The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1900-04-07
Fourteen Found Dead in One
Trench After a COur-
ageous Stand.
THEIR HUSBANDS BESIDE THEM.
All Were Killed hv the British
Girl of ~ Loses Her Twin
Sister and Is Herself
Wounded in Battle.

New York. April GA correspondent OF
the World writing from Pretoria, March !.
says:
.rhr world knows no finer example OF
heroism than that exhibited by fourteen
women on one of the, five days. fighting
around Splnr kop \ strictly family party
of Beers fourteen men and their wives'
intreuchcd in one position and held II with
amazinr bravery against a small force Of
British. For II long time the men Fought
incessantly and kept their wives busy re-
loading their rifles.
"FinalIy. fiftv British soldiers with fixed
bayoncts. charged on the intrenchment. as
they came closer. the Boer men cf"p' over
the earthwerkss and while the women he
gan shooting. tried with the butts of their
rifles to hammer back the British. Before
tb,ir wives eyes every one of the fourteen
Beers was killed. bayoneted or shot.
:"rh. fourteen women. so quickly wild
owed never thought of surrender. bu'
fought most valiantly and cooily for hhit
an hour The British surrounded them; nor
one of the fourteen survived to mourn her
husband.
Two days later. when the British forces
retired across the Tugeia. twenty-eiEht
corpscs fourteen men and women, were
found within 4 radius of 100 ieet. NO"
there is a big, long mound where resi- 'he
bodies of as brave i band as ever Io"sh'
for freedom.
Womanly Stiil.
scores of women have been in every
commaudo's laager / have visited. ana only
one has been without her rifle: and hahdo-
liers-Mrs. Joubert, wife of the Command
ant General Of the Transvaai forces. but
their bravery does NOT rob these women oi
fnf,I
GentieneSs. pity.
Not far from the Pretoria laaGer j. found
youn: Boer woman under the canopy OF
one Of the big trekking wagons. Her tears
were falling so copiously that they moist
sned her dress waist. She WIS about IL
years old, comely and fairly well dressed.
at is; nothing strange to see a Eocr w"m-
an w,enin-. there is not one but has lost n
father or brother or many relatives in the
war But this ones grief was so extreme
that | stopped. | found that she spoke Eng
lish exceptionally well. She told me her
sister had been killed by a sharpshooter the
day before.
.s;t. was my twin sister and we never
passed "A day apart she said. between her
sobs 1t breaks my heart to think that she
lies over there under the ground
She pointed TO mound OF iresh enrth
with a line of stones around anu over II, Il
short distance away:
she told me. too, her father. five brothers
and nnumerable relatives were lighting.
..Ouch" she exclaimed. as her arm sud-
denly twitched. Then l saw q small hole IN
the right sleeve of her dress just above the
elbow.
".Oh. yes she replied. rather lanSuidly
a bullet grazed me. and occasionally 1t
pains me very much.
rather alphabetically. that her father COM
PEELED her to remain in the wagon until the
wound was healed. =,
I. yNnf Il
should not bc here I'd be down in yonder
trench. where l ought to be
Rely Each other.
."rhe men suffer extremely from home
sickness when the women are absent. Tor
in peace they are rarely separated more
than Il few hours. r
And no finer, more irspiriting exc,npifi-
cation of patriotism can he found on Gods
footstcol than a ISocr woman by her hus
bands side. rife in her hands and we'll
tllied bandoiiers over her shoulders.
''All but one of the women whom | have
seen wore black or brown dresses. one was
IN mans apparel, hut the Rcers tell me the
women often put on their husbands cloth
ing when their own becomes worn. 49,
British captured three Boer women In men
clothing. and they are still held as prison
ers of war on the warships at Smons-
town, near Cape Town. but they nave been
supplied with proper clothing
whether they fought or not, whethet
they cured Inconsistencies or not. II would hs
hard TO keep these warrior Women rom .. ,t ,,'e
front They We're the first To insist that the
Transvaal should resist Ensiana Now .iey
are sharing the burden and expect 10 snare
the glory.
Young firmly believes that the RepuDiicS
will ultimately triumph. The renet OF Mn MINI
berley and that of Iadysmith are reeafue'
not as defeats but rather as victories, III
asnuch the Boer forces, winch nave 'een
lying almost idle around those cities can
now be taken where there Is real hsh''hs'