KILLED BY TREACHERY

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 248, 8 July 1918, Page 4

KILLED BY TREACHERY

MAJOR SOMMERVILLE'S DEATH.

It appears, from news received by his relatives, that Major Charles Soinmervillc, who died in Palestine last Easier, was done to death by the treachery of villagers, who had protended friendship with the British. Major John Sommerville, D.5.0.. brother of the' deceased, ins received' an"account of the affairs in letters from the colonel and other officers of the Wellington Mounted Rules Regiment. General Ohaytor's column was retiring to Jericho after a raid on the Jleiaz railway, eiist of the Jordan, and the Wellington Mounted Rifles wero acting as rearguard when they passod through it village full of supposedly friendly natives. These latter had previously been denounced to General Chav tor by the Arabs, who asked leave to remove them. The villagers appeared well-disposed, and were given a euaid to protect them from the Arabs. Just beyond tho villago was a steep defile about three miles long, and the_ column had passed into tins when Major Sommerville's squadron, tho last of the rearguard, was "subjected to a fusillade from natives lying behind boulders on either sido of the road. Three officers and eight men were killed and eight wounded, including the major, whose injuries wwo such that he died next day in a hospital at Jericho. The mounted riflemen took prompt vengeance, and over 30 of the enemy wero killed and many moro wounded. It was proved that these men had come from tho village nearby. Major Sotnraerville was a son of the late Colonel J. R. Sommorvillo, of Wanganui, and Mrs. Sommerville, of "Rliyll," Stanley Bay, Auckland. Ho served in South Africa, and was twice mentioned in dispatches. Ho left fm Egynt with the Fifteenth Reinforcements in July, 1915. and fought at Maghdala and nearly nil the subsequent battles in Palestine, being wounded at the first battle of Gaza. A younger brother wns killed at Gallipoli.