NOTES BY A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXXIII, Issue 275, 6 December 1899, Page 3

NOTES BY A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.

THE BATTLE OF ELANDSLAAGTE, A JUULLIANT CHAUGE. DOER INGRATITUDE AND TKEACUEKY. TIIE ENEMY SCKEAMING b'OE MERCY. SUFFERINGS OF TUE WOUNDED. GOEDON HIGHLANDERS SWEAR VENGEANCE. MELBOURNE, Deo. i. The special corrcspondout of the " Arga*,V referring to the battle of Elandai laigte, say 3 that the last charge of Lancers through tbe demoralised iioor ranks was made in actual darkness, and one Column of the enemy mistook the British cavalry for their own men, end allowed the Luucera to geo within 10 yards before they were aware ot iho danger. The cirrespondent relates one instance where a spared Boer was reaching for his rille and a Lancer returned and v n him h rough. Many of the Boers screamed ior mercy. Some of the Gordon Highlander, who f II early in the charge, were overlooked aod left on the Hold. All night the poor fellows lay along the rocky ridge with the lain beating npon them. Tbe Boer and British Red Cross sections worked side by side by the wounded. bu( the enemy got indifferent treatment owing to there being so few surgeons of their own nationality. The dead lay on the battlefield from Saturday to Monday. Many British dead, lay in 8t ange altitude, -ell gruesomeiy flat aud shrunken, amongst the rooks near the ere.it of the hilt close I to the Boer position. The Gordons crossed tbeir bayonets. and swore to take a heavy toll in revenge ' for their big Major Deine, who only lately rejoined them from India. A ieature ef the battle was the number of men in prominent official circles iv the Tranevail whe were killed or captured.