THE MOGHAVIE DISASTER.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7416, 30 May 1902, Page 1

THE MOGHAVIE DISASTER.

AN EYE-WITNESS'S ACCOUNT.. . ' A FRIGHTFUL SCENH. iIOVEMENTS OF THE EIGHTH CONV ' •■>■'-/• 5 : TINGENT, : ; : " '.'"' ■'■'. > {FROM OtTB COKB^POITOENT.] " V.- Zealand Camp, : Konigsburg^ April 5.: I wrote- you last from the camp at Newcastle. AJw days 'after, 'at almost, a mottent > af notice, we receiyed~orders to -pack jup an€ move out' to'the forl> at Konigsbuxg. IMs was our^first real' move, and: thfe ineni great state of excitement. Th«/ horses were in. very poor condition. After t 1 the fcbt atmosphere of the ship, which yaried from 85 to 95 degrees, day and* night,. they were in no-condition to. stand the> .terrible journey up in- the trucks, and, tying to int limes' at night, with no coyering on th«ii,(titty- nearly all got bad colds, and. were in miserable, condition. The way that the horses are' treated appears to me to be the weakest part of all- the arrangement*. Of all the money wasted on. war this seems to me to .be, the most foolish and fatal waste. Large sums of jnoney are expended: uppn purchasing; ana chipping remounts, and then, on .arrival, tney ere •treated in the most senseless, brutal, mantoer. * - I told you , in my last letter how terribly but horses were knocked about in coming frOmfifurban to the- camp at Newcastle, being crowded into open cattle-trucks with; Iron floors, and not even a sheet over them, I TV: pooring ' rain' aid bitter cold, after the high .temperature of the ship. When* we cot into campithey were just tied up to lines on the ground, and .there they had to stand 1 night $nd day, and with only oats to' eat,* and' these often not of the best. A few hburs c at grass some days dad them a lot "of -good, but no one seemed to take pny keen interest in thenu If you told «ny of the authorities 7 in charge that your horses, were off their feed and would not .. eat clean oats,. they generally replied that if .the brutes would not eat oats they could starve. Any stable-boy knows that nothing trotbs a horse off his feed so soon as trying to make him live on oats alone. .After reducing -our kits as much as possible the men mu*t;h&ye been riding these poor, sick animals about 16st on an average, and were, co cluinsy and awkward with their load of car^ridges,/cant«en, water-bottles; blankets, . jp*at-coat9,\'wallets-, etc, tnat it was with difficulty) that many of them could mount at, all. It-is' ho wonder that, with .such loads on their poor skinny backs, the horses foon got gallea.- It was' pitiable to eee our nice, gay, . prancing , chargers .looking so »ick and sorry, anil overloaded. . ; : v Jdikr' leaving; tfo camp;^d";p^sing through .the town of NeWcastle» we soon came to open countffy, with fine, open, flats and low, stony billß or kopjes rising- out of. them., <He_r,e we took, up proper fight.lag order, with :'&... screen, extended for a couple of . miles ; across our front, adranceguatd following; " flankers thrown but,' •nd" a rear- guard, with the main body /on; the road. This was . excellent praotice ; for. the -men, but tao*e of \^^ M?hp were_. iu. the. screen, and_ adyande guard and Bad to* flounder through" swatnps and creeks and up and down „st«ep,, stony kopjes', soon found out what miserable- trim, our horses -were in, as most : of us hada spill or two during the 'march. Although 1 we only had some ; twelve^miles to po,' it was; quite dark when-. we; reached camp, and as there ,was.*anbther hour's delay before we could find "our proper lines, men as : well as -the -poor 'horses, had had .quite-enough before they turned in for the night. As it was thought :that the column mnust^be nearly up to the line of blockhouses .on. the Drakensburg . Mountains, and the Boers might h/z trying to get. through Natal into the Transvaal, strong patrols were put out at all passable places, and th*e rest of the men laid down in the grass. At this post— Kohigsburg— a strong searthlight is kept .going all night, .s&d a twelyepounder gun mounted. A big convoy was carting ; : stbres and fodder, up to Moler's ■ .Pass, ■„■■".'■■ ■ ' . '■.'"■" ■■We' 1 left soon after daylight in the mbrn-" ing for. the Pass, where we were to. relieve the North Island Contingent." Rieiching the pass about noon, welwefre soon all excitement ■at the report that the columns ,were closing ; in on a large number of Boers, who Would probably make a dash to get through.us. All men except a few to take charge of horses, were put. on' outpost vork,' and so keen were the meri' that • 1 doubt if anyone slept : a wink during the eight. • -The adjutant narrowly escaped. be? ing shot by one of the sentries, who mis.took him for a Boer when' visiting one of the posts, "and promptly' fixed at' him when within ten yards. -'A- cpupla of Tommies who had: lost their 'way, in returning with ■tores to, their blockhouse, also had narxow escapes,- and a stray .horse was shot deadl "No Boers put in an appearance, and ;the two .squadrons of New Z^alanders sad-' died up early and . went out to meet the columns.. .'A large lot of Etock had; been #ecured, ..and a few prisoners, but. the bulk of the enemy h^d rushed through White's lines two nights before, and the drive had not been' a: great success. We were nbwiin the Orange River Colony, and we '/went oii. past the column to fee if. any .Bb^rs were following them up. Our scouts soon came in toucljf«t farmhquses in the Klip.l riverbed, but before^ Ve could get at ' them they disap-

peared in the adjoining hills, their smart little ponies being fax too , quick for pur jaded, sick and 'half-starved horses. We hurried back to camp as soon as we could,. fearing a Boer surprise. When we got. back to camp it presented a very busy scene. The columns ! had come in with their men," horses, • convoys, commandeered stock and some prisoners, and it would be difficult to estimate the number of awn arid animals that camped about Holer's Pass that.night. - During the day we had passed through some beautiful grazing country, and the cattle and horses that we picked up -were in splendid! condition. The sheep are all of the small merino tjrpe and. have had so much hustling about that they do not look well. I used to wonder what could be done with the thousands that we heard -were being taken, but thiß night at Moler's Pass opened my eyes somewhat. There must have been a couple of thousand killed there; in one night.; one eheep to five or. ten men was the average. , I had some talk to our guide for the day, and he gave. me some "useful information about thie country. He had been born and bred in the Drakensburgj and -was a keen, intelligent chap. He had a farm in the neighbourhood of 1000 acres, but had to leave kwm after the war began. Although he' had taken an oath of neutrality, the Boers wanted him to < take a part in the tran'sport service and he had to remove 3iis stock to Natal for safety. He told me that the value of the land about here before the war was from 10s; to 15s pep acre, that on his thousand, acres" he could keep 400 cattle, 200 horses and frojn, SQQ to 1000 sheep .aIL the year, round, .and iftsiit oats, etc., did .remarkably weUih fliiis" dis^rict^ -.- '■;■- :.■ -;•■ .;■;,■ .. .'• \•' . ' r' " - During : the day w © visited several farm bouses after- the Boers had left. In one we found some four Boer women and girls, and in the others only blacks.' The, Boer, women look very slovenly and sullen. They had a little plain 'furniture and some ifobd in the hoU?e,'.but they were dirty, miserable places. There were a splendid lot of peaches in one garden 'that we came to, but everything had a veYy neglected appearance. * . . Next day we started at daylight back to Konigeburg, and the following, much, to the disgust of most of us, wept back to our camp at Newer stle. We all wanted to get away after tae Boers, and did not like anything that delayed, us doing so, especially as there :,were rumours of peace. We only stayed at Newcastle a day and a half to wait for our transport, and then started for Klerkjjdorp. General Lyttelton. addressed us before leaving, saying that he was .exceedingly pleased with our ajppearance and 1 that as he was connected by family with New Zealand, ihe was proud of the way that the New Zealanders. had behaved throughout the war. He told ijswe were going to Klerksdorp, the! stronghold of: the Boers, who, he bad no doubt, ' we should have the pleasure of meeting inside ■ a fortnight. ' : ' [ .: The whole regiment then started off, and by night camped on the north side of the Ingogo Biiver. As our; convoy had stuck at one of the spruits, we had nothing but out overcoats to sleep in, a>ud, "as usual, very: little food for bur horsed. : I was sepl back with some sixty men- to ;try and getthe waggons 1 over, but in the dark we could do no good. We: had to wait until Ute in the morning next day" for our waggons, but managed to get over Laing's Nek and through Charlestown, outside of which we' camped for the night. During the day we'were close under Majuba Hill, and sawColonel Golley's grave and other interesting places. , ' The next day we entrained! at the Boer town of Volirust. We left camp at twelve o'clock and entrained • our horses at. thrpt in the afternoon, but it was three nex; morning before we started on our] way This sort of delay is very trying to mep and horses. We travelled, all night, an 4 the next evening reached Johannesburg, th? wonderful mining city of South Africa. I had an opportunity of staying here a- few hours, and had the pleasure of meeting some old New Zealanders. Johannesburg : ~ much ahead of any of our New Zealand towns in size, and the amount of busines done. Seme of the buildings are very iin indeed. It is much more English in its appearance than any of the other towns thai I have seen. At present it is under mar tial law : , which very much hampers privat trade, but with the immense mining popula tion that it will soon contain, it will bejgreat market for the productive farm land that surround) it. About Johannesburg, and from there o' to Klerksdorp, another day. and nignt' journey, the land is much inferior for agii culture to anything that I had previousl seen jn my. travels, but it is imanonsel^

wealthy in minerals. . For miles and miles ! ; crushing plants are to be seen along the; Rand Beef, and although it is yet imperfectly explored, and 'only half developed, there is an almost untold wealth of gold to -be" obtained,. with coal and other metals close at .hand. During the .'day. we passed within ten miles of Dornkop, where Dt Jameson surrendered, and went through Krugersdorp, where the dead of both sides were buried. . - • i When we were within twenty. miles of | Klerksdorp, at a place not far from Potchefstroom, a really great disaster befel us, ■One of our trains containing part of H and E Squadron's, ran into another train coming in the opposite direction, ' and the resultwas a fearful smash-up. Thirteen men were killed' and fourteen badly injured 1 . Strange to say, only nine- horse) were killed, liie first car next to 'the engine was completely wrecked, every man - in it being either kUled or wounded. The 'next car, fortunately, brofce its couplings and rolled out of the way, only shaking its occupants. Tie next car, witb houses, was completely driven over the top of the first car, and several horses were killed and many badly injured. The next car of horses was lifted rightoff the ground I in front, and the next reared up on. end, so that one truck of horses was suspended in the air some 16 or 20ft from the ground. The cars after this were not much damaged. At first . everyone thought that the Boers had blown up the train, and everyone^who was not too much dazeti by the shock stood to their arms. The -scene was a, frightful one. Many of tie-killed were mangled beyond recognition, audit was fully an hour before, some could be got out of the wreck. Two poor -fellows were jammed on the wrecked engines and scalded to death before they could be released.. One begged to be shot, that he might be put out of I bis misery. The whole thing cast a terrible I gloom over- the whole contingent. The I dead were laid out in their blankets on tha veldt by the side of the rails; and the injured were sent back to the hospital at Potchefstroom. Unfortunately, ot ! our doctors were in the train, but they came out by special as soon as possible, dad did everything that they could for the sblferers. It was eight o'clock in. the morning when, ibae accident happened, and it took all day to cjear up the wreck and repair the line, and) it was after twelve o'clock before we reached Klerksdorp_ with, our sad ' freight and. deposited the "bodies in the dead .house at the hospital there. The accident was caused by the stationmaster at a small station, sending out the trail* of empties that ran into us. When. he found out. his blunder he tried to com- j mat suicide, and was immediately put under aStrest.: ■''.■>' ' ''"'■., {The next .day (Sunday) we bunedi ouii comrades, in the little, cemetery at Klerksdorp All men' that could be spared turned out to the funeral. The EbgUßh .pastor attached to. the regiment, the Bev Uomp- ■ ton, officiated for the eleven Protestants, and the priest attached to the . Australians for'tho Catholics. Four Christ College boy? bore Trooper Bourne, to his grave. The graves were all in a row together; and a wreath was placed on. each. Two binds, the South Wales Borders and the Douglas ! and Gordon Highlanders, play«d at the funeral, and the whofe ceremony was a very impressive one. It has oast quit© a gloom over, our camp. We icfljftll" now- have- to wait here for at waek. or; two, to. (recruit our^horaej^-but, : fcyStifiat time,-'if peace^irnot declared, we should be ready to' give aigood acounib of ourselves: I hear that there are some 40,000 troops in this district/so that. Lord Kitchener evidently means to hustle things. ; Quartermaster-Sergeant- Davies, of the Eighth ■ Contingent, writing to his father, Mr J; Davies, of Lyttelton, under date Klerksdoqj, April. 15i says:— "You will have heard of the accident that took place on our. way here at 8 ,a.m. on April 12. It took place in this manner. H Squadron, consisting o* 112 men and. horses, after passing; Potchefstroom, bound ior. Klerksdorp, were advised that the line was clear, and proceeded' on, but were only five miles out when a, down train which was empty, the engine driver of which was advised that the line was clear, collided, and caused the accident, causing thirteen to be killed and thirteen /wounded. We have also received news of Trooper Pearson's death from wound>. caused, the total being now fourteen, killed. Four more are. dangerously hurt. We were five miles from the accident and were- about to move out when word, came. We>, thus stayed at Potchefstroom until night and then when the line Jras clear we proceeded to Klerksdorp. I was not an eye-witness of the accident, but those of our men that saw it said it was dreadM, the bodies being mangled up drea^fjilly, We buried the dead on Sunday/April 13, and sorrowful were the proceedings. We all thought of their friends and relations and their sorrow. . There were about 3000 troops and_ people at the funeraL ' Our, men were buried side by -.side in the cemetery here, in their blankets, and you can imagine- how sorrowful the scene was." . .