The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-03-30

Records Which Kimberley Has Beaten,
and Some Which Have Surpassed
kimberley's.
Although by no means the most terri
BILE, the last siege of Gibraltar when the
rock was held by a British garrison
under General Elliot, against the COM
bined efforts of the Spaniards and
French from July 5, 1873, to November
90, 1871, holds the record as the longest
important seige of modern times. The
fact that every now and again the gar
rison were able to add to their provi-
sions by successful sorties kept them
from succumbing to hunger. but scurvy
claimed nearly one thousand victims.
For weeks together over six thousand
shells were thrown into the town daily.
A curious point about this siege is that
the governor of Gibraltar, after having
done everything he could think of to
strengthen the Notifications, issued a
proclamation calling on any of the gar
rsons who had any schemes to propose
to call on him with them, as he did not
wish the rock to fall when by listening
but few minutes to a private indivd-
ual it might be saved.
In holding the fortress of Plevna dur
ing the Russo-Turkish war, from Sep
TENDER T, 1877, to December 10, against
the pick of the Russian army, the
Turkish garrison, under Osman Pasha,
accomplished the impossible accord
ing to both military and medical eX-
perts For not only did they defy the
besieging force, when it numbered
nearly fifty to one against them but
they lived for twelve weeks practically
without food. Yet on December TO- af-
ter having eaten their last grain of rye,
they sailed out and pluckily tried to
cut their way through the Russians.
The siege of Paris during the Franco
German wah lasted under six months,
yet there was more suffering endured in
that time than there was during the
whole period of the siege of Gibraltar.
No less than forty thousand of the in
habitants died of disease and hunger
Khartoum. which withstood the NAH
di and his hosts for eleven months, from
February IS, 1884 to January 25, 1885, is
unique in that it was a one-man siege.
General Gordon, save for a few Greek
non-combatant merchants, was the
only white man in the town.
I When Napoleon left Spain in 1909,
leaving his brother Joseph in possession
of Madrid, he seemed justified in think
ing Spain was his. Yet but few weeks
after Joseph Bonaparte found that the
town of Saragossa still defied the
French. The French army invested it,
and on January % successfully stormed
the walls Then the real fighting be-
gan. Every street was barricaded, eve
ry house fortress, and the French had
to fight the Spaniards, who were but
peasants led by peasants from street to
street, from house to house. For twen-
ty days this went on, the little garrison
surrendering on February 20, after thir-
ty thousand of the inhabitants had per-
ished.
Sebastopol was besieged by the
French and English armies for eleven
months, commencing October II, 1854, to
September g. 1855, but the hardships
were endured by the besiegers, not the
besieged, who had houses to live in and
plenty of food.
Three of the worst sieges of modern
times were of very short duration when
compared with Kimberley's gallant
stand of four months. During the Indi-
an mutiny Cawnpore surrendered to
Mana Sahib on June g. 1857, after a
stand of only three weeks. But the sur
render was not made by the British, but
the native garrison and so the latter
were let go free by Mana Sahib, while
but three or four Europeans managed
to escape the butchers of Mana Sahib,
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