NEWS OF THE WAR.

Evening Post, Volume LX, Issue 116, 13 November 1900, Page 6

NEWS OF THE WAR.

CAPTURED OJST SPIONKOP. Somo of ihe Imperial Light Infantry captured by the Boers at fapionkop, have returned to their regiment alter an absence of nearly seven months, a little over four of v/laich was spent in' captivity as prisoners of war. Some of them, on. being interviewed by a correspondent of a- jNatal paper, gave tho following details of tho manner of their departure : — ' "When avo reached the liiing lino on the top of the hill we toolc up a, position on the left, of our oAvn accord. Here we remained tiring for about an hour a-nd a half, • till word was passed along to reinforce the right. \Ve then went down as far as the field collecting station, where seven of us found a &mall trench, with all it&i previous occupants, 20 iii number, hors dc combat. They were lying wero they hud fallen. I noticed one, a Lancashire Fu&ilier, with his head blown clean off, Tho Avonnded were all crying out — some for water, some "for the ambulance, and ono begged us to shoot him or give him a bayonet with which to end his misery. We could s«e nothing of the enemy, though shot and shell were being poured upon us from 'right, left, and centre.' The trench was almost totally destroyed by the shells, and was only a poor shelter. We fired away blindly in front of us for about an hour ; then some one called out — 'Get ready i'or a bayonet charge.' We fixed bayonets, but no further order arrived, and half an hour later wo unfixed and looked about for better shelter. We started at a run towards our right for about 100 yds, taking shelter for a moment behind every stone we passed, till we reached another trench. Here we started firing as Defore, but the enemy's fire soon became so hot that we found it unsafe to show ourselves for even a moment. Corporal Chapell, the only non-com, with us, while attempting to return the fire, had the rifle blown out of his hand by a shell. A small splinter struck him in the eye, but beyond a severe shocic he Avas uninjured. '.'Three-quarters of an hour after this occurrence, Avhile Aye were all lying flat to take shelter from a hot fusiliad'u, avo heard some one call out, ' iTou're all right now ; put doAvn your rifles and stand up.' We obeyed the word of command, and, to our surprise, found ourselves surrounded, by 20 of tho enemy, all Avith rifles levelled at vs 1 . We left our arms, in the trench, aid walked toAvard-j our captors. We asked them for wnler, and they gave us some, remarking, 'We thought there were more of you, or Aye would have rushed you.' The men to whom avo surrendered were a mixed lot, typical Boers dressed in tweed, armed with Mausers and home-made canvas bandoliers. Some wore, as many as three bandoliers. Their ages ranged from 16 to 60. When Aye had quenched our thirst, they told us to get doAvn tn© hill quickly. It Avas very rocky, and Aye could not see much of the enemy^ but could hear shells and bullets Avhistling over us. Nothing Avas said on the way down, but when we got to a pool of dirty water at the bottom they halted, and asked, 'What regiment do you belong to? Are you colanialsV One of us replied, 'We belong to the 1.L.1., a volunteer corps.' An old Boer then said, 'If I had my way avo would not take you prisoners, but shoot you. I could understand the regulars fighting, because they had to, but you came to the Transvaal and made a lot of money, and now want to take the country from us.' .>e saw four Avound-, ed British and about a dozen dead Boers lying near the pool, and a lofc more Avero coming doAvn,, slung on horses or in ambulances. Several Araggonloads of Avounded were being taken aAvay in a different direction. "After a short rest at the pool, Aye were marched oft", under the shelter of the hill, in a northerly direction for about two miles, to a laager, Avhere the greater part of the Boer horses Avere kept ready saddled and tied up. ' Hero all the prisoners takon during tho day, 170 in all, mostly Lancashire Fusiliers, AA r ere collected. A short Avhile after our arrival at this laager, one oi the prisoners, a Lancashire Fusilier, Avas shot through the neck by a stray bullet from our men, and died almost immediately. We were then marched to a stone farmhouse flying a Red Cross flag, four mnes farther from the scene of action. We remained about an hour, and then the Avhole party, commanded by Lieutenant Schroeder, started _on a night march, crossing Harri«mith railway, and passing Avithin a few miles of Ladysmith, whose searchlight Aye could see along the kopjes. We halted about 4 a.m., and rested till after breakfast, and then again marched, till tho afternoon, when Aye arrived at Modderspruit station. A lot of the Irish Brigade here chaffed us about the British being beaten, till they'Avere stopped by .Lieutenant Schroeder. We entrained in trucks at this station and Avere taken to Pretoria. We were Avell enough treated on the Aray, getting plenty of food at the various stations, particularly at Heidelberg. We saw commando* all alonjr tho

line of communication quartered in marquees."