Please wait. Contacting image service... loading

Article text

\T THE FRONT.
We are indebted to Mr. R. B. Casey,
Hunter-street, Richmond, for the follow
ing letter from hts son, Trooper Edward
riTfii.liii (Jasev. who is also grandson of
the late W. H. Casey, Three Mile,- near
Beech worth. The writer is a member of
the Fifth Queensland Imperial Bushmen,
and as will be seen, has been actively en
gaged ever since his arrival in South
Afr'oa ' ".Bathfontien,
"Oliphant's River,
" North Transvaal, -
April 25th, 1901.
<t \ye landed on the morning of the 1st
April, and were marched to the depot,
ana served out with JLpO rounds of ammu
nition, and then 40 of us were picked out
to take 280 horses up to the front. We
put them on the train, and a -party of
ladies met us at the station with refresh
ments and cigars. We left that a.'ternoon
at 4 o'clock, and from then till we de
trained at Pietersburg, 12 days later, we
had no sleep, only 40 wjnks. The coun
try we passed through from Port Elizabeth
through Cape Colony and the Orange Free
State "to Bloemfontein (the capital) is the
most miserable I ever saw no timber,
not even scrub, no stock, a few patches of
mealies and Kaffir corn. Bloemfontein is
a pretty place — electric light and
i, in,, nn to date. 1 might men-
tion that at all the railway stations
and Boer farms there are blue gums
planted. From Bloemfontein to Pretoria
is beautiful rolling downs country, with
grass such as I have never seen before.
There is an abundance of water springs
everywhere ; plenty of rivers, but very
small. We had a very anxious . time
coming up in the train, but got through
without tiring a shot. The line was
blown up in about a dozen places, but we
were lucky to get through. If you are
attacked you have a very poor chance in
the train. The only, thing is to get out
and keep as close to the ground as you
can. We travelled from /Pretoria about
two days behind General Plumer's column
To Pietersburg. He marched, clearing
the country as he went. All the. houses
we passed were empty, looted of every
thing. Pietersburg is a nice little town,
but It was absolutely empty when we
arrived there. It was up till iiow the
only town in the Transvaal not occupied
by the British. Three thousand of us
left Pietersburg under General Plumer to
scour the country south-east towards the
Portuguese territory. Our crowd marched
with him for<four days, forming flank
scouts, aud then 50 of us and two officers
were-selected to escort convoys of pro
visions from one column to another. They
are mostly trips of about 40 to 50 miles.
We have just camped, after bringing 15
waggons of rations from General Plumer's
camp up Oliphant's River, about 25 miles
to Colonel Deakin's Queensland 4th Con
tingent, who are holding a drift here. We
i — li nufl puftlo
leave iieie ic'ihqIiu wivu w w
for the main body. A large commando
of Boers are advancing,- and we expect a
big fight in two days. We are getting
prisoners every day. If you meet them in
small parties they are only too glad to sur-
" render. You bring them and their wives
and families and waggons in and send them
to the railway and so down to Capetown.
They are very devout people ; sing Psalms
every night. In appearance they are the
same as our o.vn way-back cockles— same
style of dress. The women wear sun-
bonnets. They all speak Dutch, but.most
of them converse, iii English. They are
no jvay bitter against us. The women
hate the imperial Tommies. They will
go to a place aud take everything they can
lay their hands on. In most cases the
Boers treat us very well ; if taken, pri
soner, they take your arms and ammuni
tion and let you go. We escorted a lot
of prisoners coining along the river the
day before yesterday, and had a merry
time. When we camped at night we had
a concert, and at our request they sang
their National Anthem, and joined with
us in "God Save the King." I have a
Boer pony, who I think will carry me for
a long time yet. This is the roughest
game 1 have tackled, but I like it., 'The
only thing is the shortage of tucker. We
always feel a bit hungry. I must close,
as the bugle calls.
We also have to acknowledge the kind
ness of Mr. Donald Fletcher, of "Myrla,"
Beech worth, in furnishing us with the
following extracts of letters from his sons,
Vet.-Lieut. Stanley Fletcher and Lance-
Corporal Gordon M. Fletcher, who have
also had considerable experience of active
service-: —
" Pretoria, April 17.
" We arrived here to-day, the regi
ment being en route for home." I am, on
the recommendation of General Plumer,
going to see the Adjutant-General of
Colonial Forces, and apply to be.attached
to one of the new corps of Australians or
South Africans now with Plumer. I have
become so attached to the little General
that I do not like to leave him. He is
miles above some who have been lauded
by the public. He goes straight on with
his work, and never considers . his own
comfort, often dining off buily beef and
biscuit, and does not, like some Generals,
appropriate four or five waggons to his
own eheer. He is one of . the best
Generals in South Africi at the present
moment. -
" Stanley Fletcher." .
A subsequent wire informed Mr.
Fletcher that his son had received an
appointment, and was rejoining General
Plumer
"Middleburg, May 1.
" We left this' place about 8th April,
under General Bueston, and hacka very
successful expedition, having fine weather
all the time and passing through inhabited
districts, where we could get plenty of
poultry, pigs aud fruit. When I come
bome 1 will introduce a new dish, that I
fuund very palatable. -As there was no
woud in the district, we had to comman
deer a door or some flooring boards to
make a. fire. There is not a tree to be
teen on the horizon where we are just
now. To show that the 5th Victorians
have not been idle, I will give you a list
of the stock, &c., captured by. us in 10
days from the 15th to 25th April : — 2032
head of cattle, 538 trek oxen, 3000 sheep
audgoats, 35 mules, 14 donkeys, 116 rifles,
24,500 rounds of small ammunition, 95
Wammns n., „„ /!Q
OD J wu LrtlkC) OU LiOUUClO Ul
war, 12 surrenderors, 2 flour mills, 1 en-
S'ue, 1 thresher (destroyed three latter) ;
also removed 368 women and children,
he value of the stuff carried away, ex
clusive of rifles -and ammunition, is
o.UuO ; also many houses were de
stroyed. The work was terrible on our I
orses, four-tifths being ruined and use-
ess for further work. Only about a
ozen horses, including my own, are fit
or anything now, ana the night before
6 left Lieufonteiu mine was stoleu from
e lines, and in consequence 1 had to
52JJ "iree days with the waggons to
ddleburg, fifteen miles a day, before
fi"raer: ab man is allowed per day
? bfscuits, about four inches square,
f 35 thick as an ordinary biscuit, lib.
oUlb. of jam, and a point of tea
in C .' hly .bivouac mate was lucky
I mo -eCU"nS abut a dozen pounds of
I voit'6 i ur tke other day. 'This was
I divw j .come- The regiment has been
I o,,i„ , "do two battalions — 1st under
I nholn er> 2nd under Major Um-
I Is ur oompany is in the 2nd.
I ffn„„j0r,ry to say Lieutenant Beatty was
I like d the -other day. He behaved
I firing- ' a"d would not leave the
I everonl-168 t0 have his arm dressed till
I to aL ID® was hd up. If you happen
I him aec,oss his father you might let
I son hW regiment's opinion of his
» He hag h U"t t0 he very proud of him.
Ihpai. .?e®n transferred to our company.
I home m? the Bushmen (3rd) have gone
I ever i > ave earned their release if
I the hars Imenfc (1<> as they had about
I 413 thai- Work ' a"- Our officers tell
I "ill helm! ge.ing hoore in August. 1
IBelleveit when I see it. .
B "Gordon Fletcher."
I p' Hacking Cou8h afc aight
H' reat Peppermint Cure, Is. fid.
$