The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1900-06-10

&C oss c W ter The Weiterner invaria-
bly, Sc me- arpy. but eager chat with
his ccuntrynen III y were somewhat
fire. with heir criticisms, and could not
get the A de shot me hoes into their sys-
TIM or reasoning. Blu, as l say. they
were good soldi RS. dil their duty. and
we always popular with their fellows.
TT e Australians, W Zealanders and
Tasmaniaus were more like them In
speech and m thods than were the young
lows from h me-" and I think that
open life ia wide country breeds sim
rarity Of tyre.
The Beers Played This Game.
1 want to tell a story of what a YAM
kee did at this same battle of Sannas
Post. better known as Corne Spruit. 1t
was told to me by his officer. and. fortu-
naJely enough. this time I got the name
of the hero. It was Todd He had en-
1 listed at Cape Town and had shown from
the very outset chat he was fam.liar with
horse and rife. That he was a natural
soldier, too, the tale proves. Every one
knows the hislory OF this little disaster.
but in order to recall it, I shall tell in
short detail how the thing happened and
what led up to 1t.
noun ed force. consisting principally
of irregular horse from the colonies, two
/ batteries of Royal Horse Artillery @ and
/ U, all under command of Gen. Broad
wood, was coming back from an expedi-
/ ton in the direction Of the Basutoland
! border II had started from the foot OF
/ the great mountain OF Thaba N'Chu. In
/ all, the men numbered about 1900 and
| their rear had been harassed from the be-
/ ginning of the march by the advance
/ guard of a larger force Of pursuing Beers
/ on the evening Of April 80 they had
reached the Modder river at a point
! where was situated the wafer works and
/ pumping station that supplied The town OF
/ Bloemfon .ein, some sixteen miles TO The
! westward. Here were stationed two
! squadrons Of mounted infantry and hus-
! sars.
/ At daybreak of the next morning the
whole camp was surprised to find itself
under the direct shell fire OF four Eo2r
guns that were mounted on the command
ing hills to the eastward during the night.
/ To stay there with small number was to
/ court destruction, and it was decided 70
| fa.l back upon the nils near town. as the
enemy was seen to be gathered In large
force. The transport and one Of the bat
terIes was ordered TO proceed along the
roed, while all OF the fighting men re-
mained to guard the rear II the enemy
should attempt 10 follow. II need not be
sail how foolish II was to send on this
unarmed caravan, practical unpro ected,
without flankers or skrmishers, and this
is not the place to attempt to place the
blame. 1t is enough that IL was done. and
the transport and the battery ran Into as
well laid a trap as could ever have been
invented by a historical romancer. A
deep spruit on one side and half COM
pleted railway eubankment on the other
formed a horseshoe curve, and into the
open arms the transport entered.
The Beers played the game this day
From their position OF vantage they stood
for IL and ordered the drivers, few SOL
diers. and the men on the limbers of the
guns whose horses were entangled
amidst the chaos OF mules and draught
animals. to surrender. 1t would have
been madness to do otherwise, and the
Boers entered the crowd and began 10
outspan the mules and oxen, at the same
time, ordering the prisoners to line up in
a row. In the meantime the forces that
were lighting, two miles in the rear.
knew nothing OF what was going on. A
messenger managed to get back 20 them,
and two squadrons OF Roberts Horse were
sent on to see II the tale he had told was
true. They rode bang into the camp also!
/ This. OF course, was a mistake, but mis-
takes often happen In warfare. The
Beers seeing that they had them at their
mercy showed themselves and ordered
them to d!smount and surrender.
shoot! Burshers, shoot"
Right shoulders upg' called the once,
In command. "Fours right about! Ant
without firing q shot they attempted /,
drop out OF the Jaws OF the cul de sac Il
which they found themselves. Tha bat