NEWS BY THE MAIL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6660, 5 December 1899, Page 3

NEWS BY THE MAIL.

THE BATTLE OF ELANDSLAAGTE. THE LANCERS' CHARGE. AFTER THE BATTLE. THE HORRORS OF WAR. THE GORDONS' BOW. THE DEATH OF GENERAL SYMONS. (Received Dec. 5, 9.30 a.m.) MELBOURNE, Dec. 5. The special correspondent of the " Argus," •writing after the battle of Elandslaagte, says: — The wounded \ lay on the field all night. The last charge of the Lancers through the demoralised Boer ranks took place in actual darkness. S6 dark was the night that one body of Boers mistook the cavalry for their oAvn'men, and the deadly Lancers were within forty yards of them before they realised their daniger. While, to some extent, indifferent of bullet wounds, the Boers have a deadly horror of steel, especially the lance. Some of them fell upon their knees with uplifted hands praying for mercy. " I have five children," screamed one ; " for God's sake spare me." The Lancer raised the point of his lance and passed on, but, on turning, saw the man he had spared reaching for a Mauser rifle He turned back and ran him first through the muscle of the arm as he sought to shield himself and then through, the body. "At the last moment I tried to let off one jpoor devil who was white with fear," said a Lancer, "but my horse knew his business too well, and. the lance point found its mark." Most of the British wounded were brought in during the night, but some Gordons, who had fallen just as they were charging, were overlooked all night. These poor fellows lay among the rocky ridges, the rain beating upon them, realising to the full the horrors of war. On Sunday morning the rain cleared, but the summits of the hills were enveloped in a grey mist. The Red Cross sections of the Boers and British worked side by side, but the enemy had so few surgeons of their own nationality that their wounded, for the most part, get indifferent treatment. The dead lay upon the battlefield until Monday, and the story of the fight with the advance of the different regiments of Brit- ' ish inf an try was sadly told by the bodies. Some were lying face down as though peacefully asleep, others were tortured and stiffened into strange attitudes. All were gruesomely flat and shrunken as they lay amongst rocks. Near to the crest of the hill close to the Boer position the green kilts and brown jackets of the Gordons were lying thickly. The Gordons have kissed the bayonet and sworn to take heavy toll In revenge for their big Major Denne^ who only lately rejoined them from the Viceroy's staff in India, and no. corps in the British camp at Ladysmith is so bitter against the'eniemy. i One feature of the battle was the number I .X>f men prominent in official circles in the , Transvaal who were killed and captured, J The-- mews of General Symons's death was , graphed in sympathetic terms by General I Joubert, who closed with a note from the string upon which the Boer perpetually | harps: — "Ifc is a pity so brave a soldier • should have lost his life in an ungodly war I promoted by capitalists." General "Symons , .was shot just after leaving the cover of a plantation, when riding with Colonel Dart- [ nell and his staff. He made n» attempt to conceal his position. ■*. • ■ ■ ■■ t