
The attack was renewed at dawn of
the following day. A battalion of the
White Clock was ordered to march
en- echelon, by the right flank, thus
performing a gambado on the enemy's
left. This movement was not without
effect. The enthusiasm of the troops
was raised to the highest pitch in this
days fight by the announcement that
dispatch had been received from the
Persian Phryne saying she was about
to start upon tour through Scythia
reciting a poem entitled ''The Mendi-
cant with an Intellect Permanently
Absent" the proceeds to be devoted
to the hospital fund. At nightfall we
had advanced our lines four stadia.
our losses having amounted to 63,497
officers and men killed, wounded and
missing, while the loss of the enemy,
as we now know, was 1,O94,365. The
spirits of our men, instead of tagging
now rose tO Such mitch that we had