ELEVEN YEARS AGO.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 13909, 7 December 1910, Page 3

ELEVEN YEARS AGO.

("Weekly Press and Referee.")

BOTHA THEN AND NOW

HUMOURS OF A SIEGE

Br R. "W. IfEiß.

On November 4th, 1310. in the old city of Capetown, a series of brilliant functions took place, in the- presence of Royalty and many distinguished visitors from" oversea, w-ith General I.oms Botha one of the principal personages present. The occasion was the opening of the first Parliament of the South African Union, and General Botha is to-day Prime Minister of South Africa. Kleven years before, to a day, namely on November 4th, 1899, stirring and historic scenes were being enacted in and around tho town of Ladysmith, and on that occasion, too, General Botha was one of the most important figures

there present. Then, General Botha, who was second in command of the Bot forces—General Joubert was in command—had driven tho British, regiments back upon Ladysmith, had cut tho telegraph lines, destroyed part ol the railway, and surrounded the" town and camps with his commandoes. lb was on November 4th, 1899, that Ladysmith was completely- isolated, and surrounded on all sides by Boers—on that day actually began tho siege of Liidysmith, General Joubert. the Boer Commandant, was then an old man—he died not long afterwards—and thepnrt he played was more- of an adviser than of a personal leader. General Botha, personally, led the commandoes, and, it was understood, was responsible for the manner in which the town was invested. A few weeks ago he. m his eaoacitv of Prime Minister, visited ■Ladysmith, and had an extremely happy welcome. Within the Town Hall, whose fine tower his "Lons Tom, en Bulwana, had knocked corners off- - said tower remains in its shattered but eloquent condition—the General compared his reception that day with that he had eleven years ago. "Then," he said, "you greeted mc with a had of lead." But the General and his men •rave about as much as they received, and, though they'wasted an incredible amount of shot and shell, occasionally damage was done and valuable lives were lost.

For some weeks after the siege commenced, the Boers had "Long Toms" —long-range Creusot guns—on Surprise Hill, north-west of the town, on Popworth's Hill: due north, on Gun Hill (or Lombard's Kop), north-east, and on Bulwana (or 'Mbulwana), due east. Wo, who were besieged, loved not tho "Long Toms." They carried far, and their shells were large and dangerous —when they exploded, which they did not fllwavs do. In addition to the Creu • sots, Botha had a large number or smaller guns, some of them old .wd wheezy. The latter variety we soon came-to know by the remarkable sounds they made when fired. There was. lor instance. "Silent Sue." which was used for sending a shot at any patrol party that approached her position at the base of Bulwana; then, "Big Ben. which exploded with a tremendous hang. but', harmed nobody; .likewise "Weary "Willie" and "Tired Jim, which after every shot seemed to heave a deep, complaining ,sigh. Many jokes wero made at the expense of the small guns, and the big ones an well. •ne gunner on Bulwana had great difficulty in laying his big cannon. No sooner did its long, black nozzle appear from its "dug-out" on the top of the hih, than our ever-watchful Powerful men —one ot whoso guns was always laid on this "Long Tom"—fired a 4.7 gun. 1 he Bulwana gunner had just time to fire in the direction of the town, and rush his gun hack into the "dug-out, when the 4.7 shell reached tho earthworks. Conditions such as these were not favourable to high-class marksmanship, and well for Ladysmith they were not.

The Bulwana gun was the only one of the four that remained active until that memorable afternoon when Lord Dundonald rode into the beleaguered town. A shell from our forts smashed the muzzle of the gun on Pepworth's, that on Gun Hill was captured and destroyed by our men in a night raid, and the fourth, on Surprise Hill, narrowly escaped the same fate. There was a night raid made on it. too, but it was removed to a place of safety— safety for itself and safety for Ladysmith—at tho last moment: But no attempt was made to capture the ordnance on Bulwana. Concerning the bad firing from that hill, I find among my records of the sieg" ' extracts from a newspaper—"The Ladysmith Lyre"— which was conducted for a time b_

several Londoa war conespondents Hero are a few items from the ''Lyre*: Xov. 21st—"Hear good authority that jrunner of Bulwana 'Long Tom' is Dreyfus." Nov. 21st—"Hear good

authority that gunner of 'Long Tom' is ;i Russian."' Nov 24th—"Gunner of Buiwana 'Long Tom' believed to be Esquimaux." Here are other facetious paragraphs from the "Lyre": "Yesterday Boers broke Sabbath, firing at our bathing parties. Believe they so infuriated by sight of people washin.fr, that quite forgot it was Sunday.' "This morning Boers opened fire at breakfast time from 47 new 'Long Toms.' Oh, Lord!" General Botha, as far as I can recall, lad no direct communications with Sir George White, our commanding officer —the "Lion of Ladysmith." But General Joubert had, apparently, no compunction to seek assistance from the besieged General. It was curreut talk that he, on one occasion, sent two Boers into town, carrying a white flag, to ask the loan of Epsom salts, insect powder and whisky ! The kind-hearted General sent out the salts and powder, but declined to go the length of whisky, hroin the "Natal Mercury" of January -<th, 1900 ( j cull the f o ii oV ,. ing ._ The humorous aspect of the war—on the Dutch side—continues. Tho result of sundry little enquiries made since the New Year—to bring the story up to date—is that the Boers are seen to he as anxious to borrow as before. I believe they sent over to Intomhi Spruit camp tho other day, and asked ior the loan of whisky. * Though it was flic festive season of the year, tho request could not be granted. The messengers then asked if our doctors would have any objections to receiving into hospital, and nursing, 35 of the Boer sick and wounded, as they (the Loers) grudged the men and medicine required to "run" an hospital. All their men, they explained, were wanted to fight at Colenso." One more extract from the (unveracious) "Lyre" : "Yesterday it was reported tbat'Sarel Eloff, Kruger's warrior grandson, had been killed by Saturday's Royal salute. This morning Joubert sent in to Sir George White to borrow a tall hat for Eloff's funeral."

Ladysmith had its laureate in the person of Mr J. S. Dunn, of the Central News. A few verses from ono of his siege poems will reflect a little of life in the besieged town: —

When Buller wheels round Lombard's kop; When Piot Joubert has tlono a hop; We'll sing, if only over "dop," "For this relief much thanks." Of rations short we've hnd enough; Of milk condensed quite "quantum miff." Of biscuit hard, and "bully" tough—

"For this relief much thanks." "Long Tom be hanged I" we bravely cry; But when his shells go whizzing by— And miss—then we gently sigh— "For this relief much thanks." Dear Ladysmith! sweet, pretty thing, Sweet memories you'll ever bring, But please excuse us while we sing— "For thia relief much thanka."

Mr "Dunn's cheerful lay, I observe, was published in Pietermaritzburg— carried out by a native runner who had managed to get through the Boer lines—at the end of January. i.or several weeks before we could chant, "For this relief, etc.," we had no reason to grumble because of an excess of condensed milk, or of any other variety of milk, for that matter. Provisions during, tho last month of tho siege became scarce. Everyone within tho town and all the civilians at the neutral camp were fed by the military. It is not' correct, however, to say that horseflesh was the only form of butcher meat supplied. I think tho smallest quantity of beef ever in my daily rations was half a pound, and that was only on a few occasions. But, in addition to the beef provided by the military, everyone had given him, or offered him, a goodly chunk of horseflesh. My despatch-rider went every morning for my provisions, and, usually, returned with several pounds of the dark brown, unattractive flesh in his basset. I had horseflesh twice, I ..-think, and did not care for it. We received three or four army biscuits, a small quantity of tea, salt, and a large quantity of pepper (!) in addition daily, or at short intervals. " They were 'siege rations, but by no means starvation rations. \nd there were means of supplementing them. The "Natal Witness' of January 26th, now before mo, records in its "News from Ladysmith" that at an auction sale within the town on January 16th, eggs were, sold at IBs bd and 19s 6d per dozen, jam 6s 6d per pound, Capstan navy tobacco 30s per Jib tin, and condensed milk 10s per tin. Prices went higher, I fancy, until the first week of February, by which time all outside supplies were exhausted. Whisky was sold at £o and £6 a bottle; three bottles of Car>e brandy brought £12 10s. General Botha had, for long, been keeping General Buller at bay at Colenso and beyond the Tugela; but early in February the besieged were gladdened by the roar of the British guns. Buller was fighting hard, and tho Boers were sore pressed. May 1 conclude, touching tho. relief, by quoting portion of a message despatched by mc, by native runner, who unknown to in a Boers wormed his way through their lines? It was part of the last cable sent by mo from the beleaguered town: "On Monday morning (February sth).. soon after daybreak, the sounds ot n heavy cannonading were heard from the south and east. By six o'clockoperations began about 4.30 —the rolling noise was incessant and sufficiently powerful to, .at times, shake the windows of houses in Ladysmith. General Buller, we knew, was again attempting to pierce the Boer lines. Hours beforp daybreak the big gun on Bulwana fired wiidly into the town. In the stillness of the morning the explosions, as tho bombs struck, created a portentous uproar. Two searchlights from the Boer position played on the town and camps, lighting them up with the clearness of day. "80-day the town and district are steeped in a profound silence —neither gun nor rifle is heard." The native runners to whom I have nliuded performed excellent services. My "boy"—who received £15 for each trip—on every occasion eluded tho Boers, but he was "captured" on his return by the British outposts. He went and came with the sanction of the authorities, but I asked him to try to avoid our soldiers, so that he might reach the town and hotel unseen, and not be subjected to the usual k- rching process. In that process, cigarettes, tobacco, and other little things he had bought in the well-supplied camps at Colenso always disappeared. But the vigilance of our Tommies was too great for Joshua, wily though he was. A friend's "boy" was captured by Botha's men within their lines and expected to be "shot dood (dead) on the soot," as ho phrased it. Tney took "his despatches from him, saying they wanted news of the town, and sent him hack to Ladysmith bearing a j letter to Sir George White. That i communication politely informed the j General that the Boors ""would be in [Ladysmith on Sunday "in .time for j church." Brother Boer liked to have his joke at times.