THE HUNTER OF DE WET,

Otago Witness, Issue 2456, 10 April 1901, Page 26

THE HUNTER OF DE WET,

Theic arc two General Kno\e<- fighting in South Afuca (says the London Daily E\pies«), and some confusion might occur between the two men One is an artilleiy officer, W. G. Knox, a soldier of many campaign — Abyssinia, Ashanti, Afghanistan, and Zululanc!— who has been employed mostly on the Natal side, and who took part in the defence of Ladysmith.

De Wet's relentless pursuer, Charles Edmond Knox, is a man whose choice for South African command does credit to the authorities as judges of character, for at the outset of the war he had done but little antecedent fighting ; in fact, the whole of his war sen ice was comprised in the bloodless expedition to Bechuanaland under Sir Ch«ir!e* Warren in 1884, but he was honourably mentioned then in despatches for his judicious command of the 4th Pioneers, and recened the bre\et of lieutenant-colonel.

General C. E. Knox was brought up in the old 85th Regiment, which has since been linked w r ith the 53rd, and is now being known by the high-&ounding title of the King's Shropshire Light Infantry Knox rose to command it just 10 years ago, after 25 years' service. Ho was ser\ing as colonel of a regimental district in Bodmin when he was selected at the end of 1899 for brigade command, that of the 13th Brigade, which was one of those that made up the Sixth Division, the first reinforcement under General Kelly-Kenny sent out to South Africa ivnox's brigade consisted of the Buffs, the 2nd Glou-cesters, the West Riding Regiment, and the Ist Oxford Light Infantry.

The Sixth was a stalwart division, commanded by an intrepid, strong-willed soldier, who c o lieutenants, Kncx and Stephenson, were as eager and tireless as their chief, and they have since shown it to the full.

It was Knox's brigade which caught up Cronje's rearguard, and contributed largely to the investment at Paardeberg He was albO at Osfontein, Driefontcin, and Bloemfontein. Since then, however, he lias had little opportunity of distinguishing himself until he was despatch*- d on the tiail of the great raidei

The first intimation that we had of De Wet's intentions to swoop down on Cape Colony was a brief telegram published on November 29. But, as showing the great delay in getting news from the front — a delay somctimeb occasioned by the censor, sometimes by tli3 enemy's, interruption of communications — the Dewetsdorp garrison, as we subsequently learnt, was really captured six days earlier.

On the 26th General Knox joined a force 1400 strong with o view to relieve the garrison, but the effort was a am; Dewetsdorp was evacuated.

Then Knox set himself the task of hunting De Wet down. He caught up the i aider's force at Vaalbank, some c 5 miles south-west of Dewetsdorp, and fought a successful engagement Thio fight was followed up by another with the Boer rearguard on the 27th at Beyersberg, on the Dewetsdorp-Smithfield road.

Knox clung to the Boers with grim determination, so that De Wet had to fight in his flight, and has been fighting ever since. On December 2 the General's mounted troops gave the Boers battle at Goodehoop and Willoughby. It v. as now apparent what the Boer commandant desired : he wanted to reach Odental Drift, and so get into Cape Colony at this point

They say that De Wet is never so happy as when he is fighting and i aiding. Well, General Knox appears to have made up his mind to give him his fill. And so on December 5 there was a sharp fight on the Bethulie-Smithfield road, which resulted in. the Boors being driven from all their positions.

Tho chase went on. On December 7 we learnt that De Wet was casl-nortli-eayt from near Odendal Drift, with the tireless Knox close at his heel=, and two days later came the news ti.at the raider, realising that the British general w as not tn be shaken off, and that lfc was not possible to get into Cape Colony, trekked to the ncnth-east.

The story of General Knox's great march, in torrential rain — how his troops had to sleep in the open, exposed to the wild weather, how they were got across thei swollen Karreepoort Drift without the loss of a single man — has already been graphically told.