LETTER FROM TROOPER W. JOHNSTON.
Trooper Walter Johnston writes to a member of the staff of the Free Press, Balclutha, from Slingersfontein, under date January 23: —
"We had a bit of a flutter here the other day. The Boers tried to tpke a kopje on which were about 30 Yorks, and about 50 of our fellows, all the Clutha men were in it, and we charged them with the bayonet, but they did not wait for it, they turned and ran all they knew down tho hill. There were between 200 and 300 or them; they lost 31 killed and over SO wounded. "Wo lost two of our men and five "Xorks, while six of the Yorks were wounded. The firing was something terrific for about an hour and a-half before the charge was made. The ir>fcrnal wretches were using dum-chims, explosives, and all sorts of bullets. Fred Wilson shot three with siiccessive shots. The Boers are not the great shots they are ciacked up to bo, but by thunder they do pepper them m fll right. There are about 10,000 men here, made up of six cavalry legiments and four infantry. The Royal Irish are here, and it is great fun to hear them going it; they will shoot st a shadow, and last night one of them shot one of his mates through the ear.
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Bibliographic details
Otago Witness, Issue 2402, 15 March 1900, Page 11
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227LETTER FROM TROOPER W. JOHNSTON. Otago Witness, Issue 2402, 15 March 1900, Page 11
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