The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-01-18
Bullets from q Thousand Boer Rifles
Fired Into n Mass of scotIand's
Bravest Men.
i GEN. wAUCHoPE's FUNERAL
SCENES ATTENDING THE BURIAL OF
THE HIGHLAND CHIEFTAIN.
Vengeance to Be the Slogan of His
Men Observation-Disclosures from Julian
Ralph and Other Correspondents.

Correspondence of the Associated Press.
LONDON, Jan. 10.-Some Of the most
brilliant work in the way Of descriptive
| writing ever done by British war corre-
spondents has been appearing in the Lon
| don papers during the last few days.
nett-Burleigh's splendid description
| of the battle of Colenso, which was cabled
| in part by the Associated Press, is not one
bit finer than the account of the battle of
Magersfontein by the correspondent of the
Daily News. After tracing the terrible
| loss suffered by the Highland Brigade at
Magersfontein, the Daily News correspon-
| dent thus writes of the burial of General
| Wauchope:
"Three hundred yards to the rear OF the
| little township OF Modder River, just
the sun was sinking In blaze Of African
| splendor, the evening of Tuesday the
18th OF December, long, shallow grave
| lay exposed in the breast of the veldt. To
the west the broad river, fringed with
| trees ran murmuringly; to the eastward the
heights, still held by the enemy, scowled
menacingly; north and south the veldt un-
| dulated peacefully. A few PAGES to the
northward Of that grave fifty dead High
| landers lay. dressed as they had fallen on
the field Of battle. They had followed their
chief to the field and they were to follow
| him to the grave.
How grim and stern those men looked
as they lay face upward to the sky. with
great hands clenched in the last death
| agony. and the brows still knitted with the
stern lust of the strife in which they had
fallen. The plaids dear to every Highland
c1o <.l
looked out of the distance came the sound
of the pipes: 1t was the general coming to
join his men. There, right under the eyes
of the enemy, moved with slow and solemn
tread all that remained OF the Highland
Brigade. In front Of them walked the chap
lain with barred head, dressed in his robes
of office; then came the pipers with their
pipes, twenty-six in all, and behind them,
with arms reversed, moved the Highland
ers. dressed In all of the regalia of their
regiments, and in their midst the dead
general. borne by four of his comrades.
AT THE GRAVE.
"Out swelled the pipes to the strains Of
the Flowers Of the Forest, now ringing
proud and high until the soldiers heads
went back in naughty defiance and eyes
flashed through tears like sunlight on steel:
| now singing to a moaning wall like a
woman mourning her first born. until the
| proud heads dropped forward till they
rested on heaving chests, and tears rolled
| down the wan and SCARED faces and the
choking sobs broke through the solemn
| rhythm Of the march of death. Right up
to the grave they marched, then broke
away in companies, until the general lay
in the shallow grave with Scottish square
of armed men around him. Only the dead
mans son and small remnant of his Of
ficers stood with the chaplain and the
pipers while the solemn services of the
church were spoken.
Then once again the pipers pealed out.
'Lochaber No More cut through the still
ness like a cry of pain until one could al
most hear the widow in her highland home
moaning for the soldier she would welcome
back no more. Then, as If touched by the
magic of one thought, the soldiers turned
their tear-damp eyes from the still form in
the shallow grave toward the heights
where Cronje. the lion of Africa, and his
soldiers stood Then every cheek flushed
crimson, and the strong jaws set like steel,
and the veins on the hands that clasp the
rifle handles swelled almost to bursting
with the fervor of the grip. and that look
| from those silent, armed men spoke more
| eloquently than ever spoke the tongues of
orators. For on each frowning face the
spirit Of vengeance sat, and each sparkling
| eye asked silently for blood. God help the
Beers when next the Highlander pibroch
sounds. God rest the Beers souls when
the Highland bayonets charge. for neither
death. nor hell. nor things above nor things
below will hold the Scots back from the
blood feud.
'At The head of the grave, at the point
nearest the enemy. the general was laid to
sleep; his officers grouped around him,
while in line behind him his soldiers were
laid in a double row wrapped in their
blankets. No shots were fired over the
dead men resting so peacefully. Only the
salute was given. and then the men
marched campward as the darkness of an
African night rolled over the far-stretch-
ing breadth of the veldt. To the gentle
woman who bears the generals name the
Highland brigade sends its deepest SYM
pathy. To the members and the wives. the
sisters and the sweethearts in the cottage
home by hillside and glen it sends love
and good wishes. Sad will their Christmas
be, sadder the New Year. Yet, enshrined in
every womanly heart, from Queen-Em-
press to cottage girl, let their memory lie,
the memory of the men Of the Highland
Brigade who died at Magersfontein.
THE SLAUGHTER.
The same writer thus depicts the way
in which the disaster overlook the High
landers: During the night II was cen
sidered expedient that the Highland Sri
] gade about 1000 strong under General
Wauchope. should get close enough u the