The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-01-18
DEATH OF WAUCHOPE
THRILLING NARRATIVE OF THE
AWFUL STRUGGLE IN WHICH
BRAVE GENERAL DIED
BETRAYED BY A RIFLE SHOT
Four Thousand Highlands ut the
Mercy of a Hidden Enemy, In the
Full Glare of the Boer Search
Hghts-Fought Their Way to the
Dead With the Bayonet.

Full Glare of the Boer Search
Hghts-Fought Their Way to the
Trenches, and Avenged Their
Dead With the Bayonet.
| Correspondence Of the Associated Press.
LONDON, Jan. 10-Some of the most
brilliant work In the way of descriptive
writing ever done by British war CORE
| spondents has been appearing in the
London newspapers during the last few
days. Burleigh's splendid description Of
the battle Of Colenso, which was cabled
| In part by the Associated Press, Is not
| one whit finer than that Of the Mayors
| fontein correspondent Of the Daily News.
| Detailing the terrible loss suffered by
| the Highlanders' brigade at Magersfon-
tetn the Daily News correspondent thus
writes Of the burial Of Gen. Wauchope.
"Three hundred yards to the rear Of
| the little township Of Modder River,
| just as the sun was sinking in a blaze
| Of African splendor on the evening of
| Tuesday, the 18th Of December, a long
shallow grave lay exposed in the breast
Of the veldt. To the west the broad river
| fringed with trees, ran murmuringly; to
the eastward the heights, still held by
| the enemy, scowfed menacingly, north
and south the veldt undulated peacefully.
| A few PAGES to the northward Of that
grave fifty dead Highlanders lay dress
ed as they had fallen on the field Of bat
| tie. They had followed their chief to the
field, and they were to follow him to the
grave. How grim and stern those men
|, looked as they lay face upward to the
sky, with great hands clenched in the
last death agony, and brows still knitted
| with the stern lust Of the strife in which
they had fallen.
1.-THE plaids, dear to every Highland
clan, were represented there, and as
looked, out of the distance came the
sound of pipes. 1t was the general COM
ing to- join his men. There, right under
the eyes Of the enemy, moved with slow
and solemn tread, all that remained Of
the Highland brigade. In front of them
walked the chaplain, with barred head,
dressed in his robes Of office, then came
the pipers, with their pipes, sixteen in
all, and behind them, with arms reversed,
moved the Highlanders, dressed in all
of the regalia Of their regiments, and in
their midst the dead general born by
four Of his comrades. The swelling Of
the pipes to the strains of the flowers of
the forest now ringing high until the
soldiers heads went back in naughty de-
flance, and eyes flashed through tears
like sunlight on steel, now singing to g.
moaning wall like a woman mourning
her first born, until the proud heads
dropped forward until they rested on
heaving chests, and tears rolled down
the wan and SCARED faces, and the chok
ing sobs broke through the solemn
rhythm of the march Of death.
LOCHBAR NO MORE.
Fright up to the grave they marched,
then broke away In companies untif the
general lay In the solemn grave with a
Scottish square of armed men around
him. The dead mans son and the OFF,
GERS stood with the chaplain while the
solemn services Of the church were spok-
en-. Then once again the pipers rung out.
Lochbar No More cut through the still
ness like cry of pain until the listener
could almost hear the widow, in her
Highland home, moaning for the sofdier
she would see no more. Then, as II touch
ed with one thought, the soldiers turned
their damp eyes from the still form In
the grave to the place where Gen. CronJe,
the lion of Africa, and his soldiers stood.
They flashed crimson, and their stern
Jaws were set, their heads clasped the
rifle handle. swelled almost to bursting
with the fervor Of the grip, and that
look Of the men spoke more eloquently
than a whole volume of words. Each
sparkling eye asked silently for blood.
God help the Beers when next the High
lander pibroch sounds. God rest the
Beers souls when the Highland bayonets
charge, for neither death, nor shell, nor
things above, nor things below will hold
the soldiers back from their blood feud.
Sat the head of the grave, at the point
nearest the enemy, the general was
laid to sleep, his officers grouped
around him, while In line behind him
his soldiers were laid in double row,
wrapped In their blankets. No shots
were fired over the dead men resting so
peacefully. Only the salute was given,
and then the men marched campward
as the darkness of an African night drop
ped over the far-stretching veldt
ITO the gentle women who bear the SOL
diers' names, the Highlanders send their
deepest sympathy. To the wives, moth
ers, sisters and relatives in glen, by
iresides and in homes they send their
good will. Yet enshrined In every
womanly heart from queen empress to
cottage girl, let their memory lie, the
memory Of the men of the Highland /
brigade, who died at Magersfontein'
MAGERSFoNTEIN DISASTER.
The same writer thus depicts the way
in which the disaster overlook the High
landers:
During the night 1t was considered ex-
pedient that the Highlander brigade,
about 1900 strong, under Gen. Wauchope.
should get close enough to the lines Of
the foe to make 1t possible to charge
the heights. At midnight the gallant
general moved cautiously through the
darkness toward the kopje, where the
Beers were most strongly intrenched.
They were led by a guide, who was sup
posed to know every inch of the country,
out into the darkness of an African
night. The brigade marched in line of
quick column, each man stepping eau
tiously and slowly, for they knew that
any sound meant death. Every order
was given in a hoarse whisper, and in
whispers it was passed along the ranks
from man to man. Nothing was heard
as they moved towards the gloomy, steel
fronted heights but the bruising of their
feet In the veldt grass, and the deep
drawn breaths of the marching men.
$50 onward until three o'clock on the
morning Of Monday. Then out OF the
darkness a rifle, rang, sharp and clear,
herald of disaster. A soldier had trip
ped in the dark over the hidden wires
laid down by the enemy. In second,
in the twinkling of an eye, the search
lights of the Beers fell bright and clear
as the MONDAY sun on the ranks OF the
doomed Highlanders. though 1T left the
enemy concealed in the shadows of the
frowning hills behind them. For one
brief moment the Scots seemed discour-
aged with the suddenness of the light,
for they knew they were huddIed to-
gether like sheep before the trenches.
Their confusion was removed by the
word of the general, Steady, men,
steady.' and then rang out thousand