The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-01-15
ON AFRICAN BATTLEFIELDS.
STORIES OF FIGHTING BETWEEN
BRITISH AND BOERs.

as Witnessed by surgeOn-In-
fantry Almost Useless Against the
Mounted Boers-FarcicaI lombard
ment of kimberIey-SOIdier saved
by His observation-disclosures BOer
Experiences at EIandsIaagte.
| Correspondence of the Associated Press)
London, Jan. 6.-Letters from the SOL
diers fighting against the Beers are pub
iished in large numbers and in many
cases are just as interesting as the ac-
counts by trained war correspondents.
A medical officer under Lord Methuen,
describing the battle OF Modder river,
writes:
| "A lot of the North Lancashire men
We're horribly wounded. I turned over
sergeant, black in the face, dead. One
man was brought to me who had been
struck by shell fragment-face mutilat-
ed, throat cut and chest laceEated. o.
God! the sight was sickening; blood every
where.
Very few of our men being wounded,
l went out near sunset to aid the High
landers. They had been lying all day I'M
der that frightful sun and their wounded
were still there. No stretcher- bearers
could advance, as they were all shot at.
They shouted to me to crawl on the
ground, and though most of the firing
was over, there were still three or four
Beers, with express rifles and explosive
bullets. who were under cover and who
kept picking off our men. Some men ut
terly collapsed and all l could do was to
put pad to their wounds and my whisky
flask to their lips. l then crawled back
to my horse, and made my way to some
ambulances two miles distant to get their
aid. I was under fire all the time, bull
let's dancing around me. felt a kind Of
solemn disregard, as l had been exposed
to greater dangers before
Infantry Is Useless.
From MOOT river on Nov 90 an officer
in the Queens Royal West Surrey regi-
ment writes:
Against an enemy like the Beers infan-
! try is useless. The Beers have spies every
where and as they are well mounted they
can move away hours before our infantry
can get within striking distance On the
other hand they will never attack, and
when we advance toward Pretoria COM
mandos win be left all over the country
looting and burning farms. The only peo-
| pie who have a chance with them are the
| local volunteers If the government would
only raise about 1000 volunteers, and send
out lot of mounted infantry who could
work with the local volunteers these iso-
! lated Boer forces would soon be wiped
| out. AT present we are helpless as they
make rings around u.s."
Bombardment of Kimberley.
! The special correspondent of the Cape
Argus thus describes a bombardment of
! Kimberley:
''W II will probably be handed down in
the annals of history to Boer posterity as
! the bonn bardment of Kimberley occurred
on Tuesday, Nov. Z, and if ever the far
! eical element We're introduced into such
serious business as war, the puerile at
tempts to raze Kimberley can surely lay
claim to 1t. The Beers had two guns
mounted, one at Scholz Mex, trained on
the Premier mine at Wesselion, at a range
| of something like 8, 800 yards, and the 9TH
er on Spytfontein, quite 1900 yards distant
A couple of shots were fired between ana
o'clock in the morning, but then the
Beers desisted until about 10 o'clo k
when one gun at Schoz Mex, apparently
9-pounder, firing a French shell. opened
fire on Wesselton. The fire, however prov
ed quite harmless nearly all the shots
! Ialnng IN the DEBRIS nedpS, ana our guns
at Wesselton replying and quickly getting
the range, induced the enemy to cease mr.
/ ing and they cleared off about noon. So
! little was thought of the Boar fire that
the alarm was not even sounded and bus
, mess was carried on just the same. Thus
ended the Commandment of Kimberley. So
| little alarm did 1t cause that men in thu
redoubts were actually playing cricket
and quoits while it was going on"
Was a Lucky Beggar.
The following is from reservist ser
geant in the Coldstream Guards, who is
with Methuen's column. He was at the
battle of Modder river and says:
During the afternoon some one seem
ed to have spotted me from the trenches.
| First shot struck the side of my boot
and struck my rifle just in front of my
face, filling my eyes with dirt and splnt-
| ers. l rose a little, when another bullet
struck the middle finger of my left hand.
| had got on my knees when bullet
struck me fair in the chest on the buckle
of my haversack. breaking through it and
causing a slight puncture of the skin and
brusing my chest. I have been congratu-
lated as being the luckiest beggar in my
battalion"
4 Young Beers Experience.
From the Roer side comes reports just
as interesting. A lad of II wrote TO his
mother after the battle of Elandslaagte
/ and the letter Is published in the Journal
! de Geneve as follows
1--WE were on a kopje. Our horses were
behind it in a hollow. As the infantry adj
vanced against us we began shooting.
When it looked as if we were going TO be
surrounded a certain number of our men
fell back to another position. About a
hundred of us remained on the kopje. But
the fire of Maxims and other guns be-
came so violent that we withdrew lit
tie to find cover. The General and Com
mandant Viljoen rallied us and brought
us back to the top of the hill and advised
us to get under shelter there much
| as possible. | followed the general with
a dozen others to the right and Viljoen
led the rest to the left. The English were
stlH advancing and they were now within
500 yards of us. Ii was easy to recognize
the kilties they were wearing.
1--WE fired al them necessarily. All our
| hnllets seemed to strike. | had no time