Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1900-04-19

great blessing TO klmOefley, OUT II
makes things binding at times. Fol
instance, you we're not permitted to be
out after p. m. or before 8 8. N,
There we're places where you could go
and others whore you could not 60
without permission, and If caught out
after time or In prohibited territory
you were run In and dealt with accord
ing to military law, which was very
severe. but. an glad to say. just. Mill
tsry, or rather martial law, was . great
blessing to Kimberley in ono way~it
kept the prices Of the necesssries Of
life down. As soon as the siege was
properly on prices went up out OF
sight. 1t fairly put Klondike to shame.
will give you sorne Of the prices SO
yen cen Judge for yourself: Flour
8l5 per 100 his; coal oil, 4l5 per s gal
Ion can; condensed milk, 76c; meat, 75c
per pound, and other things according.
"; but thanks to our military suthori
ties they soon made the merchants
bring down the prices to whore they
wore before the siege.
October 81 the Beers fred their first
sheil into Kimberley. On that date
the authorities, seeing that We were
going to have . time Of it. cut down
the food supplies. The meat allowance
for each person was one.half pound
per day; flour, I pound for each person
par week. At that time you could got
anything you could pay for out of the
stores In the way Of tinned meats,
fish, etc, 20 we were not so bad OF
November our mounted men had q
skirmish with the Beers near Kenil-
worth. In which we lost two men,
would have lost more had our men ad-
vsnced any further.
November 4 tha commander of the
Beers sent in . request for Kimberley
to surrender. saying IL we did not they
would lombard the town. In the
event Of refusal, he requested Col.
Kekewich to permit sll Afriksnder
families to leave Kimberley, and also
offered to conduct the women and
children of other nationalities to places
of safety. which considered very
good offer under the circumstances.
Col. Kekewich issued proclamation
giving those that cared to 20 the
privilege Of going. but there were not
many that accepted the invitation,
many no doubt wishing subsequently
that they had. On November 9 Kim
berly was heavily bombsrded from the
south and west, but no great amount
Of damage done. November 8 the mil
itary authorities sent 5000 natives out
Of Kimberley because provisions were
beginning to get short. but they all re.
turned on the day following, as the
Beers refused to permit them to pass
through their tines They were told to
come back and help to eat us out Of
provisions.
November llth things looked more
serious the Beers had taken up new
positions and were gradually closing
in. they opened fire on Kimberly about
s q. M, and continued without the
slightest pause until 7:3o, shells falling
all over Kimberly, one woman was
killed and frightful damage was done
to the property, and feeling Of erea,
uneasiness prevailed. even the John
les that had been laughing in thetl
sleeves shout; what snap they were
going to have with the Beers, were 60
ing about with consternation hanging
on every bump of their countenancel
looking for places of safety and dodg-
ling shells just for fun, they were no,
afraid of them In the least, but jus,
made home run for fun. As far 81
I arp personally, concerned was filled
"chuck up" with the vilest kind Of
fear, and can assure you that it i.
far from 9 pleasant sensation, to hes,
shells kissing through the sir MOI
knowing whether It is going to fall II
your vest pocket or that Of yonl
neighbor and when you take into con
siderstion the fact that they weighed
from 9-1OO lbs and we're hurled into
thwn from distance Of three t. sever
miles you can imagine the velocity af.
ter travelling that distance, they would
crash into any building and then tn,
explosion Of the shell was somethin,
terrific, especially the 100 FOUNDER, 4,
simply carried death and destruction
wherever it fell, although we hav,
known instances where the shells hav,
fallen at the fest of persons and ex-
plodtng without hurting them in tn,
least more than the shock from the
concqssion, while another person per-
haps 100 yards away, would be- killed
by fragment of the shell so il
was impossible TO tell when yon wer,
out of range as the shells did not u!
ways fall in the same place Otter
aryin9 hundreds of yards.
| November 18th WAS an eventYu, day
for Kimberly, also for myself. TIL,
enemy poured shells into Kimberl,
thick and fast dong great damage il
all directions. business WAS completed
suspended. It was on this date tina
tho works where was running tn
engine Was compelled to shut down q,
account of the scarcity of coal Thi,