1900 - Diary of the siege of Mafeking by Edward Ross
Wednesday, 14 March
Again a hot day’s shelling, Big Ben opening on us at about 7 a.m,, the second shell bursting immediately at the foot and back of our auction room, entirely wrecking one corner and doing a lot of damage. About twenty cases of paraffin were being stored just where the shell burst, seven or eight of them being scattered into fragments, pieces of the tins being found hundreds of yards away, and the immense cloud of smoke arising made it appear as if the whole place was in flames. For fully three or four minutes it was impossible to approach near enough to see the damage. What a merciful thing the oil did not explode or catch on fire. It would have been terrific and would have cost us a loss more than we could sustain; as it is, all Tom’s furniture has been destroyed, and I should think about two hundred pounds’ worth of goods, to say nothing of the building now entirely wrecked and absolutely useless. At the time of the shell bursting, I was standing on the third step of the entrance to the dugout, never expecting it to come so close, and the concussion knocked me right down the hole, giving me a nice old bump on the head against the table. I honestly thought the bally shell had come right on top of the dugout, and just for the moment considered I was "gone in”. What with the headache and the noise of the shell ringing in my ears, I was not up to very much for the rest of the day.
There is a rumour about town today, supposed to have come from good native sources - and I must say they have always brought us the news first - that Bloemfontein has surrendered to our forces, and it is conjectured this is the reason of the terrific shelling we have had to put up with the last three or four days. I hardly think that this can be true, as our troops have hardly had sufficient time to effect that desired downfall; and another idea formed that I think far more feasable, is that most of the surrounding Boers have gone north to attempt the stoppage of Plumer, and they are simply shelling us as much as possible, to keep us down, and not allow us any possible chance of sorties.
Tonight the joint committee of the Chamber of Commerce and the Town Council considered the question of damages and compensation. We have not wished during the siege to encourage the enemy by letting the world know how the town has been knocked about, but now we confess that scarcely one house has escaped damage, though the loss of life has been remarkably small, considering that thirteen or fourteen hundred 94-pound shells have burst in the streets, sending murderous particles over an area of 400 yards.
Still this could not happen without considerable damage to property; and, in fact, the town presents a woeful appearance. The construction of the houses is, fortunately, of such a nature as to prevent the shells taking their full effect, the unburnt bricks lined with iron apparently holding together and blunting the force of the explosions far better than wooden houses built with more finish and style and of better material.
