INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF A JOURNALIST.

Observer, Volume 7, Issue 232, 21 February 1885, Page 9

INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF A JOURNALIST.

C. O. Montrose (Nemo). »^. ■«.

'THE SIEGE OF ORAKAU (Continued) . :Ko. LXXVL— The Second Day—Reinforcements — Hand Grenades — The Maori • Counterxcorks — Arrival of General Cameron — The War Danee — Death of Captain Ring— His Services — The Maori Prayer Meetinq — The. K . Attempted Sortie — The BeUegers Further Reinforced — The Garrison Sumnioned to Surrender — Their Defiant Reply — The Desperate ? Struggle Renewed — The Sap Breaks into the, JZnemtfs Works — A Premature Assault—Cap- ' *i -tain Herford Wounded — Death of Sergeant Taylor and Dariny Rescue of the Body by Captain Von Jhnpsky — Another Maori Sortie Repulsed — Rewi's Account ' of the Maori Escape — The Pursuits-Night Closes on the .-,. Scene of Slaughter. The morning- of^ the Ist April dawned Aipon a scene of busy strife. The firing on ? -both sides, which -had somewhat slackened the night, was renewed with vigour, -and the arrival of further reinforcements enabled Brigadier-General Carey to expedite % „ ihe work in the sap by relieving the men more freqiiently, anjl to extend a line of frifle-pits round the pa. The reinforcements consisted of 3 -officers and 120 of other ranks of the 18th, and<3 officers and 96 non-com-missioned officers and men of the -70th urmer Captain" Greaves, Deputy - Quarter-master General-. At 6 a.m. another detachment arrived under Captain Vereker, consisting of 100 men of the 12th. They had reached ' Te Awamutu from Te Rore at ten o'clock on the previous night, and left for the front at 4 a.m. „ v, During the night the besiegers had cooked 'rations under cover of the slopes. Just as ill the sun rose above the trees the Maoris in •> the pa began shouting to a party of, their tcpjantrymen outside, who had been prevented ijiuring* the previous day and night from forming a junction with, the garrison by the >.<3dth and Forest Rangers, extended parallel to : the bush. * Early in the morning Lieut. -Colonel Sir Henry Havelock, Bart. , D. A.Q.M.G. , brought •up a quantity of hand grenades, which were thrown with deadly .precision by Sergeant -McKay, R. A. , into the enemy's works. Notwithstanding this,the brave defenders opened ;a .zigzag line of rifle-pits from 4he proper .aright front corner of the pa, as a kind of to ours, and they were also -. hard at work strengthening their interior ■defences, under a well-maintained fire of* .artillery, grenades, and rifles. About noon a 6-pr. Armstrong gun was under the direction of Captain JRetty, R.A., to the head of the sap, and •opened fire' with canister, literally cutting •down the palisading and materially checking the musketry fire of the defenders. General Sir Duncan Cameron arrived from Pukerimu about the same time, but merely remained as a spectator, declining to take the, command from General Carey. ». Colonel Moule, R.E., ihowevefj lent his assistance in pushing forward the sap into the enemy's works. Up to this time the sap had been* driven a distance of 500 yards with parallels and traverses. The fight continued without cessation until three p.m., when the Maoris in the bush performed a war^dance, which was taken up by^the defenders of the pa, and our ears were almost deafened by discordant yells and 1 screams of mad, frantic rage, while the solid ground actually trembled under the simultaneous tramp of the dancers' feet. At intervals the natives would cheer lustily, the '>»•'•' Hip ! hip ! hurrah !" being pronounced with ' so good an accent that it closely resembled :the genuine British cheer, though it lacked * that earnestness and energy which our own* .troops display on such occasions. About 4 p.m. slight rain descended and --continued for about an hour and a half. The * ; sap had been driven up to within 40 or 50 yards of the enemy's outworks, and the toctops had thrown up rifle-pits at intervals ; abput the pa with their bayonets or whatever •.implements they could procure to shelter themselves from the enemy's fire, so that our men were ensconced within little extemporised fortifications. In the afternoon the .sad news arrived from Te Awamutu that Captain Ring had died of his wounds. His loss was universally deplored by the officers .and men of all branches of the service. He was a brave, zealous, and efficient officer, who had seen much service in the field, and had frequently distinguished himself.^ James Tarrant Ring entered the army as ensign in 1853, received his lieutenancy in 1854, and became captain in 1858. He served in the • Crimea from December, 1854, until the close <, of the war. He received the medal and clasp ..as well as the Turkish medal. An escort .under his command was attacked near Shepherd's Bush on the*l7th July, 1863, as already described in a former chapter, when he behaved with conspicuous gallantry and coolness, .and received the thanks of General Cameron. He was also present in the attack on Kerikeri, and was again thanked' by the General. At the time of his death he" was just about to receive his majority. His* . age was^only 32. * Between 8 and 9 in the f evening the Maoris /had sprayer meeting, but immediately after- * wards they resumed pie yelling and fifing which they continued at intervals during the iught. ,; At^idnight some of them made an * .sLUempti to^reak outsat' the rear of the pa, .tout were^oDserved aii* checked, by the fire ?of

_ __ the besiegers. About thF same time a chief mounted a breastwork and urged the natives to make a sortie, but Captain Herford, who j was fighting in the head of thfe sap, prepared his men to repel the attack, and no soojier were the dark bodies dimly visible on the works th^n they were received with a volley and forced back. Meantime the troops had been further reinforced by the arrival of 150 rank and file of the 70th, under Major Rutherford, from Ohaupo. whither they had been sent to construct a redoubt to secure the communications between Pukerimu and Te Awamutu. They were relieved at Ohaupo by a detachment of the 50th Regiment. The sap had been obstinately pushed forward during the night by fresh relays of workers, gabions being brought round from behind, where the 40th were engaged constructing them from the tall ti-tree, which grew in abundance in the swampy ground in that locality. Early in the f morning a few natives again showed themselves outside the rear of the pa, but retired when a brisk fusilade was opened upon them. About 11 a.m.; Messrs Mainwaring and Mair, interpreters to the forces, were directed to approach the pa as close as possible and summon the defenders to surrender, as it was believed there were women and children inside. The firing ceased for a few moments, and daring the lull one of the interpreters?. addr||l»||the natives in the Maori language. ' The ifffigglns may be translated as follows : — " ListeaP^ These are the words ! of the General. He has seen your great bravery and admired it. If you continue fighting you must all be killed ; but if you surrender and give up your arms, your live., .will be spared and you will be well treate<^ ; If you will not surrender, send out your' women and children, and they will not be harmed." A chief, said to have been Rewi, who was armed with a spear^mounted the breastwork, and in a tone which was clearly audible, and i had a ring of defiance in it, replied : — " Whakarongo mai! Te kupu tenei a te. Maori — Ka Whawhai matou tonu, ake ! ake f ake!" "Listen! Thi& is the word (or answer) of the Maoris — We will fight on for ever, -and ever, and ever!" While the ! soldiers could not but admire the Spartanlike heroism of the natives, they pitied their fate, walled in as they were by a ring of steel and fire. The struggle was now renewed oh both sides with stern determination. Shortly before this one of the six-pounder guns had been advanced to the head of the sap, within 8 or 10 yards of the breastworks, from which it opened fire with canister, literally clearing every 7 thing before it, mowing down peach trees and cutting down the strong fence as though they had been mere brown paper. At the same time a shower of hand grenades and a perfectly murderous rifle fire scattered death and destruction among the enemy. About •12.30 p.m. the sap broke into the ends of the enemy's earthworks. This was the signal for an eager rush by the men In the head of the sap, gallantly led by Captain Herford, who cut down with an axe a portion of the fence intervening between the sap and the head of the Maori rifle-pits or counterscarp. Whilst leading on the men he received a dangerous wound in the eye. Then a daring thing occurred : A soldier of the 18th — an Irishman, I believe — threw his forage cap over the breastwork, and, shouting " I am going after that cap !" jumped into theworks, and was cut to pieces. Some 20 men of the 18th, Militia, and others, followed, but were received with a crashing volley. Eusign Clayton was mortally wounded in the side ; Privates Armstrong and Levitt, shot dead ; Thomas Hannon, of the 18th, wounded in the chest ; and Worby, of the Militia, through both thighs. Some of the natives were now seen to show themselves on the breastworks, when a number of me Forest Rangers, under Captain Von Tempsky, and a few men of the 18th, 40th, and 70th broke from their cover and rushed a short distance towards the pa, imagining that the place was being stormed from the sap. *The bugles sounded the retire, but Oaptain Von Tempsky, with about 7 or 8 of his own. men and a few of the more reckless of the soldiers, still held Hheir ground within 40 or 50 yards of the pa, under cover of some old potato-pits. Here Sergeant Taylor, a gallant fellow of the Forest Rangers, was shot dead whilst following his captain. Von Tempsky was unsupported, as most of the soldiers had fallen back in obedience to the bugle-call, but taking cover in a grove of peach trees and high fern, he held on until the body of the sergeant had been recovered and conveyed to the rear. The manner in which the captain and the few men who accompanied him approached the position was no less remarkable for reckless daring than for skill. They lay down when the fire became too hot, i and took advantage of every temporary lull ! to lessen the space intervening between them and the pa, gradually gaining the shelter of the grove of peach trees abovementioned. The sap was rapidly driven through the Maori outworks, the loose earth expediting the work. Almost simultaneously with this adventure of Von Tempsky' s some 40 or 50 gnatives made a desperate attempt to escape by the right rear corner of the pa, but were i repulsed by the fire of the skirmishers ', stationed in that quarter. I think from what afterwards occurred that this was only a tentative effort of an advanced party of the enemy, with a view to finding an unguardeds * loophole :of escape, aud I am 'strengthened 1 in that opinion by information,

which I have since obtained from natives wh<vwere present at the siege but escaped in tie subsequent rush. The artillery continued to throw in the hand grenades as fast as they could light the fuses, while a perfect hail of bullets cleared the breastworks of every living thing and forced the natives within the shelter of their works. The soldiers in rear of the pa were exposed to a frightful cross fire, which cut the air with a "swish!" that sent the fern and ti-tree flying, and would have caused fearful destruction of life among our own men had they not been sheltered under the line of an old cutting, running round the rear of the works, contiguous to the swamp, on the right of which the 40th were engaged constructing gabions, leaving only a few men in loose order to guard a length of some 70 or 80 yards. In the excitement of approaching victory, when at any moment the stormers in the head of the sap might enter the works, and a storming party was actually beingwgot together to carry the enemy's defence^ no one seems to have thought of warning the troops in rear of the possibility of the natives being forced out in that direction by a rush from the front, if such a contingency had occuared to anyone, which I take leave to doubt. What followed was one of those accidents which frequently happen in war, especially in a siege of this character, and for which no one in particular is to blame. It was now nearly 4 o'clock. The 4 sap was within two yards 'of the enemy's ditch' on the north side.# There was a ceaseless ' y fire of hand-grenades, canister, and rifles, so that you had to shout in the ear of the,man next you to make yourself heardfl The Maoris slunk gradually towards the south side of thef pa. " I saw there was nothing but death," said ltewi to me, many years afterwards, "so I told my men to make up for the hills. We rushed when;*we got to the back of «the pa. It was a whati atu — a breaking forth. We did not walk. We chargedSorward arid jumped down the embankment under which your men were placed, firing a volley and shooting or spearing some of them as we passed through, into the swamp." The retrlat appears to have been first noticed from the small breastwork thrown up as a protection for the gunners serving. a 6-pr. Armstrong, and within which General Cameron, Brigadier General Carey and the Staff were discussing the proposed attempt to storm the position. A crj was raised—" The; Maoris are escaping !" and a scene lof^lhe wildest excitement ensued. The two generals and their aides, and the members of the staff rushed about to gather the meft and send them in pursuit of the flying foe. Simultaneously a loud cry of mingled rage and astonishment was raised in rear as the natives were seen leaping from the top of the embankment, about nine feet high, ands knocking down the few men who had been left to guard it. Several of the 40th were killed or wounded. A corporal named Birge had a singular escape. A Maori discharged both barrels of his gun full in the soldier's face from a distance of two yards. But owing.to a peculiar method the Maoris have of loading — merely slipping in the. cartridges and knocking the butt of the piece on the ground, instead of using the ram-rod — the bullet had dropped out in running with the muzzle downwards, and only the powder remained. But nevertheless Birge's injuries were severe. The coarse powder grains tatooed his face all oxer, causing intense pain for months. It was a standing joke among his comrades that he had been attacked with " blue small pox."' But to resume : When the natives were descried breaking out in a confused crowd, the 40th, who had been making gabions in the rear, seized their arms and dashed in pursuit of the enemy, opening up a pitiless fire on the retreating mass of doomed wretches. ?At the same time the front of the pa was rushed, and 25 dead bodies were found within and a number of wounded, some of them women. The retreating natives dashed into the tall ti-tree and diverged towards the swamp on their left, but by this time nearly the whole of the troops, some 1400, were in hot chase. Some of the natives kept in the swamp while others made their way through short fern towards the face of a hill on their left, and here, -within some 400 yards of their pursuers, they were openly exposed to a terriffc storm of musketry fire, and forced to -> return to the swamp by the Mounted Artillery under Lieut. Rait and some of the Defence Force, who were followed up by the Forest Rangers and the troops of other corps. The Mounted Artillery divided into two parties, one taking towards the right under Sir Henry Havelock, and the other to the left under Lieut. Eait. Having followed the natives up the swamp, which was impassable to the horses, the men dismounted, and revolver in hand chased the natives to the Waipu River. It was- a- • perfect battue. Hardly half-a-dozen Maoris escaped. Only a straggling few of >their swiftest runners were seeii to reach the opposite bank of the Waipa, pausing to lap the water to cool their parched lips. For three days they had not quenched their thirst, and had nothing but uncooked potatoes and maize to eat. In the retreat a Maori who held a white flag abstained from, running, and was saved from death by Captain Greaves, while Lieut. Jackson saved another. The sun Avas declining in;^ the west over the scene of slaughter as the bugles sounded the retire, and the troops returned and bivouacked, for the* night on the. position from which, 'the ;enemy: had- been driven, ;

leaving the dead and wounded on the fieleL The wounded and prisoners were, of course, eared for. i. (To he continued.)