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Show TIBETAN WARRIORS ENGAGE BRITISH FORCES AND TERRIFIC BATTLE ENSUES TUXA, British India, March 31. News has been received here of severe fighting, the Tibetans having hav-ing attacked the British mission under Col. Younghusband. Thdro were two engagements and thc Tibetans wcro repulsed with heavy loss. The British captured the Tibetan camp at Guru. While the British advance virtually had been unopposed, thc expedition suffered suf-fered great hardship from the Intense cold and It was sometimes found Impossible Im-possible to work tho Maxim guns and rifles owing to thc congealing of the oil. The country Is of the bleakest, wilH-out wilH-out a sign of vegetation, and the expedition ex-pedition had to face piercing winds and clouds of dust, while there was a heavy fall of snow last night. At S o'clock this morning a flying column started to reconnolter the Tibetan Ti-betan camp at Guru, whereupon a General from Llhassa, with a quaint rtitlnue, came to interview Col. Young-husband. Young-husband. The General asked the Colonel to retire re-tire with his mission to Yatung for the purpose of carrying on negotiations, threatening an attack If 'the mission proceeded. Col. Younghusband epllcd that negotiations ne-gotiations had been proceeding fruitlessly fruit-lessly for fifteen years and that retirement retire-ment was now Impossible. The Tibetan General withdrew and Col. Younghusband ordered his troops to endeavor to disperse the Tlbetaii3 blocking the road without firing upon them. ' For a time the tactics of the British were successful, but afterward the attitude at-titude of thc Tibetan leaders convinced Col. MncDonald of the necessity of disarming dis-arming them. While tho forces were face to face on the opposite of the walls which the Engagement Marked by Heavy Losses on the Native Side, and British Also Suffered Battlefield Strewn ' With the Dead and Wounded. .Tibetans had built across the highway to oppose the advance, the Indian tioops? quietly deployed their flanks and effectively enclosed 1600 Tibetans In a circle, like herding sheep. The members mem-bers of the mission, the press correspondents corre-spondents and the general staff, rode up to Inspect the capture, and were laughing and talking. They were unaware of the Impending tragedy, being. evidently heedless of the sullen demeanor of the Tibetans. The latter presently began to hustle some Sheiks, who replied with the butt ends of their rifle?. Then the Tibetans fired a pistol, wounding a Sheik, and this was the signal for all the Tibetans to draw their swords and rush at their captors, who opened fire' on tho surging mob. Tho officers emptied their revolvers. re-volvers. The Tibetans found them unable un-able to climb the wall, which, they themselves had built. Finally about half of them were able to break away to tho rear, where they came- under the fire of the artillery. Of the entire Tibetan force only about half escaped b.c-Ing either killed or wounded. The ' Tibetans numbered about 1500 and their resistance of the effort to disarm them led to a smart engagement. engage-ment. The situation for a few moments was critical, Col. MucDonald and Col. Younghusband being ofily a few yards from tho advancing Tibetans. Revolvers Re-volvers and bayonets were used and then a rlfie fire was resorted to, at which the Tibetans fled, but not befon: neveral casualties resulted In thc British Brit-ish ranks. The correspondent of the Dally Mail with the mission was severely wounded. The Tibetans lost heavily, owing to the inferiority of their weapons, which were matchlock rlllcs; but they displayed dis-played the greatest courage, many of them coming on even after they had been seriously wounded. After the action ac-tion there were heaps of dead,' a long trail of dead and wounded extending to the rear. After a short halt the advance continued. con-tinued. Ncarlng' the Tibetan camp at Guru, a second action look place, in which tho artillery playod the largest part. 1 Finally the Tibetans retreated over the hills, with the exception of about sixty, who obstinately held the village, which was finnlly taken by a mounted bayonet charge. Among the Tibetans killed were thc Llhassa General, the military commandant com-mandant of Pharl and Lata and thc representative of the Golden monastery, monas-tery, to whose Influence and violent hostility the existing difficulties were largely due. The Tibetan losses are believed to bo over -100, while the British casualties were about a dozen. The British force returned to Tuna this evening and stated that rifles bearing bear-ing the Russian imperial stamp and Russian ammunition wero f6und on the wounded Tibetan officers. |