The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1901-02-16
CHURCHILL CONTRADlCTED.
Made His Escape from Pretoria in
Female Garb,

was i'll Chicago at the same time as
j. y. King, better known as "nyua-
mite Dick" Rocr scout and American
soldier OF fortune. who blew up the
EStcourt bridge and wrecked the train
on board of which WAS I.irutrnan,
Churchill, in whose capture King par.
ticipatcd, accompanied by Il rcconnot.
ering party from Estcourt ON the way
to Colenso.
When these two men, Hritun and
Borr. were last within rifle shot of
each other they were making material
for the lectures which each is now de-
livcring. King was in Chicago for soy
cral weeks after his return to the
United States with the Irish. American
ambulance corps and several of Colonel
Blakc'S scouts.
When "Dynamitc Dick" WAS told that
Lieutenant Churchill was in the city
he remarked: 81 remember Churchll'S
capture very WE'LL from the fact that
| wanted to blow up the arlnorrd train
on which he was. and its occupants.
instead of the bridge to the back of
Them but Field Cornct ShumHn of the
l.ydcnhurg commando would not let
me do so. There were about 100 men
on the train, mostly Dublin FuSilicrS
and Natal volunteers. and some repair
men, who were civilians. They got
pretty gay with their accommodating
train coming out from EStcourt: 81 one
day we lay in wait for them, piled up
a lot of rocks on the tracks between
the two bridges, and when the train
came around the curve blew up the
bridge behind it.
"'rhcn they tried To make for ColcnS",
but the rocks dcrailcd II few of the
trucks, and after making Il slight re-
sistancc they hoistcd the white flag.
Churchill was one of the first out Of
the train, and he flashed his crcdrn-
tails on l'ild Cornct Slllman, saying
that he was !, war correspondent and
not Il colnbatant. However, when he
was searched, the conmandHnt found
Il revolver on him, and asked why he
was armed Churchill replied that he
wanted to defend himself.
against wlom-thc British" in
Quired Shuman.
"Clurchill made no reply, and Shu-
man rcmarkcd: We'll. you must have
had il to shoot the Beers. so you had
better join the rest Of the prisoners
and go to Pretoria
"Whcn the prisoners reached Pre-
toria they were confined in the Model
School building, which was loosely
guarded, and on that account Churchill
got away one night. The story of his
escaping by jumping on a freight train
is not true. After he got away he
made for the house of an English
friend in Pretoria, whose daughter OBJ
tanned a passport for herself to Della
goa Bay, and it was with this passport
and dressed up in the daughters
clothes that Mr.. Churchill got out of
Pretoria and over the border.
81 met all kinds Of war correspon
dents of every nationality during the
campaign, and have seen them taking
notes and smoking cigarettes under the
heaviest kind of fire, but Churchill
was the only one met who ever com
| Of Il !, N
He was highly indignant when arrest
cd, and said that the Beers broke all
the rules of war III making him pris-
oncr"
Lieutenant Churchill, who is rather
boyish-looking for his "a years, slightly
stopped, and of rather nervous tenn
permanent, declined to tell of his cap
ture and escape, giving as his cXcus"
that 81 am going to tell you all about
it at my lecture tonight, you know"
However, when he was told the yer
sion dynamite Dick" had given, the
young lieutenant apparently forgot his
intention to keep silent, and began:
"Dynamite Dick may have been
present when our Armorcd train was
captrrcd near Estcourt. We had 100
men on board, and would have got
away only that part of our train was
dcrAilcd by the huge bolldcrS which
the enemy had rolled on the track.
After the Beers opened fire on us the
repair gang got in front Of the cngin"
and two trucks which still remained
on the track" lie denied that he cS-
capped in girls clothes. After the lee
turc several persons went into the ante
room to meet Mr. Churchill, and one
Of them said to him: ''The people
here believe that the Beers will run
the British out Of South Africa" This
caused him to flare up, and he said:
ct may be, it may be, but it will be
the ruin Of the British empire and il
will drag down the Anglo-SaXon here
as well as in England. But we mean
to rush the last man and last shilling
into South Africa before we permit it,"
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