Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1900-03-16

he could not do It, He said. Throw
down your gun, and l won't shoot
But / said, Throw down yours, or !
shall shoot And so | would have, but
he threw his gun down. Then he FUN
bled with bis hands In his breast, pre-.
sumably to loosen his cartridge pouch.
But l thought he meant to take out
revolver My comrades shouted out,
Shoot him, Retz shoot hlmv But
had not the heart to shoot man ut
two PAGES distance. so l said, Put up
your hands, or I'll shoot which he ac-
cordingly did. then took-his gun"
One Of the strangest battles in South
Africa was the affair at Stormberg,
where General Gatacre fell into an am
buscade with about 1000 men. A men,
Der OF the Berkshire regiment writing
Of 1t says. II suppose you think l was
frightened. but I was not; never cooler
IN my life. nor felt in happier humor.
1t Is true felt bit queer for about
the first ten minutes Of the fight until
saw a few poor fellows knocked over.
But / should like to see the man that
could 60 into action and feel the bull
lets and shells flying over and around
him without feeling bit timid. Ev-
cry man I met said the same. but after.
ward the men were working as on q
field day or better. 1t was not dis.
graceful beat. No British soldiers ever
fought harder or better than we did.
The men shouted for the general to
let them charge again when he gave
the order to retire, but he said enough
lives had been lost already. No one
blames General Gatacre for getting
Into the trap. Every one Is willing to
stick to him and have another 60 at
the Boers.'
This boys letter shows the true spir-
1t of soldier faith In his leader. And
general who can hold the confidence
OF his men after disaster Of that kind
deserves second chance. From an
American now fighting in the Boer ar
my comes a letter filed with the kind
OF camp gossip home readers are glad
to receive. The writer, Mr.. James r..
Dunn Of Lowell. Mass, now serving
with the Irish brigade. says of Joubert
and his methods: "Joubert is a foxy
old chap and refuses to let us take any
chances that are uncertain, and he is
dead against any military grand stand
In tactics. He won't allow any charges
on fortified places. He makes the
British do that, and then he soaks
them. The English artillery is fairly
good. but not up to ours. but their In
fantry and cavalry cannot hit flock
of barns. We are now intrenched
around Ladysmith, with strong force
down at the Tugela intrenching and
waiting for that advance Of the British
we are promised.
"We have White and about 10000
men cooped up In Ladysmith. and we
will get the whole bunch as sure as
shooting. We have the hills overlook
Ing the town, which Is In q hole. forti.
fed, and we shell the place occasional
ly to keep them guessing, but we place
reliance strongly upon dirt, disease
and hunger to capture them"
Dunn speaks Of the use Of the bayo-
net by the Irish brigade but says that
the Beers have none. The bayonet Is
looked to by many as an advantage
which will tell heavily for the British
at later stage of the war; A corporal
of the Coldstream guards writes In
this vein Of q charge at Belmont: in
our fight at Belmont we charged hill
three times with the bayonet. AS soon
as they saw us they few for their
lives. Some dropped on their knees