Lancaster Standard and County Advertiser. — 1902-02-07 (Lancaster, Lancashire, England)

LUNESDALE SOLDIER'S EXPERIENCE. HOW THE BOERS TREAT US, AND WE  TREAT THEM.  INTERESTING COMPARISON.  A Innedale farmer who has a en at the fret hap re.eived the following letter. which we are at liberty to reproduce:—  Just a few lines to let you know that f am in the land of the living by the skin of my teeth. We got into a corner a few days ago, two officers, three non-corns and nine men of my company being killed and five wounded in an attack. Them were only about 200 of no. attacked by n force of Ltina Doers. Taken by ieprivewew..re ,ht.t ii an soon we were near, of their inf,..nee. They Came up  in khaki liko ourselves, and the first alarm was the gentry's shot and a rush of the whole lot amongst How any at us escaped with our lives I don't know. We fired till our rifles were knocked out of our hands or a muscle of it mous, was in our faces soil" hands up." I haven't heard the total casualties yet, but you wil, have seen them in the paper before now. get to know nothing of that sort out here. We are kept in an much ignorance Co the Wms it our own losses. They stripped all the wounded and prisoners naked, and they bad a twenty mile worth to do n that state, and if we ,apture one of them we have to loge a part of our food to feed him, and he is treated three times better by the Government than one of us. I see by the proclamation the Government is at last giving them tine:;- own way, giving them farms and cattle to come in, instead Ot a bullet as murderers mini cowards. • I would not care if it lasted another two years if they would shoot all who are now fighting . against us, and all the pro-Boers in England I • would crucify on a red-hot iron cross, and head- E downwards at that, arid thin in the Christmas ' wish of every private piddle,. in South Africa. If the pro-Boers had been olopped at first the Wal would have been over long ago, but. the Ocvernment allows thrm to 'irate arid say what they like, and it all gets to the Boers out here and bucks them up. I see they have sent a Mies Hohhouse out here to immect the refugee mining. She should be tiouneed instead. , It has put the Boers in confiden••e that we are giving way to them, and they will stand all the longer now. Their.wivrs and families are better ff now than ever they %Vete in their lives, and the longer their kinsmen click in the field the better it is for them and the 1/111IP money it emits Ile to get their country from them; and that is their motto, if they can't get ther independenve they can make it cost us more than it will ever be worth. I have had several letters from different parts, tort can't answer eel, for we can't get paper end envelopes here. The Fist Irtlc' I think. was !eon; --. It was taken in my veal pocket, and loot it just after daylight in the morning of the capture It was taken in my coat pocket, and they shot one or two of the fellows for wilting for their letters back again; but if we Like them prisoners they may spit on us. and • .tr., tried by court martial if we raise a finger in anger to them. So they think we are ioift dummies, we soldiers, but the Colonials. vetting five bob a day. knm-k then, off, and nothing maid. So, no more at present ,wishing ell a merry Christmas and Happy New Year. which I ean't enjoy for a couple of years to mime.