THE WOUNDED IN AUCKLAND.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 85, 12 April 1899, Page 5

THE WOUNDED IN AUCKLAND.

INTERVIEWED AT THE HOS-

lit once took advantage of the chance f 0 SSn his mates. The Royalist i md gaSiinea both sent boats-with armed crews ashore, but as it was gettmg dark we had to retire Hunt was sent on board the Royalist, and I, after feeing attended by Dr. Laing of the JU.S. Philadelphia, was sent to tne Supreme Court, which was convex• ed into a hospital and guarded by British jtroops. HOW THE OFFICERS WERE i " KILLED.

Lieutenant Freeman, as you no •doubt know by this time, was amongst .he killed. When I was shot down he came to me and gave me a drink trom his water bottle. He was very, atten*jve to the wounded, and it was while stopping to give another wounded loan a drink that he was shot down. Lieutenant Lansdale and Ensign Monaghan were near the Colts quick.firmg gun, and when it got disabled, the rebels at once made it a target, and that is how they got shot. 1 believe two leading seamen from the Royalist were killed, and also two American seamen from the Philadelphia. About five other men were wounded. The rebels captured the Colts quickfiring gun belonging to the Philadelphia, but as they could not do anything with it, some days afterwards it was sent to the German warship Falke, and the captain at once forwarded it to the U.S. Philadelphia. All through the trouble the Falke was carrying out the usual daily routine, the same as if nothing had happened. Now there is nothing more to tell excepting that' Hunt and myself received every kindness from the doctor on board the Alameda.

PITAL.

A SENSATIONAL NARRATIVE.

As two of the men wounded at the recent engagement in Samoa arrived by the Alameda, and were at once taken to the Auckland Hospital, a representative of the Auckland 'Star went to the institution this morning for the purpose of obtaining art account of the affair by men who were | in the fight. Dr. Baldwin, the resident surgeon, with his accustomed courtesy, upon being informed of the object of the visit, at- once led the way to the accident ward where the two wounded men were placed. Corporal John Foxworthy, of the marines. H.M. Royalist, was found lying in bed, he having received a gun shot Wound through the calf of His left leg. Fortunately for him the bone was not touched, he having apparently ' being" shot by a native who was, posted in a . tree, as the ball- passed through, the muscles and came putj again. Sitting in a chair .alongsidethe corporal was Harry Hunt, A,B. ..of H.M.s. Porpoise, who was also wound led on the Ist of April, arid had a narrow escape, His right ear beirig chop: ped off as .he was on the ground surrounded by natives who had captured him^ Just.at that critical moment a shell was fired from the man-of-war, which caused the natives to decamp, and Hunt was thus afforded an opportunity of rejoining his comrades. Upon the two men being told that an account was desired of the Samoan affair, the corporal, pointing to Hunt; said; I'll let him do the talking, as he was there longest SEAMAN HUNT'S ACCOUNT. .Henry. Hunt said: 'Well, as you know, the Porpoise has been down at Samoa: since last September, and I was a seaman aboard of her. When the trouble first began over the king we landed 24 men to form a guard of honour to? the Chief Justice, and. about an hour afterwards another 2? men were landed as a guard for the English Consulate. There was. no fighting that night. . .;'•" HOW THE TROUBLE BEGAN. The trouble really began about 3.30 on a Sunday afternoon. The natives were in trie bush having a palaver, and the rebel party disarmed two chiefs. They tried to. disarm a third, but he made a fight for it, and .shot two dead, besides wounding a third with his rifle. That really started the,fighting. They went, at it. pretty warm till about 8 o'clock that night, and all through the night shots were fired. It was that night that we took Malietoa, the King, and Tamasese* the vice-King, as well as other chiefs on board the Porpoise. 'During that fight,' said Mr Hunt, 500 of the king's party went over to the rebels, and that was the reason Malietoa was so badljj whipped. The rest of his party came round our ship, but on the following Tuesday they went. on shore and gaye themselves up. The majority were banished from the islands.' -: LOOTING THE HOUSES. The rebel party then looted the houses of the king's supporters for the next few days, but did not interfere with those of European residents. After that things quietened down, and it was arranged tp set up the Provisional Government of Mataafa and thirteerl chiefs, and our guards were withdrawn and were not again sent ashore Until the Supreme Court was opened, when another 24 men were landed, and things went'on quietly for some weeks. ' RENEWAL OF HOSTILITIES. It was about the 12th of March the second trouble began, when Mataafa's party cleared out to the point which isTeally-the only bit of property belonging to the Samoan Government.. The Provisional Government had been carrying' on to a great extent -with the Kiing^s pabtty, so two more guards of. twenty men each were landed and paraded the town an that -night. Tamasese also landed- I ought to have mentioned that _l___. Royalist and the United States warship Philadelphia had arrived before this. The Royalist lad been to Tninfla to "bring back some of the Js3ng*s pa^ty vr_o had been deported. The Amcidbans j also landed a party and Tamasese had ' -about fifiy-£iz: S.am-aaais with iim.

Both Foxworthy and myself were with these parties. We had a scare about midnight owing to a number of friendly natives coming in, but we saw they wore red turbans, so there was no shooting. The rebels wear white, and the King's n\en red. On the following Wednesday fifty sailors and marines were landed from the RoyaVist, and went to the Supreme Court. THE BOMBARDMENT. That was the day the bombardment commenced. Corporal Foxworthy interjected :1 'Yes, they started bombarding as we left the ship about twelve o'clock. The Philadelphia fired the first shot from her anchorage. Seaman Hunt : ' Our ship, the Porpoise, went outside in order to shell the coast. Things were- pretty quiet, as far as the party ashore were concerned, until the middle watch, about two or three o'clock, when the natives made an attack.' Corporal Foxworthy : 'It was there Sergeant Spurrell was shot. We were surrounded by people and we fired back, but it was too dark to see what was the result. At the Tivoli Hotel a. party of bluejackets under Lieutenant Gurner of the Royalist were stationed. They were aJso attacked during the night.' Seaman Hunt: Our party heard the firing and went up at the double to reinforce them, There was a rood deal of firing, but as there was no moon we could hot see the effect. One of the men of the Royalist was killed while on the verandah of the hotel. You see the bush is right close to the town, so the Rebels had good cover. Theey get right down in the dark before you can see them coming. For a fortnight after this parties were sent out occasionally to drive the natives back into the bush, but there was really-no fighting until last Saturday week. BRINGING IN HEADS. V: Corporal Foxworthy: 'What abont that brush when the friendlies got three heads?' Seaman Hunt: 'Oh, yes; one tinio some of the friendly natives went out and brought in three heads of rebels who had been killed. We had taken a 7-pounder field gun ashore .and fired into some natives who we saw. We' caught them in a gully. The Americans also had a Colt quick .firing gun ashore, not quite as fast as ia Maxim, but it sends out about 400 shots a minute, and we used to live at the natives to keep them from getting in too close.' Corporal Foxworthy: 'It is just as well to explain that bringing in heads was forbidden.' Seaman Hunt: 'Yes; the order was given in "the first place that friendlynatives were not to take heads. These people who went out arid ?got the three heads oijily arrived" from. Tutuil'a the night before, "and- did not _r '-■-- about that order. Fresh ; orders were issued next day that any. one bringing in heads would be severely punished.' . Corporal Foxworthy: Our captain interviewed the king, and the order was repeated. Since then jap heads have been brought in, THE FIGHT AT VAILELE. Now' we come, /said' Seaman . Htynt* to the fight on the Ist of April where we were bpthKVoajhfieGl . It:aisS§ tjii§ way. As the rebels had been. looting the houses of both natives arid Europeans, it was decided to land an expedition. Some Gerinari houses were, however, untouched, the people remaining in them all the. time. The Royalist went out about 12.30 O'clock, and our land party left the town about the same time. We had men from all the four war Vessels under the command of Lieutenant Freeman, of the Tauranga. The Royalist went slowly along the coast, and _we marched around the roaji. The Royalist was sending in shells.. Just at this stage Dr». Coombes canae in to exatiirie the wounds, and as Hunt.had to have his ear dressed, Corporal Foxworthy "completed the account of the fight.

'We had advanced about two or three miles along the beach towards the bush,' said the corporal; 'when we halted and started back again. We v/erfe returning through the German cocoanut. plantation, and eevfything1 seemed quiet» and the friendly .natives sent some scouts .out' Suddenly we were attacked. It was evident that the rebels were posted in a.position shaped like a horseshoe^ arid the only way out was through a small opening, through which wet had to retire. Bilth sides were firing all the time, and at last we fought, our way out of "the bush. I was the first man shot^i arid was carried through the fire on a stretcher. '-.;■/.

THE LAST MAN TO LEAVE "» was young Hunt there (pointing to his mate, who was at the other end of the ward having his wounds dressed).. The natives came: down with a rush, and about twelve of them surrounded him. At the time he was defending the two American officers* Lieutenant Landsdale and Ensign "Monaghan, who had been knocked down, arid were, a_ we afterwards found, both killed. Hunt defended himself until his rifle was disablefd, when he was floored With a blow that gave him the scalp wound.

A NARROW ESCAPE. He had a narrow shave, and the only thing that saved £im was the fact that the natives quarrelled as to who should have his pouches and leather gear. While he was on the ground one rebel made a chop at him with an axe,and cut off hi§right ear. It seemed .as if they intended to cut him in pieces.- What saved him was a shell from the Royalist. The signal had just been given that we had retired, and she put a shell in just over where Hunt was. The natives saw the flash and did not wait for the shell, b.ut cleared out, leaving Hunt where he was. • He did riot know the reason why, until the shell passed overhead and landed twelve feet beyond, so he