The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-03-24
COSTLY EPISODE OF WAR.
HOW THE BRITISH RELIEVED TO-
KARIN EGYPTIAN CAMPAIGN.

HOW THE BRITISH RELIEVED TO-
KARIN EGYPTIAN CAMPAIGN.
Twelve Thousand Lives Lost in the
Preliminary DattIe-After 1t WAS
over ID Proved an Encounter With
AIlies-BeIeaguered city Had Been
Abandoned by soudanese weeks
| Before.
From the Washington Post
March 1 was the anniversary of the re-
lief of Tokar. Never heard of Tokar?"
asked the old correspondent, who went
| through the Egyptian campaign in the
early sos. "Well. the relief of Tokar was
the result of some of Osman Dignas STRAIT
egy. The battle of El Teb. which preceded
the relief, can only be celebrated in leap
year. but, failing that, we can have Tokar'
The two together cost 1900 lives
The story of the relief of Lucknow aud
of Kimberley are complete; he former has
been rounded out with song and story. It's
mnutest details are familiar There has
been time for the horror and the sentiment
of the famous siege to become stale. even
to the story of the highland maid who fell
asleep with her head on her mistress
knee and dreamed of her native hills and
the auld kirkyard at hame where Tam
and were we'd She heard again the pip
ers tune she Kent it rise and fla; twas thu
wild MacGregors' slogan, the grandest of
them a. Mingling with her dreams, In
deed was the sound of the pipes that
playes The Campbells Are Coming at the
head of the relief column as the highland
ers advanced. Even this pretty fact 20
| full of sentiment, has become hackneyed.
1.-THE relief of Kimuoriey has yet to be
exploited in full. True, some ragged de-
tails, some hints of suffering and of hero
| ism have leaked out. but the songs of ro-
mance-makers have not yet had full
| chance. The relief of Kimberley is full
of opportunity At least some history
| was made when French and his cavalry
rounded into sight and surprised the be
fleagured garrison there
The Joke on the British.
THE relief Of Tokar which took place
| on March l. 1884, sixteen years ago is OF
| course matter of history and is record
ed in the war office in London. 1t was
| accomplished after lot of hard work aud
| al the cost of more tahn l2OOO lives.
"Yet the relief of TokaT, the anniversary
of which some of the. old soldiers celebrate,
was about the tamest of tame things, and,
| WithaI had some humor attaching 10 It.
| The joke, given as it was, was entirely on
the British, and perhaps the full story is
not a matter of history
| "Tokar is a small town in the southeast
| corner of the Nuban desert forty miles
south of Suakin. on the Read sea, and be-
| tween 500 and 600 miles south of Cairo. 1t
was one of the towns of the Egyptian pc
nal settlement of the Soudan and was gar
rison by a detachment OF Egyptian sol
| diery In the course of the Soudan re-
| bellion. under the leadership Of the Mandi,
all of these towns, and prominently Berber
| and Tokar, were threatened. BAKER
Baker Pasha-formerly the famous colo
| mel of the more famous Tenth HuSsafs,
| who was cashered from the service ana
| afterwara went to Turkey, where he took
| command of the Turkish cavalry, and was
later sent TO the Khedive by the Sultan to
| take charge of the Egyptian gendarme-
rie-had attempted the relief of Tokar In
| doing so he was utterly routed WIN MS
! Egyptians and lost 1900 men,
| "Then il was that the British lnterIered
at the request of the Khedive Gen. Sir
| Gerald Graham, with force of 40JJ men
was sent TO the field of action. SO terrible
were the stories that came from IoKar
| that while il had been his intention 10
meet Osman Digna in the neig . moo" ol
! Suakiu he determined to first relieve me
favored garrison, which was reported
| a. he on on the verge or
surrender, after losing half of their
number by hunger and thirst. 1t was even
| reported that the little children We're pc
ing eaten, and other most horrible tales
came leaking through.
a Desperate Encounter.
rho hattie took place between 10 O'Clock
n tbe morning and O'Clock in the af-
tHrnoon Of the 18th of February, so thar
his wear the veterans Of that battle 90
not Get chance to even hold their quad
rennial celebration.
~The Soudanese were pretty well sup
nlled with big guns, and they used them
| g+ra,,ee to saw. with much better effect
than the Remingtons, Of which they had
o1so an ample supply. The guns, to our
| e,rnrise were pretty well handled. ana
| during the first part of the mornhs-that
| is TO say, until they We're silehced pN tne
| Rritish artillery they did some eXecu-
Ion The good shooting done by the gun
rers on the other side was surprise TO
| Graham At any rate, to make long
| story short, the Soudanese We're OF course
| dri,cn Rack and the estimated loss was
between 1900 and 5000 The BRUSH loss
| yas between 100 and POO We We're TO re-
lieve the unfortunate garrison at Tokar.
| n\Vc marched out the next morning
ahout o'clock with twelve miles ahead
of us. The naval brigade was hauling its
| own guns and the wheels OF the hlhe-
Founders sunk into the sand ABOUT SIX
| inches. so we made about two miles an
hour or less.
Gan morning as we moved along small
parties of the enemy took pot shots at
MS from the low said hills and sniped
| few men. The shooting was pretty good.
we remembered, after it was all over
No Enemy in Sight.
about u o'clock we caught sight OF
! the minarets of Tokar. observe l leave
out the word 'glittering, which should
always be used when you speak OF nina
rets. These didn't glitter Next we saw
the fat roofs, then the great gateway
over which two big guns were said to
have been mounted by the garrison But
| where was the enemy? Where the be-
| siegers? Where the serrid ranks Of fan
atics? Where the whirling clouds of dust.
marking the troops of desert cavalry and
their camel corps? Where the standard OF
| tire mahd and The huttering banners Of
| their tribcs2
| "All gone. Not a soul was to be seen.
i IT, IL. claar of all Ihlnme t1atuI-