THE MAGERSFONTEIN DISASTER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2399, 22 February 1900, Page 8

THE MAGERSFONTEIN DISASTER.

! Mail advices from London, dated January ' 10, «ty that some of the most brilliant work j in the way of descriptive writing ever done by British correspondents has been appear- ! ing in the British papers during the last few | days. Bennett Burleigh's account of the j battle of Oo\enso is not a bit finer than the account of Magersfontein by the correspon- ] dent of the Daily News. Referring to the 1 terrible loss suffered by the Highland Brigade | the correspondent writes thus: — "During the ' night it was considered expedient that the I Highland Brigade, about 1-000 strong, under 1 Cieneral Wauchope, should get close enough to the lines of the foe to make it possible_to i charge the heights. At midnight General ! AYauchope moved cautiously toward the , kopje where the Boors were most strongly ■ entrenched. They wore led by a guido sup- ' posed to know every inch of the country. ' Out into the country in the darkness of an African night the men moved on in absolute ' silence till 3 a.m., when a rifle shot rang out. I A soldier had tripped on hidden wires laid • down by the enemy. In an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, the searchlight of the , Boers fell broad and clear as the noonday sun ! on the ranks of the doomed Highlanders, ; though 'lea-ting the enemy concealed in the ; shadow of the hills. For one second the men | were paralysed, knowing they were huddled • together like sheep within 50 yards of the trenches of the enemy. Then clear above the confusion rolled the voice of the general, | ' Steady, men ; steady ' ; and then like an echo I -came the crash of nearly a thousand ritles i not 50 paces away. The best and bravest fell I in that wild hail. General Wauchope was : down, riddled with bullets, yet, gasping, | dying, bleeding from every vein, the High- | land chieftain raised himself on his hands and knees and cheered his men forward. Men and officers fell in neaps together. The Black Watch charged, and the Gordons and Seaforths. with a yell that stirred the British psmp below. The wires caught them around the legs till they floundered like trapped , wolves, and all the rifles eang the song of death in their ears. Then they fell back. | broken and bleeding, leaving nearly 1300 1 dead and wounded or- the field. All that mor- ! tal men could do the Scots did. They tried, | they failed, they fell. All that fateful day I our men lay close to the Boer line under a ! blazing sun, the shots of friends and foes ■ washing over their heads without ceasing." i This correspondent feels that' the rest of the day's fighting was British gloryJulian Pvalph write 3 bluntly in the London Mail: — "The Highlanders turned and ran, ! literally colliding and climbing over each j oClipt in confusion. A chaplain in the front j rank was knocked down and trampled _ on. Brave men as any yet declared there lived no man who woiild have behaved differently. It was as if the earth opened, and from the cleft, and, as far as our men reached, fire belched and swept the veldt." Says The Times correspondent of the same occurrence: — "Back they came in a wave. No officer coxild stop them. From a point of vantage near the Horse Artillery one could see them swarming like beee over veldt till almost out of range, and the guns were left in the field with no one to support them. It was perhaps the most unpleasant sight the British soldier of to-day has ever seen. It certain^ was one never to be forgotten. It was difficult to say what would happen next, till Maior Ewart, Brizadier-general of the. Highlanders, rode up with an order from the commanding officer, which was almost an entreaty to the effect that all he asked wae that the men should hold the position till dark. So riddled* and shattered was the brigade. General Ewart had no officer to assist j in giving the. order, and was glad of the assistance of Colonel Downey, there not as a soldier, but a? a civilian surveying the battle ! from the hor<se artillery hill. It has been freely charged that General Metbucn was crazy when he ordered General Wauchope : forward."