DE WET'S SWOOPS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11809, 11 August 1900, Page 2

DE WET'S SWOOPS.

BURNING THE MAILS.

" Banjo " (Mr J. B. Paterson), in one of his interesting letters to the Sydney Morning Herald, writes:—Colonel Williams, of Sydney, is the principal medical officer of lan Hamilton's division—one of the largest .medical commands in the army—and it was while travelling with him that I heard nil about Christian de Wet and his doings, and learnt the reason of our hurried march to the southeast after their Boer hero. Just' north of Kroonstad is a station called Eoodeval, held by about 100 men as a station guard. Suddenly one day out of the boundless veldt appeared De Wet, -with about 1200 men, and advanced on the station. He acted in a courteous way towards the force at the station.' He sent them word that unless they surrendered he would blow them off the face of the earth. The officer in charge told him to shoot and do his worst, so thnt in a very short time there was a severe fight raging at Roodeval. ' This was where Mills.[Sergeant Mills, N.S. Wales] came in. Ho had been to Bloemfontein for. supplies—new clothes and boots —and was at Roodeval on his way up when De Wet attacked the place. He describes the fight as bitter in the extreme. The small garrison took cover in the station buildings, and shot away manfully, but De Wet had several of the U Battery guns that he captured at Sannah's Post, and ho used these with excellent effect, bursting shrapnel ■with, the greatest accuracy. After a few hours' fight the English.had lost eight killed^ and 20 wounded, so at last they decided to surrender. They hoisted a white sheet on a pole, and De Wet marched in and took possession. He captured a couple of trainJoads of supplies, enough lyddite to blow up every town in Australia, and any quantity of 12-pounder ammunition. Having secured this lot he moved along the line a, little way, and came on 1200 Derbyshire Militia, who were occupying a nice exposed position in the jnidde of the open plain, with a chain of lcppjes all round. De Wet occupied the Icopjes in the night, and as soon as morning dawned he started to shoot t.h« Derbyshire Militia at his leisure. He killed the colonel and several officers and men, and the rest surrendered in a body. Thus, with 1200 men, he captured 1200 and a couple of guns, including a Maxim that had never been firedw De Wet remained on the line three days, unloading the trucks, oarthig away the supplies,- aiid blowing tip the lyddite, which v/aa no Use 10. him, as he had no guns suitable for it. Mills was a prisoner in his hands all this time, but, being a traitied ambulance man, he was employed to dress the wounded, and his time was fully occupied. He says that when the lyddite was exploded, • a truck load at a time-, lie was dressing wounded two miles off, and as each truck load went off it shook the earth where he was working, and blew a huge hole in the railway line. He worked away at his task, and when the wounded were all dressed, De Wet, who treated, him well all through, told him he could go, as he had no wish to detain ambulance men. Wn.Vt' BECAME Of THE MAILS. This De Wet is the same mart who allowed our ambulance io search for wounded in his lines at Thabanchu. Among the goods he captured were about six weeks' accumulation of letters for the armj, about 2000 large bags full, and these he burnt. It must be explained that as the Boers retreated up the line they blew up all the bridges, and these took sometime to rebuild, and ill the meantime all supplies were carted across the gaps. Now, letters are not looked upon as necessaries for the army, so when the mule waggons were bringing on the bully beef and biscuits, they left the letters behind at the end of the rail, and the man in charge had built himself two excellent rooms and a kitchen out of the mail bags, and was supposed to be sleeping on the registered letters. As the bridges were 'repaired the mails were pushed on from, river to river, and it ao happened that

they were at Roodeval when De Wet intercepted them. Correspondents in Australia will, therefore, please understand that most of their epistles were annexed by Christian Do Wot. He didn't read the letters—didn't even search them without distinction. The parcels he opened, and Mills says that ho got at least three gold watches out of the loot, photographs innumerable, and all kinds of clothing and stores. By an extraordinary accident Mills happened to see a lot of Australian letters burning, and rescued a few for Colonel Williams. He asked De Wet not to burn the Australian letters, urging that tney could not contain army news, but De Wet briefly replied, '*' The mails must bum." Just as the Boers looked like staying on the line for good, Kitchener appeared on the' scene with a large force and attacked De Wet, and chased him, but even then the Boers did not lose a man, not a gun, but retreated in good order, covering their retreat with" shell fire, and actually detaching parties to blow up the line north and south of Roodeval as thoy retired. Mills joined thf. re.;cuinf; party, and gradually made is way up here, where he told of his adventures. We were on the way down to try to take De Wet, so this news made us expect some fighting when we got near him. Hamilton's column wound its way along over the veldt about ecven thousand strong, and awny in the front were the New South- Wales Mounted Rifles, with. Knight and Antill in charge. Approaching Heidel-' berg a few Boers were seen on a big hill north of the town, and they fired on our patrol, so Hamilton vmt two "cow" guns into action, and knocked some cliffs and a few acres of ground off the kopje at eac'i discharge. This was at nightfall, and. at dawn next day the New South Wales Rifles patrol advanced on the town, and found that the Boers had »led in the night—the " cow " guns were too much for their weak nerves.