HERO OF DARGAI RETIRES.

Manawatu Times, Volume LXIV, Issue 162, 16 July 1907, Page 3

HERO OF DARGAI RETIRES.

Colonel Mathias, the famous leader . of the assault by the Gordon High- m landers on the heights of Dargai in . the autumn of 189?, retired from the army tinder the age regulation in " May, It was a critical moment in a fight ■with the Afridia when Colonel Mathias said to his men: "Highlanders, the the position mTist be t costs. The Gordons will im^m o. " And they did. The regiment, to use the words of Sir William Lockharr's official despatch, aashed through a murderous fire, and in forty miuutes had wou the heiphts, leaving three offi c / r jf and thirty men killed or wounded on the way. Among the wounded was Piper Findlater, who, shot in both ankles, propped himself up against a boulder and piped "The Cock o' the North until the Gordons had won the heights, and he had won the Victoria Cross. , , Sir William Lockhart recommended Colonel Mathias for the Victoria Cross, but he never got it. • A good story is told of the steep climb which the charge entailed. "Stiff climb, eh, Mackie?" said Colonel Mathias, who was breath- I less, to the colour-sergeant by his side. "I'm not so young as I was, you know.'' , "NeVer mind, sir," the sergeant repiled; "ye're gaun verra strong for anauld mon."