The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-03-09

llaue charge and captured four OF
the Dutchmen and fifteen head OF cat
tie and two carts OF hay"
A Woman's View OF II.
An amusing letter which recently an
peared in a Dublin newspaper has let
a little sunshine into the genera
gloom OF the average personal new
relating 20 the war. Ia is as follows.
My Dear Kate: | was so delighted
to get your letter. Yes. the war Is too
horrid for words, And all the nice
men gone out, too! ! hope you have
not had many friends killed yet,
"Edwin's great friend, Baden-PoweH
has worked wonders at Pretoria, and
richly deserves a V. &. IL Is simply
professional jealousy wanting 20 re-
lieve him! | see the Beers have cut
up all his communications. Just like
the spiteful brutes, as they know how
We long TO hear from him.
We are all military mad In Landau
What a fortune the lucky proprietor of
the War Cry must be makingl We are
so delighted they have made Lord Rob
erts war minister, We know him by
sight quite well. You know the men
call him 'Bobs.' He is quite a small
man: but oh, so darlingl Every one
is doing something to help the poor
soldiers. Mrs. Blank and myself have
already made a lot OF sunbonnets for
the poor Spanish mules. who are un-
accustomed to the climate, and suffer
horribly. How picturesque they must
look stampeding about the Felt Ed
win Is furious with the Beers. and
threatens to go out himself II they
make any more reverses With best
love. affectionately. SOPHIE"
Beers Stripped the Dead.
Writing to his aunt in Pollokshaws,
describing the battle OF Magersfontein.
a private of the First Highland Light
Infantry says: They will never print
the truth about this battle. for Il will
never be known. One OF our captains,
who was killed. was not found till the
next day. The Beers took every stitch
of him, and he was lying naked when
We got him, shot through the head.
Three 'Shaws fellows got wounded and
died-Guy Caddens. OF my regiment.
MCandlish. OF the Seaforths. and
M'Ewan. OF the Argylls. The remain
der OF the 'Shaws fellows are here and
doing well. ! was under more fire here
in the first ten minutes than / was in
An Adventurous Scout.
A Royal Marine OF Her Majestys
ship Powerful. in the naval brigade at
Modder river writes TO his mother at
Rochdale as follows:
Our scouts report that the Beers
have got their wives with them. and
that they hold prayer meetings every
night. We saw piece OF this work the
other day by one OF the Colonial scouts
which was the most daring thing I've
seen yet. This scout rode right along
parallel TO the Boer trenches. az about
500 yards at the gallop. just TO draw
the Boer fire and find their position.
He swan the river on his horse and
rode right into an ambush Of them
but on drawing his sword they 'nipped
for their lives. So he kept on for three
hours. the Beers shipping at him all
the time. You could see dust flying all
around his horse. but he lay along his
horses back and never got a scratch
What a Battle is Like.
Any man who has been in a modern
fight. where men are being knocked
over all around. and says he likes q g..
so writes a war correspondent In the
Daily News a liar. in former days 10
must have been different. The enemy
could be seen. the smoke could be seen
and the rife had 20 be reloaded after
every shot. At 1000 yards you are In
comparative safety. The infantry. after
receiving one volley. could charge
knowing that until the enemy had load
ed again each man was practically safe.
Nowadays that Is all changed. Moth
ing is seen. no man. no smoke. The
only thing seen Is the dust thrown up
by the bullets. like a rainstorm on tho
surface Of the lake. the artillery throw
ing shells and the shells bursting. IN
contrast 10 this Is the noise. which b.
Internal. with occasional lulls IL sounds
as II a million kettle-drums we're being
played-a constant tra-ra-ra-ra, with
the boom, boom OF the big guns and
the harsher sound OF the pumping Of
the MaXims. HOtchkiss. MaXim-NOr-
denfeldts and machine guns In general
The discord Is appalling, as every gun
has a different sound. and each she'll
going through the air huns OF whistles
according TO It's breed. After a time
YOU can tell what is coming, or. ~ 10 Dr.
one OF your own what IS going.
The most terrifying of the enemy
guns Is a sort OF HOtchkiss. which fire
about FIVE rounds az a time and throws
a one-pound shell. which bursts You
are safe nowhere. as a bullet fired al
an object at 500 yards which misses.
hits and kills at 1000 or 5000. II prac-
f-c1lly means with these rifles that
bullet is never spent until 10 hits some
thing and remains there. When bull
let strikes you hear nothing. 10 goes
right through a man and probably traV-
els on another 1000 yards You hear
Erunt or a gurgle and inc man col
lapses and doubles up. Sometimes IN
hit IN the arm or leg he spins round and
falls and probably gets MP again. az n
q Is only the shock which knocks him
down. and be hardly feels a. The
worst thing Is a bullet wound IN tho
stomach below the navel. which Is NOR
- Ill III. D. n..r-L.-aL-nr- and rnu-