TOPIC:

In Glasgow Necropolis.


. . ....The following telegram from the Acting High Commissioner at the Cape has been received at the Colonial Office :—
...."June 24.—The following telegram has been received from Carrington :—"Regret to inform you that Lieutenant Bremner, 20th Hussars, is reported killed by Mashonas at Marandellas, 60 miles south of Salisbury. Turner's patrol to Beatrice Mine surprised the rebels and destroyed Oloki's kraal, but met severe opposition during retirement. They abandoned waggon, lost two natives killed, four whites wounded, six horses killed, nine wounded. The rebels fought exceptionally well. Request your sanction to 200 additional Imperial troops being ordered to Macloutsie from Mafeking. Lord Grey concurs."
....The Acting High Commissioner's telegram proceeds :—"I have sanctioned the movement of the troops. Bremner was on leave from the 20th Hussars, and had applied for Carrington's permission to serve. Regret loss of promising officer. Inform Secretary of State for War."
....The Press Association says :—Additional information in regard to the Mashonaland rising has been received at the Colonial Office to-day, but it was stated this evening that the publication of the text of the message or messages had not then been authorised, and even as to the purport of the news no information was given.
....The telegram given above was received on Wednesday night, but was not issued until last evening. The effect of it was, however, stated by Mr Chamberlain to the House of Commnons during the afternoon. Mr Hawksley, of the Chartered Company, and other officials were in personal communication with the Colonial Official yesterday. In accordance with the Acting Commissioner's request, the news of Lieut. Bremner's fate was communicated to the War Office, and the regret expressed by Lieutenant-General Goodenough is strongly shared by that Department.
....The following cablegram has been received bv the British South Africa Company:—
...."The Laager, Salisbury, June 24, 5.50 p.m.—Archdeacon Upcher and party are safe in the laager. Curtis is missing. Blakeston was killed at Mazoe, after behaving most gallantly. Full list of casualties will follow later."
....The telegram shows that Fort Salisbury was apparently safe up to last evening, and throws additional doubt on the rumour that the fort has fallen. ....Mr Chamberlain has despatched the following telegram to Lieutenant-General Goodenough, Acting High Commissioner at the Cape :—
...."Her Majesty's Government highly commend devoted gallantry of patrol in bringing in women and children from Mazoe, and deeply regret loss of valuable lives." Buluwayo, June 25.......
....An official despatch from Charter announces that the fort is surrounded by the rebels, and that a waggon with food supplies for Gwelo has been stopped at Motundellas, which place was looted. The rebels at the same time got possession of 25,000 rounds of ammunition which had been left at Motundellas by the Natal column owing to the loss of draught oxen by the rinderpest.
....A column of 60 men with a Maxim gun is about to start for Mashonaland. ....The Times Cape Town correspondent says :—A telegram from Salisbury of Wednesday's date says—"Christison and 50 men of the Natal Column met 2000 natives on the Upper Umtali. There was a hot fight across a bad country till the Beatrice Mine was reached. Maxims were freely used, but the natives stuck doggedly to the hills. Mr Michell was badly wounded. One Cape 'boy' was killed, and several men were wounded. A patrol of 25 men has gone out with an ambulance to meet the wounded. The whole country around Salisbury has risen, and relief is anxiously awaited. Although Salisbury is laagered, many outlying places are defenseless."
....A telegram dated from Salisbury laager, at 9 o'clock yesterday morning, says :—
...."The stations along the Umtali and Salisbury roads have been attacked. Motundellas was looted, and its six defenders were killed. Their names are unknown. A number of isolated men along the road have also been killed. The Headlands laager repulsed an attack, and the party there, believed to be 50 strong, is retreating towards Umtali. It is much feared that 50,000 rounds of Martini-Henry ammunition were among the loot at Motundellas. The fresh murders along the road include those of Captain Bremner and Messrs Graham, White, and More, and the Meyers family. The latter were horribly mutilated. A party of seven whites from Motundellas fought their way through in safety, passing the murdered people on the road. The natives were thick around them, but would not face the heavy fire, although they sometimes came within 30 yards. One of the party, a young girl, seeing the mutilated woman on the road, obtained a revolver in order to shoot herself before what seemed to be imminent capture. It is considered here that a large Imperial force should be promptly sent." ....Colonel Plurner has returned from Khami. Five white men, a number of Cape boys, 25 mounted police, and a body of 700 friendly natives, while on their way from Fort Victoria to Chelimanzis, destroyed 50 of the enemy's kraals and captured 200 bags of grain, but did not risk engaging Dema's people, as the latter were 1500 strong. ....A deputation of the Cape Parliament to-day presented a petition to the Government urging the necessity of offering practical assistance to the Imperial Government, especially with men, transport, ammunition, and supplies, to quell the rebellion in the north. Sir J. Gordon Sprigg replied in favour of the proposal, and stated that he would communicate the petition to the acting High Commissioner. ....A telegraphic message from Fort Salisbury was received yesterday morning at Irvine by Mr Gavin Wilson, of the Parterre. It was from his son, Mr John Wilson, who is accountant in the branch establishment at Salisbury of the African Banking Corporation (Limited), and conveyed the intelligence that he was "safe in the laager." It was very welcome news to Mr Wilson's relatives and friends, to whom every scrap of information relating to the disturbances near the central settlement of Mashonaland has been of special interest, and who were shocked to learn from yesterday's newspapers that a party of Ayrshire men, on their way to that outpost of civilisation, had been massacred. There are in South Africa a great many Ayrshire people. At the explosives works at Zuerfontein, between Pretoria and Johannesburg, and some 700 miles south of Salisbury, there is quite a colony of Ayrshire people, and others are resident in the localities which have been the scenes of the most recent disturbances. In the banking establishments, both at Bulawayo and Salisbury, Irvine men hold responsible situations, and both have had experience of life within a, laager, while a young telegraphist from Troon is in active service with the troops at Buluwayo. The telegram received yesterday at Irvine had been sent from Salisbury at 12.40 p.m. on Wednesday, was received in London at 10.35 p.m., and at Irvine at 7.9 a.m. yesterday, when the telegraph office opened.
Glasgow Herald, Friday 26th June 1896


....The following telegram has been communicated to Reuter's Agency by the British South Africa Company :— ....Received from Salisbury following list of murdered, killed, wounded, and missing. [including] ....Umtali Road.—Captain Bremner and Charles Trelawney Stevenson, of Jesuit Patrol.
Glasgow Herald, Monday 29th June 1896