Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-07-05
Aboard a-Horse Transport
Bound fer South Africa.
SERVING'tWITH BRITISH
HOW THE MULETEERS WERE EN-
LISTED AT DURHAM.
A Strong British Force Routed by
Beers, Who Took Everything
but Prisoners.

| well. it might have been worse" said a
lately returned ''muleteer' who shipped out
Oh new Orleans on the steamer Michigan
last April for South Africa to a representa-
tive Of The Star
IN over twenty years tramping around
| the world I have been up against some
| pretty tough propositions but there Is moth
Ing not even an Alabama workhouse, that
| can get Into the same class with horse
| transport bound for South Africa. Yet this
was the second trip made
| i returned to the United States in De-
cember last. landing at New York. Not
finding work. gradually drifted to New
Orleans. and in April last shipped again on
the steamer Michigan for Africa.
| 'On my first trip to Africa l took pas
sage on the British steamer Monarch out
of New Orleans for Durham. Natal. On the
same ship there were 1000 horses going to
| the British army in the Transvaal l was
| compelled to remain below with the horses.
| procured a bale of hay and slept on it
| by night. and during the day earned thirty
| five cents seeing that the horses in my i'm
| mediate vicinity did not die of starvation
! or thirst or kick each other into the sea.
The food was undeniably bad, but one could
look outside and see the mighty ocean and
| the bluest sky in the world
when left Chicago in December, 1900,
try: drdfteda down to New Orleans, ar
| irving there In January, and there l saw
| In one of the daily papers an advertisement
| for men to take care Of horses on trip to
AFRICA, and simply out of curiosity l
| signed on.
! Aboard Ship.
"The trip across the Atlantic is a very
unpleasant memory. The food was awful.
| As said, there were no beds for the men,
| SO We had to sleep wherever we could curl
| up, and before the trip ended some Of us
had learned to sleep like a Understanding
up. But the weather was fine, and forty
two nights at sea on bale Of hay was not
SO bad
| There was always more or less excite
| ment on board. Mut.nies over the food
were common, and 1t was no unusual thing
| to see four or five Of the more violent
| kickers, handcuffed to the bridge rail,
while the Old Man read to them the
| articles OF. expounded the mysteries Of
Long befores fhe Monarch reached Dur
! ban the skipper informed US that not one
| Of US should set foot on African sail; but
| ne was an Engishman, and he didn't real
lie the resourcefulness of the Yankee hobo.
Enlisting, With the British.
The first line was hardly fast to the big
stone dock at Durham before the Monarch's
decks Were swarming with recruiting ser
geants. and before noon a hundred Yankee
tramps marched ashore and up to the big
drill hall. followed by a torrent of billings
gate from the skipper that would make a
| Bowery boy ashamed of his short vocabu-
| larry. That night We went to Pietermaritz-
! burg andS were turned over to the COM
mandant of the big receiving depot to be
made into Soldiers.
/ For more than a week an old gray SER
| geant Of the Dublin Fusileers drilled his
Yankee squad, and then We set off for the
! front. Because my eyes were a little off
| had to content myself with hospital duties
| OF the others, ninety-three went to Kitch-
ener's Fighting Scouts, and six to the I'm
| perial Light Horse. Out of the ninety-three
| in the scouts four have won commissions
and fOrty-three are now the non-com
| staff.
Praise for the Yankees.
| when the Duke of Cornwall & York
made his visit to South Africa he asked
| Lord Kitchener:
"'Who make your best fighting men
| here?"
| The Yankees. your grace replied the
| commander-in-chef. They are more adapt
| able. They are never at loss what to do
and can be depended upon to look out for
! themselves. They are nearly all fine riders
and good shots. They are the best of
| scouts and against this enemy just the kind
1.-The only fighting l ever saw In South
| Africa was less battle than a skirmish
| It happened in this wise. A big column
was sent out of New Castle, Natal, 5000
! strong to round UP little bunch of Beers
| north Of Utrect 1t was under command of
| Brigadier General Burn-Murdoch. one of
| the crack cavalry commanders OF the dis
| trict. Between Utrect and Knights farm
the command was split leaving the portion
| I was with 1000 men under Major Oliver
with Major Thornycraft as second in COM
mand. On the afternoon of June II, 1901,
| the command I was with met a party of
Boers-the very outfit We were looking for
In little valley, surrounded by high hills
The Beers retreated up the hill to the
north. The sktrmish was short. While we
were still busy caring for the wounded and
Thornycraft was chasing Mr.. Boer up the
hills, another Boer force came up from our
rear and we were all prisoners-hospital,
supplies and men.
An Easy Victory.
"It was an awful climax to divers cam
paign. He had lost in killed and wounded
nearly 100 men, and in addition was him
self captured. together with his hospital
and supplies No one was abused, though
every one was stripped of his money,
clothes and other yaiuables. I lost f25 and
complete new outfit. That night 1 an
swered roll call In a Tam OShanter and a
pair Of wooden sox.
they took no prisoners. only the supplies
and hospital stores besides what they got
from each indlyidual-when Old Thorney'
showed up. ninus~a dozen or more men,
but not a Boer. did he have-he said they
had escaped? Maybe they did; think we
''N Wv a Hospital.
"The la1E tw6months of my enlistment 1
put in at lew Arstle Natal, in No IA Cen
eral HosrfaL ghere the treatment was
good for 4terys1ne, but when my time was
up was Ysadysto quit. 1 had seen enough
of BRITISH Soldier life. I went to Pieterma-
ritzburg @r dzscharge in August and in
SeptembeHTe work for the Natal Gov
eminent tH5lw&. but 1t was too much like
playing With ildren's go carts the way
they raiF6ad Mere so 1 came back to
the stata@ hi
A6econd Trip.
Il landN in New York in December and
In Januaw ofahis year was in Chicago,
but didn't hndFork So I drifted back to
New orleShs al despite the horrors of the
former trip sighed on again-this time on
the Michigan. When 1 say that the first
trip was pleasure excursion compared
with the last l believe you will grasp the
hat thon