THE BOER WAR.

Otago Witness, Issue 2409, 3 May 1900, Page 14

THE BOER WAR.

THE SIEGE -OF KIMBEELEY.

LETTER FROIsL A YOUNG WOJIAN. (Feom Otra Own Coebespondent.)

"WELLINGTON, April-21. - A j'oung Englishwoman writing to a friend in "Wellington, gives some interesting -particulars about the siege of Kimberley. She writes : — ' ' On the 14-th telegraphic communication waa cut off, and on Sunday, the 15th, ) the line was taken up. We were down at I the camp 'seeing Walter when the .De Beers' big whistles all went off at' the same time. ! The red flagi raii up .for danger, and it ( was never taken -down till last week. The Boers had wrecked the line and destroyed part of the waterworks., "We were in an awful state. No one seemed to know what was going on, and all sorts of yarns were going about. In the afternoon martial law was proclaimed. I Even now you cannot 'be out without a sol- ! diar being after you , with -fixed bayonet to know where you are' going. Soon after we were rationed — lOoz of bread,, -^oz of sugar, 1 los .of tea, ,loz of coffee, 12oz of meat daily , , (nearly -always horseflesh, as our, cattle had" •been'raided). It was ver#f harci,, sometimes, coming to your meals -to find 1 bread 'and York.shirs relish >an,d black -cofEeej and even,'scme•iimes, we found -it, hard ,'to make the nations j last. r For a'- time .we were, ablsjto, buy tinned."' .goods,- 'but -tlie military- soon conkmqjadesrsd j .everything./ I was the only one -of >'us whoj ■did eat horse." " One -day -I took -some'- of -the i .soup. It was nice, T confess, but it made me sick. ~ It" was a blessing we had 'such a mamas Colonel 'Kekewich. „H e regulated and fixed' a reasonable price for the necessaries of life. As for the luxuries, you had to pay high — Is ■ for an egg, B' l for an onion, potatoes 4s 6d a pound, 21s £-;■ a 'fowl, and ,7s 6d for a bottle of beer. Things were fair enough till they started shelling. I'd live gladly on bread and water for weeks and months rather than hear those horrid things whizzing overhead. The Boers shelled at one time "from seven different points with 9-pounders and 25- ! pounder 3. They did not do much damage, i but ■still, you never knew -when .the beastly i | thing was coming. One poor woman who j lives opposite -to us ran into the house Kto escape a shell. It came through the roof, burst inside, killed one of the children, took the legs off another, and an arm and a leg off herself. Some escapes were simply marvellous. Nearly every ' house had ,a. shell- I proof' dug-out some feet underground, - and covered with sandbags and stones. On Wednesday, February 7, things began to be dreadful. They began sending 100-pounders > into the town. •As they fell they shook the earth all around. It was a dreadful sight to see brave men pale with fear, and,' what is awful, one seems paralysed and un-j! able to move -or do anything but stand stock j still. .The Boers shelled off and on during i that /day, and on \ Thursday, Friday,, and Saturday. On Saturday. Sir Labran," j engineer and maker of, 'Long ' Cecil' (our gun), was -killed.' The. shelling at night- was 1 -something fearful. I'd rather suffer death , than go .through such nights -.again.,- ,Afte£ -12 o'clock -on Sunday, the 11th, peci] Itho-des gave orders »to everyone' to get down -into\{ .the mines; and.it was.a, sight to-sec theifcerror-.j stricken people hurrying with pillows and J ;rugs to the rock shaft. We stayed there in"' pa'fety till dear C4eneral French came 'to our J relief. lam proud now to have 'been' in the j 1 siege, .but hope never to be in , another. ' Whilst we, .were in tlie mines Cacil Rhodes, j dear man, provided food for us all. We I have had more , excitement, certainly, in the i last .six months than in 'the seven years Aye I have been in South Africa."