Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1903-01-08
TIER Last
Charge az
BY JOHN w. HARDING.

pines QuerleO young Lieut.
Gay at the Raconteurs' club, as he
glanced up from his newspaper at q
number of the members who. cigar in
mouth, were enjoying the poSt-pran-
dial hour of dolce far niente, utterly
Indifferent, in their contentment and
comfortable surroundings, to the
wind that ratified and the rain that
beat against the windows of their
Fifth avenue clubhouse. Here's d
single Filipino who has the sand to
charge a whole American column"
"Wowl" chorused his listeners, in
credulously. And what happened to
the gentle TagalogP"
"He isn't. or l suppose 1t is safe to
say wasn't, Tagalog, but Moro, v re-
piled the lieutenant, though ] sup
pose all Filipinos are alike to US here,
AS to what happened to him. the dis
patch leaves ii to the imagination"
There was silence for a moment,
then a slight, elegant man of medium
height, with clean-cut features and a
gray pointed beard. remarked quietly;
THAT recalls a similar and very ex-
traordinary incident which l witnessed
in the Soudan in 1856"
The speaker was Stanford HyhSh, a
visiting English journalist and ex-war
correspondent to whom the cOurte-
sizes of the club had been extended.
The entire company was attention i'm
mediately, and Mr.. Hyish, on being
pressed, continued:
at was during the operations, be-
gun too late, alas! for the rescue OF
Gordon at Khartoum. was with the
column commanded by Gen. Sir Her
bert Stewart, which made that famous
dash across the desert to Metemneh
when 1900 Tommies and bluejackets
at Abu Kea fought off 10000 tribes
men whose valor is immortalized in
Kipling's barrack-roOm ballad Fuzzy
WuzZy.'
"The column was made mp of the
Sussex regiment, mounted infantry
a camel corps Of guardsmen, and a
detachment of men-o'-war's men,
with a troop of the Nineteenth hus-
sars acting as scouts. We hurried
along with us four screw guns and a
couple of gatlings. Big Col. Fred
Burnaby, of The Ride to Khiva'
fame, was of the expedition, and re-
joicing nightly thereat, caring moth
ing Off he had any premonition of
his fate) that it was to mark the
close of his adventurous career. Not
having been able to get himself sent
to the front, he had secured several
months leave of absence, and, armed
with a shotgun, had overtaken the
army on the Nile, having lodged, by
avoiding the Egyptian towns, impera-
tive orders to return telegraphed to
every point of possible interception
by the war department authorities,
who had learned of his departure.
eve had made forced march of
IS hours and were nearing the wells
at Abu Klea. Not man had had q
morsel to eat or a drop to drink
during all that time Most of us
were on the verge of prOstration
from fatigue and the torture caused
by the sand and fine dust which
clogged our mouths, ears and nos
trils, causing an intolerable thirst,
and penetrated our worn and in many
cases ragged clothing The scouts,
dashing in at breakneck speed, ap.
prised us of danger, and we barely
had time to form square about our
baggage and animals when twJ
mighty, surging torrents of black hui
mainly swept upon us.
"Three minutes after the first horde
got within range we could scarcely
see each other, owing to the smoke
from the rifles. There was no wind
The atmosphere, heavy with the ter
rible heat, as it seemed to us, ap-
peared to concentrate the powder
smoke in dense, acrid, choking pail
through which it was impossible to
see the onrushing tribeSmen. The
screw guns had to be cleared of sand
before they could be put into action
AS for the gatlings, they had to be
taken to pieces and cleaned. Blue,
jackets inside the square were doing
this expeditiously, but with the ut
most calmness, amid pandemonium
for the men told off to look after the
animals were having the tussle OF
their lives. Some of the camels and
horses had been wounded, and were
sQu4aling and plunging madly. Mean
while officers were rushing along tn
rear of the lines of the square, shout
ing amid the din into the ears of tn
men to aim low at their invisible foes
Suddenly, on the left rear of thu
square, where the heavy cavalry ant
camel corps men had formed, an i'm
mense black mass which had broker
through the terrible circle of fir
doomed through the smoke cloud a
the very barrels of the rifles, and
hurting itself upon the square wit
the irresistible force of an avalanche
broke through the lines. Some OF tn
cavalrymen, true to their instincts
and lacking the infantrymen's TRAIN
ing to meet such an emergency, oroR
ranks and rushed at the enemy. III
others and the infantry stood thel
ground, and by dint of terrific fight
ing closed the gap. Many of the haI
less cavalrymen thus shut out fell
pierced by the bullets of their com
rades. The tribesmen who had broker
through were quickly cut down
though not before Col. Burnaby an
many other gallant fellows had beel
killed. Burnaby, you may recall re
ceived spear thrust in the throat
Gen. Stewart himself had a marrow
escape, his horse being slain unde