The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-02-18
end us few shells before the sun goes

send us few shells before the sun goes
down.
One thing Baden-Powell has not neg
lected. He has effectually swept Mafeking
clear of all suspected traitors. Those who
are not outside are closely shut up In par
ticularly strong quarters. He says: Il have
forty-seven prisoners. including the late
station master at Mefeking. all OF whom
were rather more than suspected OF trea-
sonable correspondence with the enemy
The paper goes on to say: "One dark
night a few weeks ago Kaffir stole away
from the outposts of the little beleaguered
township. With the subtle instinct of these
children of the veldt which has been lost
to civilized man, he made his way through
the net work of encircling trenches and
laagers and set his face to the north and
Buluwayo. He carried a couple OF as
sagais. few mealies and pipe. The lat
ter may have seemed Of little importance
but in the stem Of that pipe lay the mes
sage from the cheerful, confident chief.
which after journey to Delagoa bay. gives
to US at home the interesting details OF
the resistance offered by the towns OF the
Boer siege.
He tells how even at Mafeking, before
war came to them. people were ready to
underestimate the character of the hostili-
ties likely TO ensue and pooh-poohed the
necessity of making any special provision
against Boer artillery. But Baden-Powell
was not the man to be swayed by such
ostrich-like counsel. 81 have come here to
hold this town." he said. Straightway be-
fore any enemy appeared on the horizon
he set about marking out the line of his ex-
terror defense works and with that COM
mon sense which is the best test of the true
soldier, at once directed the construction
OF ample shell proof cover against the guns
which at that time seemed so chimerical
to the people of Mafeking.
Each one of the outworks." he writes,
"all around the town was at once provided
with underground shell-proof accommoda-
ton for the whole of it's garrison. The
town itself was divided into three or four
sections, each Of which had its own ar
rangements for defense. In each big
mounds or earth have been thrown with
good interior apartments, all constructed
of the handiest material, such as wall sup
ports and roof cross beams of railway
metals, with panelings and roofings of cor
rugated iron."
He then tells of how he converted the
cellars of several houses into safe retreats
of similar kind. and by means of bank
ing huge mounds Of earth Immediately
overhead they rendered good service to the
garrison and inhabitants on the day when
the Boer artillery began to rain shot and
shell the devoted little town. But the
perfect machine-like system which holds
sway at Mafeking is perhaps the most in
teresting fact about the siege. Go into
any well-known opticians. and you will
find them hard at work turning out as
many glasses as they can make in the
shortest possible time, chiefly telescopes
of great range, now urgently needed by
our troops in South Africa. The mad
equacy of our supply at the front has put
us to serious disadvantage throughout the
| theater of war. Not so at Mafeking. Her
| willy chief. from the earliest moment, saw
| to that, and as he tells US, had them in
constant use. In the center of the be-
leaguered town is big traverse or mound
of earth. Inside this mound is the brain
| of Observation-Disclosures