Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1900-03-16

are astounded at the fortitu6e Of The
average man In the hardships ana dnn-
gers Of war. Vivid accounts Of cara.
paign experiences In South Africa have
at last come to hand By mail, and 1t is
interesting to place the daily life OF
Boer and Briton side by side. A pri.
yate of the First Suffolk regimen.
writes ut would be all right if the
Beers would Come out and Gght, sdt
they won't move until compelled. No
one knows what sort Of country this
Is unless he has been here. Tho hills
are not so much in height as In mum.
ber, and the enemy run from one to
another when shelled or charged, and
as fast as you can turn them out Of
one hiding place they are at the back
of the shelter Of another hill"
Another letter says that the mass of
the Beers fight with their coats Off and
sleeves rolled UP above the arm. Only
the regular artillery and Kruger's
bodyguard wear Uniforms. A British
surgeon. writing Of scenes at Modder
river, says: II went out near sunset to
aid the highlanders. They had been
lying all day under that frlghtful sun,
and their wounded were still there.
No stretcher bearers could advance, as
they were all shot at. They shouted
to me to crawl on the ground. as most
of the firing was over. There were still
three or four Beers with express rifles
and explosive bullets who were under
cover and who kept picking off our
men. Some men utterly collapsed, and
all l could do was to put pad to their
wounds and my whisky flask to their
lips"
A Boer account of the battle of Dun.
dee contains the following bit Of hui
man characterization: I'VE do not care
much for cannonade such as we had,
but the enemy fear our cannon more
than we do theirs. They seem, too, to
have innate fear Of Mausers, for they
are careful to keep out of range. l
only fired matter Of nine shots. We
hoped, but in vain, that they would try
to rush our kopje.
by this time our cannon had played
havoc with the fort. and their only
chance Of saving 1t was to advance on
us. Their cavalry charged from the
Spruit to the garden, but so effective
was our fire that they sought refuge in
the wood. Now we began to expert
ence the effect Of their cannon fire.
They fred on us from every position,
and every descriptions of shot and shell,
including lyddite. literally ralned on
us. So heavy was the firing that by 7
or 8 o'clock we could barely see each
other through the smoke. They then
stormed the kopje, and our men and
the enemy fought at short range. about
20 or 80 yards apart. Their loss was
terrible, and after .vainly trying to
force us back they retreated. They
then came through poort close to our
position. and some Of our men were
dispatched to intercept them. Eighty
of our men drove them back with their
Maxims and cannon and recaptured l3
of our men who had been taken prison.
ers They were driven from their po-
sition into a kloof where 200 of them
We're captured, with horses and every
thing"
In similar vein sergeant of the
Seaforth highlanders writes Of the fight
at Mngersfonteln. "The Black Watch
In 'front.'" says he, made an attempt
to charge the position, but we had to
retire and simply run for 1t. the enemy
blazing at us all the way and cropping
our fellows like skittles from their
splendid positions. There was nothing
for II but to lie down and pretend to
be dead. and this did about $50 a. m.
till, ! suppose, p. M. the sun pouring
down on me all the time, and not a
drink Of water all day. and dare not
stir hand or foot. and expecting every
Instant to be my last, could hear
nothing but the cries, means and pray.
ers Of the wounded all around me. but
| daren't so much as look up to see who
they We're.
Shots and shell We're going over inc
all day from the enemy and our side
and plenty Of them striking within a
yard OF mel mean bullets. not shells
and yet they never hit me. believe
some of the fellows lost their heads
and walked right up to the enemy,
singing until they dropped them, One
youngster lying close to me said he
would make a dart for II about 3 p. IN.
! tried to persuade him not to, but he
would go. A couple OF seconds later !
could hear them pitting at him and
then his groans for a minute, and then
he was quiet.
"As It began to get dark managed
to wriggle my body through the shrub
further hnrk md a flor 1 lad haan ~