The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-01-23

town indicated that a severe attack was
being made upon what was undoubtedly
the key to our position. The Manches-
ters, who occupied Caesars camp lined the
hill and engaged the enemy. Practically
for the first time our men lay behind en-
trenchments and the Beers were the at
tackers. The enemy got his machine guns
TO work; the thud of his Hotchkiss sound
ed awfully destructive, but no execution
was wrought, our men beating off the on
slaught before ii became really dangerous
Scarcely had this rush been stopped than
The Beers were upon US again to the north
of the town. A squadron of hussars drew
the attack The Beers swarmed the
kopjes and promptly put the cavalry in so
tight a corner that company of the
Kings Royal Rifles and Two companies OF
the Rife Brigade were ordered out to sup
port them. The infantry successfully
cleared the l1opjes, which were SO close to
he camp that the enemy was able TO put
rife shots through the tents of the naval
brigade The Rifles lost five wounded in
repelling this attack. The Beers, how
ever, suffered very heavily as our men
had the good fortune to surprise party
of the johannesburg Mounted Police hid
ing in a gully and bring a considerable
number to earth We captured a wagon
| load of rifles and ammunition in this little
Engagement
Heavy BOer Losses.
| ABOUT noon the tHtllN ItllAhSH " tilV
| attack of the western hill. Again the
! Manchesters waited for the Beers They
| allowed them TO get within 500 yards be
| fore opening fire. The enemy held his
| ground sturdily for time, lodging about
| amongst his native boulders for cover.
| but ultimately our fire became TOO deadly
| and he turned and fed. 1t is estimated
| that at this spot the Beers left 200 dead
| upon the field The Manchesters claim
| greater number We lost couple of Man
| chesters killed and several wounded in
| beating off the second attack upon Caes-
| ar's camp.
| During the morning the Boer guns
mounted on the Bulwana hill pitched fifty
| shells on to the hill held by the Manches-
| ters to back up their attack. Not one
| man was hurt, But, euriously enough, the
| first shot they fired in the afternoon drove
straight into a redoubt and wounded five
| of our fellows They were playing with
shiny biscuit tin, and think they owe
| their mishap to the enemy having taken
| it for a TELEGRAPH. BY the way, while
! to-day's battle was in progress hello
| graphic communication was established
between our hilltop and our troops at Els
| court whence our relief column is eX-
| pected to start
1t was a personal satisfaction to myself
| because the native runner who got through
| with my dispatches last week had been
| Communicated by the authorities on his
| return as a reward for mis- sagacity. and
| there being now no further need for his
services he was returned to me, and 1
started him off to run the gauntlet of the
Beers once more. This time the boy
was less succeSsful after spending two
nights trying to dodge the Beers he re-
| turned to town to report lack of progress,
| but pluckily started again on Sunday af-
| ternoon. OF course we are so completely
cut off from the world that no one has the
faintest idea of what is getting through
to England.
Boys" as the native runners are called,
without any regard 20 age, leave with our
messages, and are never seen again. Pos
sibly they get through, because so far as
we can ascertain when the Beers catch
our messengers they simply take their
dispatches away thrash the bearers, and
send them back. There is perfect reign
of terror amongst the boys" and there
are not half a dozen who will run the risk
of capture for the best Queens gold we
can offer them.
At noon there was a distinct lull in the
fighting Suddenly the lyddite gun on the
hill above the spot where 1 sat banged
out a shot that was not a reply to any
thing 1t turned out to be the signal for
the royal salute in honor of the Prince
of Wales birthday. The naval brigade
completed the twenty-one guns. l thought
| they were UrlnR DldIk cartridge, Dul nave
since heard that the balloon having sig
nailed the presence of a mass of Beers on
| the slope behind Long Tom" our Pow
erful boys amused themselves by distrib-
uting the royal salute amongst them. Let
us hope they enjoyed the treat. 1t must
| be many years since His Royal HighnesS'
| birthday salute has been turned to ac-
| count for the defense of his countrymen.
Then we heard cheering from surround
| ing camps. Tommy" having fabricated
| his throat with an extra lot of rum, was
| lifting up his voice in. thorough British
hurrahs Next the strains of God Bless
the Prince OF Wales rang ont. Trumpeter
Major IIeno of the Imperial Light Horse,
was obiging in his best style. At night
| the Manchesters lighted a bonfire on their
| hill TO celebrate the anniversary. 1t sig
| nailed at the same time the conclusion of a
| hard days fighting, for the enemy made
| spasmodic efforts to seize the position
right up till o. clock a night-a most I'M
usual prolongation of hostilities on his
part.
| During the afternoon the Beers made
a most daring attempt to enter the town
| from the Helpmakaar road. They crawl
ed round the hill and took pot rife shots
| at the railway station. A couple of shells
| routed them much to the disgust of the
| Devons who with the Liverpools and the
remains of the Gloucesters are holding the
| hin on the east of the town. They declare
| that nd0 the NHtulN Dttll dlONtu 10 JO-
vance unmolested they would have cut off
his retreat. The attack, however. was a
hardy one, and 1t is just as well that 1t
should have been nipped in the bud.
Retrospect.
Thus 1t happened that by nightfall we
had driven off desperate attacks made on
| the town from three separate sides, with
a loss to ourselves of four killed and
about twenty wounded, many, unfortu-
nately, MORALLY. / rarely place conf
dence in estimates that show great dis
parity between the casualties Of respective
Sides but in this case our men took full
advantage of cover, while the Beers had
to show themselves now and again.
The fact that the Beers spent the whole
day of Friday burying their dead is sig
niicant. There was little outpost skir-
mishing. but only about six SHELLS were
fired during the day, and they were from
our guns. heavy thunderstorm, accom-
panied by rain and hail, burst over the