THE FIGHTING NEAR LINDLEY. AN EXTRAORDINARY AFFAIR.

Otago Witness, Issue 2425, 5 September 1900, Page 29

THE FIGHTING NEAR LINDLEY. AN EXTRAORDINARY AFFAIR.

The correspondent of the London Daily Mail, waiting from Kroonstad on July 10, says: —

" A very remarkable affair occurred in tho recent march on Bethlehem, wherein, on July 4-, shortly after leaving Luidley, a four-gun section of the 38th Field Battery lost all its officers and 17 out of the SO men of the section. The section was part of the detached force moving north on General Pa^et's left, while General Clements was three miles away on the south bank of the Valsch River. The two brigades left Lindley in parallel columns, on July 3, and on the afternoon of the same day drove the Boers from "a strong position, sustaining themselves no serious casualties. Next morning, in the vicinity of Leeuwkop, &ix Boer guns opened fire from scattered por-i-tiens taken up at night, the range being ?600 yards. Two gun? of the 38th Field Battery, under Captain Fitzgerald, engaged tho Boer guns on the right, there being mealie fields between them and the enemy. The remaining; two guns, under Lieutenant Bolcher, came into action at a hundred yards to the left beyond a bit of risino" ground. Two C I.V. aims were in action still further on the loft against the other Boer guns. The guns of the- 38th had kept up a brisk fire for an hour and a-half, when Major Oldfield, R.F.A.. not wishing to waste ammunition, ordered the detachments to lie down clear or the guns, but to show themselves occasionally in order to draw the enemy's fire. TJp to this point there were no casualties. Tlie escort of 150 r.ian of the Imperial Yeomanry vra-. on the right flank of the "entire force. After twenty minutes' rest, Captain Fitzgerald went ovpi" to order Lieutenant Belcher to recommence firing, but found him under a rifle fire which had just begun, and was rapidly inr-reasiug. The fire came from close on o'uv right flank, and no reply was being made to it. apnnrentlv bocaiise the enemy were invisible. Captain Fitzgerald saw the guns could not be served, rmd ordered the horses to be brought up while he ran back to limber ut> his own auns. Immediately afterward,-- both Major Oldfield and Lieutenant "Belcher were killed, the latter by a shrapnel hullo t. Captain Fitzgerald, however, got one gun away, but as the second team came ur> the head driver was shot in attempting io limber up; while five hor,,es and another driver tell one after another under ihe now very heavy fire. Captnin Fitz&erold, while +vyin<r to set the wounded ]ior«c> clear, was himself shot in the left wrisl . By this tune all the horses and two of the drivers were down, so he told tho men to take cover, and tried to mount his own pony lo go for assistance. The pony was shot immediately., and a moment afterwards a Boer in Id 1 aid,' wearing o helmet, fired .from 15 yards, and dropped 'Captain Fitzgerald with a Mauser bullet in the thigh. The enemy rushed in from all sides and started to pull the gnn down the plppe, when some Australian Burfhmen, ' charging from the rear With superb dash, recaptured tho gun and drove off the Boei-d with severe loss. Captain Budd, of the Hon. Avtillerv Company, then took command of the battery, and all four guns were prot away towards the left, where they took further pav,t -in the action. There is_ much speculation here as to what the escort >vere doing to let the enemy get so close.

It is surmised, however, that they crept u^ through the mealie fields, which will easilihidfl even a number of men. Captain Fitz gerald is now in Lindley Hospital severely wounded, but doing well. "Another remarkable incident, which, I be lievc, has not j-et been reported, look place* on June 26. A picket of 25 Yorkshire Light ■ Infantry were surprised at-Lindloy by a larg<} fores of Boers, nearly all wearing helmets and khaki. The picket refused to surrender, anc\ fought with remarkable doggodness, losing 18 killed and wounded. The remaining seven^ however, held the enemy at bay until thejf were relieved by the oSlh Battery." - CRONJE'S LAST STAND. - . WHAT WAS FOUND IN THE GRAVES. The special reporter of the Natal Mercury, who took a run to Kimberlay, and fronv thence visited the scene of Cronje's last stand' thus describes the operations which he saw going on under the directi6n of a khaki-clad figure : — if 03, the, men I saw weie actually digging up the de.id ! •'What on earth are you doing?" aske,d 1 (as I vainly tried to keep the smell from entering my lungs) of a grcy-shirted man, who ' spade in hand, seemed to be a hideous daydream, after the style of Shakespeare's grave* digger. "Alas, poor Yorick," laughed the man, a"i he took up a Boer's skull ; " this is how they heat their dead, the Boerp. Look belov; here and tell me what you see ! " , 1 looked. Quriosity, blended with fear of „• knew not what, overtook me. I am but a pressman, and find my pens as useful as 50 guns. I have served no sexton apprenticeship, and to look upon the dead was bad enough, without etrainmg my eyes into the bowels of a smelly grave. Beneath a lot of ribs I saw six rifles wrapped in blankets, their buts just protruding, while below them again, I saw part of a box. "What does it mean? What are the rifles doing there? Is that box another coffin? " asked I.

"' Ikona," replied the men, as he took hia hat off, to wipe perspiration from his facQ. I noticed he was a colonial, from distant Australia. " That its the way the Boers treated their dead— see here." He picked up a rifle, marked "H. Pinnear," and gave it to me.' " This I found neai' one body, poor devil. Under this body you sec now I'm going fo' pull out those guns, and a lot of ammunition: Here! Jacob! December! lend a harid here! " And two Kaffirs came up to "assist the sbldier gra-\ e-digger.

First came six rifles, then two boxes — on opening which, Mau&er ammunition was' found. Both boxes full and uninjured. ' I' noticed that they had come via Port Elisabeth, in the first place, consigned to Bloemfontein. The painting on the boxes was. plain, and the three months' burial had done the cartridges no harm. I followed the soldier to another spot. Here some 20 Boars had been dug up, with the result that thousands of rounds of ammunition were discovered — put by. for future use, it is to be presumed; otherwise, why not have tossed them into the river hard by? " '"

But graves did not always contain arsenals. I saw some hundreds of trenches and graves made to disgorge their contents ; and .frequently what appeared to "be a dead man's last home turned cut to be but a clever ruse to conceal pom-pom shells, or artillery ammunition of heavier calibre. In one place 1 was shown a headstone which, marked the hiding place for some dozen rifles, a tin box with clothing in it, and, perhaps, 200 roundsof Martini-Hcnrv ammunition. Again, *I was. shocked to see this keen arm-seeker ruthlessly shove a six-foot bar deep through a grave with a wooden cro»s at its head. I turned away, only to be shouted to and asked to " Come here." I went. ' .' "- • First, out came an oilskin coat, next (three feet from the surface) I- saw a long blanket stretched out on a lot of crossed slicks': while, suspended from the sticks, and carefully wrapped up in oil and thick blankets, -were three new English Lee-Metfords, a saddle under them, and a bundle of photos — some the work of " Hanoox, Kimberley," others marked " Wellington 0.C." The total depth of this grave was 9ft good, hard, solid digging. I counted 200 excavations made by this energetic son of Greater Britain, who, I found later, was helped by fotir others who hailed from Australia.

Along the banks of the Modder River for two miles is a honeycomb of Holes; for two miles are trenches, some 10ft deep, in which Cronje's men took shelter from the fearful fire that the British directed over them. Hera and there lie clusters of oxen, a broken lyddite shell closeby them, which, with a hole in the giound covered with yellow powder, accounted for this animal slaughter. ' A searching and well-directed fusillade of shells it must have been, for even close down by. the river, and out of sight in -apparent safety, I saw signs and tokens of human and animal death. In front of what is actually a eavo lay three cooking pots, a black heap of ashes,, a rifle ramrod discoloured by heat and rust, half hidden by the parlly .burned wtiod — evidently it had done duty as a poker — a leg of a sheep partly- covered still by flesh, and a saddle broken in half. Barely two feet from, the fire the search party had picked up pieces of a, huge shell, while the yellow stains that covered the grass-grown bank, and even to tha very back of the- cave in question demonstrated the far-spreading powers of this modern munition of war — lyddite. A smashed rifle, with stock actually in pieces, lay as » still tell-tale of its owner's fate, as did'a rem-r nant of a green jacket. Human remains had been dug up near by the soldiers, but in this cas,e no arms or ammunition had been found, beneath the bodies. The cunning displayed by the- Boers ia marvellous, and but for the ingenuity o£ Corporal Malcolm, Y.M.R., and' his' comrades- in arms, doubtless shells, guns, andy ammunition would . have remained intacfc till the premeditated "day for their removal. The skill of .the Australians is a-lesson'to our police. To the "ordinary passer-by the ground is even, and differs not from tha veldt generally, but the astute non-com, stops between two filled-up trendies. Ha makes a mark with his spade, and sends foi? Kaffirs. The trenches are emptied, but, though 36 square feet are dug out twice over, no find repays the energy "and industry of the perspiring party. " Turn this tip, boys," says the corporal, turning an inquisi* tive eye on to a blade of grass or two, which, after handling gently, he plucks and throws . Foewaed Policy of the Liebig Compant; — For many years confusion has arisen between the original Liebig Company's Extract and other extracts called ,by Liebig' s .name/The genuine Liebig Company's Extract". bears the blue signature, "J. Y. Liebig,".' but to" make the distinction clearer and to remove all risk of buying imitations it will henceforth bear, an additional - trade mark-composed of Liebig's Extract of Meat -Co.'s initials— "Lemco."

aside. " This bit of ground has been taken up and flattened down afterwards, and the tranches filled in as a blind." To my astonishment, from under this innocent looking ground were recovered a case of pompom shells and an unexploded lyddite shell, a damaged saddle, and a tin ca=e containing papers and old kit. I have read Conan Doyle through, and have met some smart detectives — some colonial, some English,— but Corporal Malcolm. I fancy, can teach them something. The cock-sure way this man dug, when once he ,\vas satisfied that the appearance of the grass was altered, or a twig broken, or a branch of a thorn displaced never so imperceptibly, by means not satisfactory to -him, was laughable. Rarely was he wrong. I asked a Kaffir how many bodies had been found round Cronje's laager, and I learned that more than 200 had been discovered by the English soldiers at work (here. If I remember aright, Cronje did not admit such a heavy lose. Any valuable information from the soldiers was impossible to obtain. It is mainly due to my knowledge of Kaffir and the mystic results of coin of ye realm that I am enabled to give data as fully as I have. Corporal Ma^olm is a delightful fellow, but though he let me look at the trenches and graves, he only " gave away the hideous conduct of the Boers because he had to account for the smells prevalent, and I saw go many things found ; but I could not get a memento of Paardeberg out of him. "Government properly, sir," said he, v.ith a Kitchener-like frown, and that settled it.