1000 ARMY HORSES STAMPEDE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 12698, 29 October 1904, Page 2 (Supplement)

1000 ARMY HORSES STAMPEDE.

,; " Wild scenes. MANY ANIMALS killed and s INJURED. One otoVsand stampeding horses burst upon Sir John; French's sleeping cavalry camp near Southampton on September 5, and, galloping wildly through the tents in which the soldiers were asleep, smashed up the entire camp, and then fled till over the country. The result to the animals was most disastrous. Many, were killed; more than half the remainder seriously injured themselves. Several lioldiers who were trampled upon sustained severe injuries, which'in the case of one man at least (a trooper of the Bth Hussars) may. prove fatal The stampede had the consequence of rendering two hussar regiments unfit for service in the Essex manoeuvres, and they were sent back to Aldershot, from which they had march-eft out on September 1. , This is the brief outline of a sensation, replete with most alarming incidents, which developed out of a comparatively trivial circumstance^ shooting of a wounded troop horse." > V r The force to which this sudden and unforeseen disaster happened was the Red column of cavalry, mounted infantry, Royal Horse Artillery, and linesmen, under command of Duff, C.8., of the Bth Hussars. It comprised the Bth Hussars, 14tb Hussars, the Y Battery R.H.A., two companies Of mounted infantry, and the Ist Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. It had marched across country from Longmoor to Ropley on September 2, camped the same night at Avington Park, and the following day continued its march. - The cavalry and artillery sections of the •drami pitched their camp on Baddesley Common, intending to reach the port of Southampton, whei» the whole of General French's expeditionary army embarks for •Essiux.' ■ ■■ Special care had bean taken ,in pegging the horses for the night owing to the ground being soft from the heavy rain, and because in previous manoeuvres some of the troop horses pulled out their pegs and stampeded. The occurrence was accordingly not due,to want of special precautions against a most daaeerous form of panic, which, it may be recalled, was a favourite Boar device against British camps in the South African war. i The cause oi' the stampede was explained by a staff officer at Aldershot. "Ahorse of the Bth Hussars, while plunging about in the horse lines, broke its leg, and si veterinary surgeon decided : to shoot the animal wherd it stood. , It was; them, two a,m.; and ia the stillness of the morning the flash aitA report so terrified the surrounding horses that with a great plunge manv shook themselves free. With loud sfeighing3 v these • broke among the outer animals all of them escaped; and in a few minutes 601) troop ihorses, released from any restraint "and blind! with terror, were dash-

ing at full speed through, the sleeping camp. Tents .in whk& the hussars were lying ■were trampled to the ground. '-.;-. ' Suddenly awakejaed men, who scrambled beneath the canvas, lay full length on the ground to avoid the horde that reced pest them. i The maddened horses swept on to the lines <# the 14th Hussars and R.H.A;, whose animals , also caught the panic, and joined the stampede. v .

1000 3JD&SES AT IJUIGE. " - On© thousand horses were loose. Hardly a cavalry iiorse was left at its post. The .artilleryv whose horses were better secured, as they were attached to the . guns and limbers, lost only a proportion -of their '.:animals. ~ ;..-,;■ .y'~^i.'-i \ ' The horses, as they rushed from the"camp «v«r the common, broke into droves of fifties and hundreds and scattered in all directions. 1 The iron-shod picket pegs, whirling in the air at the end of the trailing ropes which ; they' dragged after them; struck the horses 1 every * few jninntes, goading them onwards ■ at full spent and inflicting upon them serious wounds. .',.■ '.';'"•' : ; V :, -; :, ■ ■.'-'•■;•■'' '■'■ One squadron of 200 horses galloped through the main, streets of Winchester soon after, a.m., with ,-. mad clatter loud enough to rouse all the sleeping .inhabitants. They had covered 14 miles of country on then way borne again to Aldershot. , , Another drove of a hundred made southwards, and, reaching the Southampton* camp, where the infantry of Colonel Duff's column was lying, raced through the lines o!: sleeping infantry. The wild incursion roused the camp, and many men tinned ojit. The horses dashed onwards, having cleared the camp lines with-out-doing any serious injury. : , ; ■.■ -i They entered Southampton by various routes at ftfJ gallop, the ring.of their hoofs on this" hard roadway resounding like it number : of anvils in the sourness of the night. The whole city was awikened by the unusual clatter, and wonde* rf as to the cause. : Several of the animals were severely injured fey rushing (against the electric tramway atandlards, and lay where they fell maimed and exhausted. Part of the Southampton. : ':.i tramway route is under repair, and a few horses in their reckless rush came to. grief In the trenches, scattering or smashing the guiding lanterns. ■ Like. the. charge of. a cavalry regiment another squadron galloped down the High- :■% street, and, reaching the ancient Bargate, \ smashed themselves against the masonry in their frantic efforts to force a way through

the narrow passage. At Baddebley Common the camp was aroused as quickly as possible. Examination then showed that only three out of 500 Bth Hussar horaf-s—among which the panic originated—remained at their pegs._ Search parties ; w«s*e sent out, and remained out all the Horning. . Along.the roadside horses were found dead or dying. By nine a.m. twenty had been reported dead. Up to noon only half the missing animals bad been recovered. At a late .hour at the afternoon there were still 100 unrecovered. Of those brought back nearly one-half were injured, more or less seriously. ' ' , At Stockbridge a troop of twelve was captured. Others were found on farms within a circle of ■: twenty miles some at vWpclmer Forest, Lyndhurst, and Eastleigh. Captured animals were coming back all day in. charge Soldiers or civilians, V*- Oil* detachment of the 14fcb Hussars had 'on' liMohing camp 284 horses now at has 111 injured and 70 missing. • Tltei camp had a most curious appearance/ which highly amused the thousands of people who crowded from Southampton. But the result was good for the recruiting sergeants, who keenly fo'Jowed in their wake and made big catches, *. ; y '■