New-York tribune., 1908-10-18

valuable life an unfortunate condition Of mind
which | would not mention except for the fact that
soon after the great victory at Coenso 1t cost US
dear On the days Immediately following the first
,roDor+ant ENLARGEMENT of the war, when had
driven the enemy back into LadysmIth with heavy
loss to them | had devoted much energy to urging
the Generals to rush the town when at that tiihe
had practically defenses and might have been
taken without great difficulty Erasmus declared
that such talk nonsense He was supported by
some Others Of his kind, with the result that While
we sat on the hills. and smoked our pipes, and fired
futile shots the British strung barbed wire round
the town and completed strong defenses-
Then it was that General Erasmus and his coterle
decided pretended to- that 1t was time tor Nlgor-
Gus action The General announced with a great
show of valor that he would lead an assault on
LadvsInith, and sent messengers to the various
commandos to inquire If we would follow ntn
Eager for action, answered that We would IhlS
Is where Erasmus had niscalculated; for he had
thought that the burghers would not countenanee
attempt to rush the town at TINS Idlt Gay. anu
that he would thus gun credit for bravery ar no r1Sk
1t had been agreed that the men We're to be in
their positions at three o'clock on the morning OF
January but during the night General Erasmus
sent out COuntermandlng orders, forgetting. how
ever to have the Free SaerS, the Irish Brigade, and
the Pretoria town boys notified that the fight was
off | had been directed to take my men. with 1ouI
field guns TO a small hill in front OF the English
fortifcations on elevation Just out OF LadySrmth
to the north. At the first glow of light the Mausers
of the Free Staters began to pop away to the west
Of us and out in front, almost under the strong
defenses of the British, heard the rapid rte tre
Of the Pretoria town boys. Never We're Drawer pOES
sacrificed the lapses of fatuous superior officer
To give tl:em much protection as possible, We
opened on the Notifications with our four cannon,
and almost at the same instant the guns BuWana,
Lombard Kop and Pepworth Hill began to thunder
We saw about one hundred and fifty OF the Pretoria
bows reckless in their courage, try to scale a hgh
stone wall that the chief factor in the defensive
works at this point, and saw number OF them tall
back with bullets in their bodies The remainder
took refuge in depression about one hundred yards
from the British firing line, upon which We con
Centrated our shells.
For hours the artillery duel continued | des-
patched note to General Erasmus with the in
formation that if he would send reInforcements
could successfully storm the notifications, which
would give a commanding position and would III
all probability bring about the immediate surrender
of Ladysmth But the General, instead of coming
forward with his large force, went back mile \
furious gale of rain and hail during the after
nOOn and under of this the Pretoria town boys
made run for life. Somewhat later the rest of us,
seeing that task hopeless retired from the
attack. There singing along the hills that
night, because ffty-five of men dead and
hundred and thirty five badly wounded