Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1900-01-13

Another Disastrous Dash Fsom
Nafek;ng By 4 Snals Force
Of British.
AWAlT NEWS FROa CEN BULLER
Everytllsn bMdicatcs Illat a Bg
Hattie ~ Impisncnt ~ Vicinity,
or Tst1ysn.iaI d -ss,ssssss.sss sssss.ss TvtYn
EightiDs

Il I.ondop, IAN. !. "a Mafeking dis
= patch dated December 20 says:
There was sortie today with 4
view of capturing the Toer earth
Spsks, hut Ii WIS uRsnceessfal The
works were crowded with BoeTs await
! ing an aHsault and they hailed bullets
and forced the British 90 retire, KILL
I Ing and wounding number
"A later dispatch says the British
sforlntng party numbered 80 Uf which
"a were killed aud 30 wounaetl,
n London, Ian. s. The T'iFles publish
cs tbc following dispatch from Mafe-
ldng, dated DecehtAer 26;
"At dawn t0dny Colonel i1aden.Fow
Z Ell organlzed sn unsnceessfH attack
upon d strong position Of the enemy
4 at 6anietree, two miles from Mafe-
king from which the BUers have been
A maintaining d desultory she'll and rifle
Ere fOr several weeks. The railway
has recently been constructed be-
\ tween the town aud Gametree, where
i the Beers had destroyed il, the final
repairs being made IN preparation for
the sovtie.
"Drring the night the armored
\ train, with maxim and hotchltiss
/ guns, under Captain Williams and
1 troops, took up positions Cor attack
| from two sides. Captain Lord Charles
/ Bentinck and q squadron were In re-
serve upon the left, while the extreme
left wing was occupied by artillery
| Major Panzera, and galloping
[ maxim OF the Cape police, tte whole
being Under Colonel Hore.
"Emplacements were thrOyn mp
! during the night, the orders being 10
/ attack at dawn, and the artillery fire
to desist upon prolonged footing from
! the armored train. AT daybreak the
guns opened FIRE and rapidly drew the
reply Of the enemy, orr shells burst
| ing within effective range, Captain
! Vernon gave the signal to cease firing
and to advance, his squadron Leading.
Off
"As our men engaged the position
with their rife fire, II was soon found
that the strength Of the fort was
greater than we had supposed. The
euemy concentrated such an exceed
ingly hot fire that the advance Of Cap
tain Vernon was almost impossible,
but hy remarkable heroism and gall
lantry Captains Sandford and Vernon,
Lieutenant Patton and Scout Cook,
who guided the squadron, and a few
men, actually reached the sandhags of
the forts within 800 yards OF the area
az the fort,
''But nothing living could exist
there, since the ground was swept by
mauser and martini bullets. The men
who charged through the zone Of fire
suffered terriblyand following their
officers 20 capture the fort twenty men
lost their lives. Captain Sandford was
the frs. to fan, and Captain Vernon,
already twice wounded, and Lieuten-
Patton were killed at the foot of the
fort. These two officers climbing a
ditch which surrounded the fort,
thrust their reyolyers through the en-
emy's loopholes only to be shot them
selves the next moment Gametree is
surrounded with scrub which con-
tanned many sharpsh0oteTs, and their
accuracy OF fire still further confused
the men who had followed Captain
Vernon and who saw him and his
brother officers killed. Being without
commanders they were driven of at
one point, but they endeayored to
scale the fort at Others. They found
the position of the Beers, however, al
most impregnable.
when we retired under cover OF
the armored train so many men had
been wounded that suspension of
hostilities was had.
"'The yeldt around the Boer position
was az once dotted with flags OF mercy
and II was seen that our wounded were
scattered within but a short radius OF
the fort We had almost completely
surrounded it, and, had II not been so
extraordinarily protected, we should
have been In possession.
i went with an ambulance TO Game
tree. The fort itself Is circular, with
q wide interior and narrow frontage,
between six and seven feet high,
pierced with triple tiers of loopholes
aud surrounded by ditch.
III was permitted TO assist in dress-
ing the wounds, majority of which
to have been caused by ex.
plosiye bullets, the point 0f entry be. |
ing small, but the area Of injury COW
erinR wide region. While the wound |
ed were being attended to numbers %
Beers left their entrenchmeHts andl
gathered around. AT the close of /
dressing / spoke to some of the tat. |
tered, dirty, but physically fine men.
Many of them were undersized and |
all wore boards. They referred me to |
the field cornet, who denied the use or
explosive bullets. on being shown the !
horrible wounds he admitted that at |
one time explosive bullets had been
served out, but he said he was cer-
Inin they had all been previously ex-
pended, aud TINT none could have \
been used on this occasion. He then
Drodnced a bandolier filed with dunn
lum bullets, and pointed out that /
Is far as Mafeking was concerned /
hese had been recalled.
Later on / called the attention OF
HE field cOrnet To four of his own /
men who were riding dead bodies He
Expressed his regret to q British Off
Yer that despite his Instructions 20
respect the dead, the younger Beers
we're unruly and beyond his control,
ind he accused the British soldiers of
stripping General Kock and leaving
him naked and wounded on the field
hne indirectly causing his DEATH
The correspondent then describes q
Gene Of angry recri.nination between
he field cornet and the Boers regard
ng the existence OF orders about rob.
,ipg the dead, some Beers asserting
hat they only took arms. despite the
irriral at that very moment of the
rpCAT QEEr cunhR EAcT0py