TROOPER HEMPTON'S DEATH.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXII, Issue 90, 12 April 1900, Page 2

TROOPER HEMPTON'S DEATH.

[Br F., Okato.] " Tom Bkmptoh is dead." Snoh wu the sorrowful message that ma iaahad along the line on Tuesday morning, tod we in Okato felt u if a doudbad , suddenly fallen upon us. The Pfttoffioe was besieged with anxious enquirers, and hopes were expressed that ; the bad news was not true, bat uni fortunately we found on reoefoing tha Daily Nkws that the sorrowful news was only too true, and that one of oar finest and truest men had gone u Home." It is always the custom to speak wall of the dead—sometimes, even, we an inclined to l&ud their memory too much; but of Tom Hempton nothing but good can be said, nor c»a too mucS be said of his many good qualitiati " He was a man, take him for all la all. I shall not look upon Us h'frt again may well and truly be said of him. I have known Tom Hampton for many years: in fact, ever sinoe I came as a new chum to country. I have known him as a friend and as a business man, [ can honestly say that of all the men I hare known during my life-time I have never met one who could compare with Tom Hempton. He would soorn Co do a mean action. He would loatha co do anyone an unkindness. He liked bringing out the good qualities of hie fellow-beings, but never the bad points. He was a white man. Who of us will over forget his manly giip, his cheery smile or his ready help ? Who of us 1 who could claim him as a friend will 1 ever forget him ? Who of us aa time rolls on will not look back with food lingering memories of Tom Hempton f lean honestly say I feel a better man for having known Tom Hempton and ( Heaven to me seems a better place ba- , oause Tom Hempton is there. On New I fear's morning—only fourteen weeks II igo—l said good-bye to bim at the Railway Station, New Plymouth, and I can recall hislast words to me: "Goodbye, old man, we'll meet again." God grant that it may be so ! THE HUNGER AND THIRST A. in tho Ist Balloon Seo tion, writing to his relations about tho i light at Modder lliver, observes:—" I shall never forget the might, I some narrow squeaks; the bullets got as close as my coat. Tho troops ware fairly exhausted with heat. I would willingly have given any money for a drink. A. major came to mo and begged a drink from our section; he said he had not had a bite or a drink for two days. I have not hj"! my clothes off for six days now, and have to lie down anywhere on the sand and rock with rifle and ammunition by my side. We captured four Boers with their commander. One of them asked me for a chance. I gave him one, and he was just going to fire at me when I dropped him. We are living on biscuits and tinned meat, which seems a luxury. Sometimes we cannot get anything. I was up in a balloon several times, and I could see Kimberley quite plain. The captain has just called me to his tent and given me a small bottle of Bass. I nearly MdM at the name when he asked me if I would like one." TREACHERY UNDER THE WHITS FLAG. Lieutenant Serjeant, now serving with Thorneycroft's Horse in Natal, writes giving details of the battle of the Tugela River, in which he took an active part. He says:—"The most glorious heroism was shown by all—by the Dublin Fusileers and Oonnaught Rangers and by the Devons, who were the last to leave the field, having remained by the side of the fallen gunrers and the silent guns. Of these latter I must relate the story of their capture by the Boers, a story absolutely incrodible but that it oan be vouched for by the British officers of the regiment. Indeod, it was from one of them who was wounded during the incident and managed to crawl uway that I had the account. It appears that when Oolonel Long's two batteries were put out of action a couple of companies of the Devons went forward to protect them. Most of the men got shelter in a donga behind the guns, but the colonel, with three officers and some forty men, got into a kopje well in front. On this the Boers raised a white flag and asked the gallant colonel to cease firing to allow them to collect some wounded

men. Some short conversation ensued on the subject, and in the meantime more Boers crept around the flanks of the little party. This manoeuvre executed, the Boers called on the colonel to surrender. On his refusing he was knocked down with the butt end of a rifle, and the little band were ordered to surrender at once on pain of being Shot down." !

OUR TABS AND THE " DUBS " AT WORK. One of the sappers, a Plymouth man, who is with General Buller's force, writes home to his parents. He says:—" We had a stiff set-to with the enemy (seven hours of it, in fact), but we could not stick to it any longer, and had to come back. If it had not been for our Naval Brigade we should have all been cut up. Those tars worked their guns something splendidly, and fairly set the hills on fire with their shells. You would be surprised to see how our infantry face the Boers and death. Why, they simply laugh and crack jokes on the battle-field. They take it for a picnic, and go at it with a dash that nothing stops. This is especially the case with the Irish Brigade. The Dublin Fusiliers have borne the brunt of the battles out here, and now there are only 500 of them left. They are playing up old Harry with the Boers, always in front, and like madmen when they get among the onemy.'"