The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-03-30
Charge of Ten Thousand Gallant Cav
aIrymen Across the Treeless,
Sunbaked African Veldt.
NEITHER GUN-FRINGED KoPJE
NOR MAUSER-ARMED BOER PER-
MITTED TO STAND IN THE WAY.
Neither Was Horse Nor Man Spared
Until the Great Column Sight
ed the Besieged City.


Correspondence of the Associated Press.
| LONDON, March 2L-In the rapid course
| of epoch-making events which preceded
and followed the relief of Kimberley Gen.
| French's ride to Kimberley escaped the
minute attention 1T would otherwise have
| received. 1t is said that since 5000 cavalry
charged and charged fruitlessly at Balak-
| lava no such spectacular sight has been
recorded in the annals of In this
| case there were 10, 0OO men and with them
raising the dust of the plains were some
| forty-two guns. The correspondent of the
London Times described these things as
| follows
| ION Monday the march began. Ramdam,
eight miles to the southeast, soon
passed and a sharp skrmsh secured
| Dekiel drift on the Riet. After halt of
| day the column moved on. AT Kip drift
| the cavalry division halted a night. The
| breathless haste of a dash through the
enemy's country, carried out with
| rapidity probably without a parallel had
| left its mark on the horses and the trans
port was hopelessly in the rear. Five days
| rations and forage were carried by each
| man and scanty indeed was the amount
| doled out day by day. Some of the horses
| used had but recently been disembarked
and the unexpected climax had impaired
| their health. apart from the inevitable
| sickness caused by long voyage. 1t
| had not been possible TO spare them.
| Day after day the cavalry moved at
| high pressure over the shadeless veldt dur
| ing the hottest hours of the day. 1t is
| difficult to convey to English readers the
| burden that this alone entails The alb
sence of shade is not relative matter.
| Often for twenty miles continuously there
| is not bush that child could creep
| under for shadow, the very leaves of the
trees that are found near watering places
| are thin or deeply serrated poplars, will
| lows and babel thorns giving little or no
| shelter from the tremendous heat of the
| midday sun.
| AN ARMY OF HORSE.
ION Thursday, the 18th, at 10 O'Clock
| the critical advance was made, and the
| Smelling and capture of two laagers a few
| miles out of Kip drift on the northern
| side of the river cleared the way for the
| junction of the force encamped on the
| Modder some five miles east of the border
| fence. This body composed of Kitch-
ener's and Roberts's horse and two more
| regiments of mounted infantry. Before
they entered the great plain of Alexanders-
4
| the Scots Grays, Household Cavalry and
| two lancers regiments-also Joined the
| force which now numbered 10000 men,
seven batteries of horse artillery and three
| field batteries. Their entry into the plain
was the signal for the great event of the
| day. The plain is perhaps three miles in
width and five in length, converging slight
/ ly to the north and fringed with kopjes
| Wild ounces and babel thorns i'm scattered
groups of three and four the only trees
in this wide and level eXpanse and the
w n nv he
| ments and the Scots Grays as advance
| guard, deployed to ten-yard intervals and
Numbered across il.
THE kopjes either side were held by
| Beers, who poured bullets and shells into
| the advancing mass, almost hidden by the
| curtain of dust that rose from under the
| hoofs of the horses. Three kopjes were
| quickly cleared of their occupants by the
! impetuous rush of the mounted infantry
Lieut.. Sweet Escott, of the Sixteenth
Lancers, was the first officer to fall shot
dead at fifty yards by Boer who received
| a lance through his throat almost before
| he could produce the invariable cry for
| mercy. Kopje after kopje was cleared and
the Beers were driven from them right
and left the column crashed forward
| like some great plowshare thrusting aside
the enemy on either side. helpless to with
stand this tremendous charge and almost
powerless to harm it. barbed rinderpest
fence stretching across the plain checked
the advance for a moment, and that en-
| abled the Beers to withdraw their guns
| capture them
CRONJE'S FLIGHT.
AT De Villiers farm, at the northern
end of the plain, the column halted and re-
| formed in column after watering the
horses. They had come ten miles and
| broken the ring around the besieged town.
| The pace at which the advance had been
| made had both minmized the casualties
| and prevented Cronje from appearing with
| 10000 men to line the kopjes on the plain.
| Cronje realized that he was defeated, and
acted with his usual sagacity
| THE cavalry column had barely gone five
| miles beyond the plain before the ox wag-
ons of the Beers were inspanned and the
| long lines of transports were trekking back
across the very line of the advance they
had been powerless to check. Cronje acted
| with promptitude and decision. BY the
evening of this same day not a man of all
| the thousands of the investing force be-
yond a few struggling bodies of men out
patrolling or foraging when Cronje gave the
order TO retreat was left on the hills and
| ridges that had been their camping ground
so long.
| Meanwhile the cavalry pushed on. From
De Villier's farm the country resembles
some great English park studded with
| single trees and undulating under the long
grass, through which the guns plowed
| long tracks in the crumbling red soil. Here
| the pace began to tell. and horse after
dead from some wound unnoticed in the
| heat of the fight. The strain upon the
| horses of the Royal Horse Artillery had
| been extreme, and it is impossible to praise
| too highly the handling that brought nearly
all of them safely through the melee.
There was no time to pause and at last,
! some three miles on the first sight of Kim
| berley burst on the column through the
| fringe OF trees. passage perilous maketh
| a port pleasant; and the long, weary weeks
of anxiety and hardship. the disappoint-
ment of Magersfontein and the heartsick-
ness of deferred hope were alike forgotten.
| Kimberley was relieved, and the remainder
| of the march might well have been a
review. as the immense column emerged
| from the trees and moved down the long
slopes that oppose the rising ground on
which Wesselton stands.
1.-THE Beers in the north of the town at
the intermediate station and Kamphordam
were firing their last shots from their great
guns I'm ignorance of their failure on the
south, but these soon stopped. and General
French entered the town, which i'm mo-
ment had put out its flags and decorations.
1.-THE Panic that had been caused by the
continuous bursting of the huge shells
over every part of the besieged town van
ished, and from the 1,200-foot level of the
diamond mines thousands of women and