The Raid on Pietersburg.

Manawatu Herald, 26 April 1902, Page 3

The Raid on Pietersburg.

EXTRAORDINARY SCENE IN A CONCENTRATION CAMP.

Some information concerning the attack made by Commandant Beyers on Pietsrsbutg, about which questions whre asked in Parliament last week, is - given .by the Pretoria correspon • dent of the Standard in a letter dated February Ist. The attack (says the correspondent) was easily ..repulsed, and the incident, were it not for other circumstances connected with the affair, wow'. .1 ha ve possessed little or no interest. What happened waa this. f„ f-v- xVrni -.-i-ty night Beyers sent ir u}iU under the eyes as ic rfere of the garrison, a party of men—about 80—to bring out recruits from the ranks of the surrendered burghers. It is said that the. Guards were caughtnappingi' At all events the entry of the Boers was effected'quite‘.easily, and they proceeded to fall in the “ tame bbrghstoi’’ as they are called, and detailed about 100 to go out with them on commando. The superintendent of'the camp was madeVa prisoner on parole. _ The contents'of the building belonging to the camp storekeepers were looted, but the Government stores, strange to say, were left untouched. ’ . , The scene in the camp is said*.to have been extraordinary, the women and children receiving the visitors with the utmost enthusiasm, and urging the “ recruits ” to fight to the death. On the party joining Beyers, the enlarged commando went north. Beyers had no horses for his recruits, and only managed, I understand, to arm 64 of them. Allowing the Thursday to go by, Beyers returned before daybreak on Friday and delivered his attack on Pietersburg. There was very little in the attack, but the garrison permitted the boldest of the Boers to come within 800 yards of four blockhouses before they fired, whereupon the commando retired with the loss of three killed and six wounded, the latter falling into our hands. One of the “ recruits was amongst the killed. One of the camp policemen, a surrendered bur-gher-—is reported to have. deserted three days before the attack, and there can be no doubt'’that a pbt existed. Five or -'six of the “ recruits ” subsequently returned, stating they had gone out under compulsion, and had no intention of breaking their oath of neutrality.. LI , , In connection with the attack on the town Beyers had deputed a party to lay an observation mine under the railway line near-Mambastad, a few miles opt of Pietersburg .The mine, •which was composed of_ some 45 dynamite cartridges, was fitted up in the usual way, a*rifle-barrel having been out down to the j breach, and a string attached to the trigger ready to be pulled, and set off the mine when the train was passing over the spot. In order to disguise their work the train-wrecking party bad damaged the line a little higher, up in order to make it appear that they had -not been able-do do ths, job thoroughly. The train selected fox destruction was the fist leaving Pietersburg on the morning, of the attack, and as it steamed out the women and children of the concentration camp, which lay alongside the line, crowded up the track, and jerred and flouted the passengers—almost as if they were aware that the train and its occupants were going to their deaths. Not only, fortunately, was the break in the line discovered, but the mine failed to act, and the cartridges ware drawn from under the rails. . . An inquiry ie being made into the alleged plot, in the concentration camp, and the whole of the occupants have been removed to the coast.