| Show THEBLUE JACKET FELL ON ALL S1ll11 British Marines Badly Punished by Slave Traders IT WAS ALMOST AN UTTER ROUT Woodhul I Making a Good Defense in London Tegucigalpa Has Surrendered and This Brings the honduran War to nn End The Destruction of the Insurgent Transport 3Iercnrio Resulted in a Considerable Loss of Life The Ship Takes Fire and 3Inny Are Roasted Alive London Feb 24A report was circulated cir-culated last night that a disaster of some sort had occurred to the crew of the gunboat Widgeon on the west coast of Africa The story was confirmed this morning morn-ing by dispatches to the admiralty The dispatches come from Bathhurst the capital of the British west coast of the African colony of Gambia at which point the cruiser Raleigh flagship flag-ship of the British squadron on that coast and the gunboat Widgeon had arrived The story is to the effect that parties of British marines were landed from these vessels near Bathurst to punish Fodisilah a notorious slave trader who had been carrying off into bondage and cruelly illtreating the helpless natives of the villages along that part of the coast The parties went ashore with provisions for four days and a plentiful supply of ammunition A reserve force wa left on the shore at the landing place under the protection of the vessels guns The remainder of the column began the march inland through a difficult country the land being swampy and covered with thick brushwood and forest They were accompanied ac-companied by natives carrying the spare ammunition provisions and water The march continued < a long distance dis-tance without any signs of the slave traders bands The country was apparently ap-parently deserted Then the native carriers began to desert with the extra ex-tra ammunition and provisions and the column was finally alone The roads were so bad that the flanking parties were finally forced back on the column which however continued to advance till it came upon two villages which the British attacked and captured cap-tured These villages were surrounded by stockades and served well a defenses de-fenses the British planting machine guns at points of vantage The force remained there the following follow-ing night but the loss of the ammunition ammuni-tion and water made Captain Gamble In command x > t Jhe force decide to return re-turn to the te This movement was commenced early next morning After proceeding a short distance and when I surrounded by rising ground the party par-ty was attacked from ambush on all sides The attack was very severe and I the blue jackets fell on all sides The column retreated as hastily a possible possi-ble carrying the wounded a far as I possible but the shore was not reached tH three officers and ten men had been killed and forty wounded Lieutenant W H Arnold of the navy Lieutenant of Marines T W Harvey and subLieu tenant F W Meister are among the killed Lieutenant Hon R F Boyle is dangerously wounded Lieutenant H J Savill seriously Captain Gamble Gam-ble Surgeon W R Hite Midshipman Arthur Chambers and forty blue jackets jack-ets are slightly wounded Ten blue jackets were killed The news was contained in the official dispatches of Rear Admiral Frederick C Bedford in command of the squadron The latest dispatch from Bathurst says the marines landed from the warship war-ship and a detachment from the West India regiment are still missing and fears are entertained for their safety A despatch from Bathurst received late this evening seems to intimate a still greater disaster to the British arms may shortly be expected I is stated a detachment of the West India regiment as well as the marines landed land-ed from the British ships are still away inland and grave fears are entertained for their safety The West Indiai ret detachment is commanded com-manded by Colonel Corbett and Captain Cap-tain Westmoreland is in command of the marines The natives about Bath urst express the opinion that the entire I missing force has ben destroyed The I soldiers and marines still in the bush are said to number about 200 r other reports placed the number at a much higher figure Admiral Bedford is said to believe the soldiers and marines are a strong enough force to take the offensive against the slaves and Colonel Cor bett has probably engaged the forces of Chief Fodisilah and is pursuing them The British admiral Is said to be taking steps to send reinforcements ish in the column direction followed by the Brit |
