The Springfield herald., 1900-01-26
INTO DEATHS JAWS.l
HOW THE HloHLANDERs DIED.
Battle of Observation-Disclosures Were Led
Up IL solid KanIsS Against Intrenched
Work. on Rocky nm, And Entangied
In Barb Wire Were Slaughtered.


pondents has been appearing in the
British papers in the last few days.
Bennett Buleigh's splendid description
of the battle of ColcnSo, which was ca
bled in part by the Associated Press,
is not one bit finer than the account of
Magersfontein by the correspondent of
the Daily News. 1t is in part as fol-
lows:
During the night it was considered
eXpedient that the big Highland brig
ade, about 1000 strong, under General
Wauchope, should get close enough to
the lines of the foe to make possible 10
charge the heights. At midnight the
gallant general moved cautiously
through the darkness towards the
kopje where the Beers We're most
strongly entrenched. They We're led
by guide who was supposed to know
every inch of the country, ont into the
darkness of an African uight. The
brigade marched in line of quarter col
umn, each man stepping cautiously and
slowly, for they knew that any sound
meant death. Every order was given
in Il hoarse whisper and in whispers ii
was passed along the rank from man
to man; nothing was heard rs they
moved toward the gloomy stcel-fronted
heights but the brushing Of their feet
in the veldt grass and the deep drawn
breaths of the marching men.
80 onward until three of the clock
In the morning of Monday. Then out
of the darkness rifle rang, sharp and
clear, herald of disaster-a soldier
had tripped in the dark over the hidden
wires laid down by the enemy. In
second. in the twinklin" of an eye. the
searchlights of the Beers fell broad and
clear as the MONDAY sun on the ranks
of tho doomed highlandcrs. though it
left the enemy concealed in the shad-
ows of the frowning mass of hills be-
hind them. For one brief moment the
Scots seemed paralyZed by the sudden
ness of their discovery. for they knew
that they were huddied together like
sheep within fifty yards of the trenches
of the enemy. Then clear above the
confusion rolled the voice of the gen
eral-'steady. men, stcady,'-and like
an echo to the veterans out came the
crash of nearly thousand rifles not
fifty PAGES from them. The Highland
ers reeled before the spouk-like trees
before them. The best. their braveSt.
fell in that wild hail of lead. General
Wauchope was down, riddled with bull
cts. yet gasping. dying. bleeding from
Avery vein, the Highland chieftain rais-
ed himself on his hands and knees and
chcercd his men forward.
Men and officers fell in heaps to-
gether. The Black Watch charged,
and the Gordons and the Seaforths.
with yell that stirred the British camp
below, rushed onward-onward 10
death or disaster The accursed wires
caught them around the Legs until they
houndered like trapped wolves, and all
the time the rifles of the foe sang the
song of death in their ears. Then they
fell back. broken and beaten. leaving
nearly 1.300 dead and wounded just
where the broad breast of the grassy
yeldt melts into the embrace of the
rugged African hills. ard an hour
later the dawn came of the dreariest
day that Scotland has known for II gen
Grafton past. OF her officers, the flower
of her chivalry. the pride of her breed
ing. but few remained to tell the tale,
Il sad tale truly, but one untainted with
diShonor or smirchcd with disgrace, for
up those heights under similar circum-
stances even a brigade of devils could
scarce have hoped to pass. All that
mortal men could do the Scots did;
they tried. they failed, they fell, and
there is nothing left us now but TO
move On and avenge them.
"All that fateful day our men lay
close to the Boer lines, under blazing
sun: over their heads the shots OF
lTitluS anu LUIS I'!SStt NltilOul ttHS-
ing. All day long the battle ragged.
Scarcely could we see the foe-all that
met our eyes was the rocky heights
that spoke with tongues of flames
whenever our troops drew near. Once
our guards made brilliant dash at the
trenches. and like Il torrent their re-
sistless valor drove all before them,
and for n few brief moments they got
within hitting distance of the foe. Well
did they avenGe the slaughter from the
Scots, the bayonets, like tongues of
flame, passed above or below the rifles
guard and swept through brisket and
breastbone. out of their trenches the
guardsmcn tossed the Beers, as men in
English harvest fields toss the hay
when the reapers' scythcs have whitcn-
cd the corn fields. and the human
fields were plentiful where the British
guardSmen stood Then they fell back
for the fire from the heights above
them fell thick as the spunc of the
surf on an Australian rock-ribbed
coast. But the guards had proved to
the Beers that, man to man. the Briton
was his master.
I'm vain all that day Mcthuen tried
by every rule he knew to draw the en-
cmy: vainly the lancers rode rccklessly
to induce those human rock limpets 10
come out and cut them OFF. Cronje
knew the mettlc of our men. and an
ironic laugh played around his iron
mouth. and he still stayed in his native
Businesses: but death sat ever At his
elbow. for our gunncrS dropped the lyd-
ditc shells and the bowling shrapnel all
along his lines. until the trenches ran
blood and many of his guns were 81
enccd. In the valley behind his outer
line of hills his dead lay piled in hun
lreds, and the slope of the hill was
runl hn,,cl, .l1n,.l. IlIn AA.nunlnl all