The Washington times., 1901-09-15
LOST, sTRAYED. OR STOLEN.
Mysterious Disappearance of Eng
lands Ninety-eighth YeOmanry.

An extraordinary story OF the total loss
| to all record and knowledge of two ofh-
GERS and some 800 men of his Majesty s
South African Army is published today;
The two officers and 300 men have not
been captured by the Beers, nor have
they appeared as missing in any list of
! casualties. for they were lost some time
before they left England, and only the
vaguest -umors of their whereabouts,
says the Central News, have since been
forthcoming.
Many months ago Yorkshire gentle
man and officer offered to raise body of
Yorkshire volunteer artillerymen for SER
vice in South Africa on condition that he
was himself allowed to command them.
The offer, after some hesitation, was ac-
cepted by the War Office. and soon after
ward there arrived in London some 800
sturdy Yorkshirsmen gathered from the
farming and manufacturing classes of the
Riding all of them volunteer artillery
men.
They caused at the time some remark
by their appearance, for the majority OF
them were dressed partly in their pri-
vate clothes and partly in the uniforms of
the corps to which they belonged. Some
wore helmets and corduroys. others jack
boots and military breeches, while the
rest of their attire was their ordinary
one. But, despite their heterogeneous ap-
pearance, they were just the material
which was wanted and Captain Grigg,
the officer who had raised them, was very
proud of his men. Khaki soon gave the
necessary regular appearance to the
troop, and they were dubbed the Ninety
eighth Company North Riding of York
shire) Imperial Yeomanry.
From the day that they were christen-
ed nothing more has been heard of them.
They disappeared from all record as COM
pletely as II they had never existed. Aft
er time ii occurred to the War Office
that a knowledge of the whereabouts of
the Ninety eighth Company would be use
full. and the enquiries then begun have
been carried on to this day without any
one becoming any the wiser.
Aldershot reported at the time that II
was believed that the Ninety eighth Com
pany had gone to South Africa. Soon
after they were reported to be at Kimber-
ley, but in reply TO cable the officer
commanding communications reported
that no such company as the one named
had passed through Cape Town or any
other of the South African ports. Enqui-
ries in Yorkshire showed that the nen
were not in the county of broad acres
following their ordinary employment.
Though the most diligent enquiries in
South Africa failed TO find the corps. new
ertheIess letters arrived at many vii
lagos in the North Riding from the men
themselves describing plenty of hot fight
ing in which they had been engaged. The
letters were forwarded TO the Yeomanry
officials in London. but as the only ad-
dress which many of them bore was ION
the yeldt," it was impossible to locate
them. Singularly enough, letter writ
ten by one of the Ninety-eighth Company
was received from Aldershot, in which
the trooper described how sick they
were of waiting for orders to proceed to
the front.
1t is now nearly a year since the COM
pany disappeared, and though the en-
quiries have been going on all the time
the mystery remains unsolved. The War
Office has still the hope that the opening
of an office in London for the settlement
OF Yeomanry pay arrears will lead to the
men discovering themselves.
At the headquarters of the Imperial
Yeomanry Sir Robert Baillie did what he
could to clear up the mystery.
I'VE have reason to believe" he said,
that the Ninety-eighth Company had
separate existence till the end of June
last.
There were 30i of them, all told drawn
from the Ninth Riding of Yorkshire. 1t
was originally intended to attach them to
the Duke OF Cambridge's own, and they
were to go out with that battalion. But
the battalion was never raised for certain
reasons, and the Ninety-eighth was de-
spatched in drafts. What port In South
Africa they went to am not in position
to say definitely, but at that time most of
the Yeomanry were going through Dur
ban.
I'VE understand that they were collect
ed at jamestown. and sent to Johannes
burg whence they were despatched to
Kimberley. We were informed that they
were there as the Ninety-eighth Compa-
ny on April 10 last. Since then Col. Low
THAN Bell, the commanding officer at
Middlesbrough, hass heard that the COM
pany retained its Identity up till June.
Where the Ninety-eighth is now / can
not say, but ] suppose they will be run
ming all over South Africa. London
Mail.