The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-11-25
FOUGHT WITH THE BOERS.
Sham Red Cross Men Return to This
Country.
New York Evening Post

New York Evening Post.
The Chicago hospital corps, which went
to South Africa in February last, and
whose members fought for the Beers dur
ing a greater part of the war, arrived
this morning on the North German Lloyd
line steamship Trave. Thirty-three men
of the original fifty-eight who went out,
returned, under command of Capt. Patrick
O'Connor, of Chicago. OF the remainder
one was killed, one wounded, one taken
prisoner; some are in the hospital and
some remain in South Africa. The men
were welcomed by Patrick Egan, ex-min-
lister to Chill, and John w. Donovan. who
went down the bay this morning on the
revenue cutter. There was a committee
at the pier to meet the corps, and they
were escorted to the Vanderbilt Hotel,
where they will be entertained.
The corps reached Pretoria on April Is.
It had been gravely announced when they
left this country that they were going
down there to attend the sick and wounded
under the flag OF the Red Cross Society,
but they had hardly crossed to Boer ter
ritory than they threw away their hos
pital equipments ana took up arms. One
of the men, a Pennsylvania Dutchman,
when asked about this to-day said that he
knew they were going TO fight, and added:
you can bet they were going to fight or
1 would not have gone along.
John Eschelman, who went out under
General Hassell as a scout, said that the
men had all given good account of them
selves. There were seven of the men of
the corps who went out with the Hassell
scouts, he said. "Of these, one was killed,
one wounded, and one taken prisoner. The
man who is supposed to have been killed
was Edward Egan, but his death was
never proved. One intensely interesting
scene which 1 noticed was on a retreat;
l-.lA a,,I .f<r-f \.
it was necessary to go up a steep hill. The
British had two Armstrong guns at work
and they had certain part of the road
covered. / was driving wagon Just
ahead of me they were bringing up the
Long Tom. The gun was drawn by twelve
oxen. The beasts were toiling up the long
road, and the British were trying their
best to put out of business. One of the
oxen was struck on the head. His horns
were smashed and they hung down over
his eyes.
''In the line were number of Boer fam
lies On each side of the wagon the wom-
en- rode on horseback. l remember how
surprised / felt when I saw some of the
young women laughing and joking under
fire. There was much excitement when the
wagon carrying the ammunition for Long
Tom got stuck at the bottom Of the HILL
All efforts to get the wagon up did not
avail, and at last the cavalrymen were
sent to get her up. Those men were forced
to appear on the open, at the top of the
hill, and 1 believe the British could have
cut them off, but they made no effort
Except for a few animals killed, no one
was hurt. There was some scampering
when a shell burst near the Italian scouts.
Later the British brought up two lyddite
guns and got them going"
Another of the men said that the worst
fight the corps was in was at Dalmanuths,
where they were for eight days under fire.
Two of the men who went out, William
Hurley and Jerry Leary, both of Massa-
chusetts. and who joined the corps in New
York, are still fighting with the Beers. HUI
bert OHara, another who returned, said:
THE Beers are great fighters, and while
there was not much discipline in the army,
each man had the cause at heart and
fought we'll. Generals Rothe and Vijoen
are certainly fine generals and fighters.
De Wet is a great executive officer
One of the men, speaking Of the casual
ties, said:
1.-The heavy Boer losses reported by the
British were not true. Cronje, after fight
ing for fourteen days, had lost twelve men
when he surrendered. In the retreat from
Bloemfontein we lost only one man.
I'm continuous fighting for one hundred
days, with the British always within rifle
range, the Boer losses were comparatively
small, and those of the British were heavy.
1 think the Beers will be able to keep
up the fighting for two years, If not
longer"