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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Herald, 1914-11-20, Page 3DEATH OF LORD RO FRIS Had Gone on a Brief Visit to France to Greet the Indian Troops A despatch from Loudon says: The Official Press. Bureau issued the following announcement: • "Lord Kitchener announces with deep regret, which he knows will be shared 'by the whole army, that lie received the following telegram from Sir John French, the com- mander of- the British foree:s in France: " `I deeply regret to tell you that Lord Roberts died at 8.o'cloak this (Saturday) evening.' "Lord Roberts was on a brief visit to France in order to greet the Indian troops, of Whichhe is col. onel-in-.chief. He contracted a chill on Thursday, and succumbed after a. short illness to an attack of pneu- monia." Age a Contributory Cause. His .age—he was 82 on last Sep- tember 30—was a oontri�'butory cause of death, although he had been in his usual health lately, which was exceptionally good for a -man of his age. A despatch frim Paris ,says : It is learned here that the end of Lord Roberts was glorious, that, ,al- though he had contracted a chill al- most immediately after his arrival in France, he insisted on going to the front to see the troops. He shook hands with the men, and in moving a:bout crossed what is now •a veritable bog. An affection of the lungs developed, and Lord Roberts returned to Boulogne. "I don't etgpect to recover," he is quoted as saying after his arrival ate Bou- logne, "but I am glad to die near many of my old comrades." When the news of his death reached the trenches many of the veterans sob- bed. The French nation regards Lord Roberts' end as the most in- ' spiring historic incident, of this war. Was About to Return. Lord Roberts left England on Wednesday of last week with his daughter, Lady Aileen Roberts, and his son-in-law, Major Lewin. The party had a rough trip crossing the Channel, but the aged General felt no ill-effects and went through with his programme on the Contin- ent.In fact, he . was .about to re- turn 'home when his death occurred. Earl Roberts had motored to the British bases and aamps, had re- viewed the Indian !troops and had conferred with the leading officers. It was not until .about dinner time Friday evening that he complained of a slight chill. As he was subject to more or less trifling chest troubles, he followed his usual course and went to bed early. As his temperature increased, medical men were called in and pronounced his condition critical. They reliev- ed the General of what pain he was suffering, and he fell asleep. His death occurred during sleep. The passing of the great warrior has created profound grief throtigls- out the country. At all churches, and in the camps, where the sol-, diers are training, touching refer- ences were made to his death, and the "Dead March in Saul" was played. Lord Roberts', Life in Brief. Born at Cawnpore, India, Sep- tember 30, 1832; entered Bengal ar- tillery September 12, 1851; commis- sioned Lieutenant (at relief of Lucknow). June B. 1857; married in Ireland, May 17, 1859; promoted to Captain, Nov. 2, 1860; 'breveted Major, November 13, 1860; breveted Lieutenant-Colonel, August 15, 1868; Senior Staff Officer, Lushai campaign, 1871-1872; breveted Ma- jor-General, December 31, 1878; commanded Kuram Field Force, Af- ghanistan, 1878-1879; commanded Kabul Field Force, September, 1879-1880; commanded in Southern Afghanistan, October, 1880; receiv- ed thanks of Parliament, May 5, 1881; Commander in Chief, Madras, November, 1881-1885; Commander - in -Chief, India, 1885 -April, 1893; created Baron Roberts of Kanda- har, 1893; created Field Marshal, May 25, 1895; Commander-in-chief, Ireland, October 1, 1895; Command- er-in-chief, ` South Africa, 1899- 1900; Commander-in-chief of Brit- ish Army, 1901-1904; Chairman Im- perial Defence Committee, 1905. BRITAIN HAS LOST GREAT IJATTLESHIP The audacious Comes in Contact with a Mine Off the. Irish Coast. A despatch from New York says : Absolute confirmation that the Bri- tish super -Dreadnought Audacious was sunk twenty miles off the ,coast of Ireland on October 27 has been received in this city in letters from English correspondents. As the Audacious was going down she flashed a wireless call that was caught by the Olympic, which was steaming cautiously toward the coast of Ireland, only a few miles away. Almost at tira moment that the wireless message was caught, the hazy outline of the battleship was seen by all 'the passengers on the Oly mpic's deck. Full steam was put on, despite the fact that the captain of the Olympic had been warned to look out for.mines, and the race to rescue the crew of the Audacious was begun. Half .an hour later the Olympic was standing by and the Audacious was rapidly settling. A very rough sea was running, Despite this fact the Olysnpio's captain bettered life- boats manned and lowered, calling for volunteers, Twine as many mien responded as were needed, . The work of rescue went on with- out a hitch, .elthough several times manse of the small boats were cap- sized. Before the crew of the Au- dacious was ,teans-shipped several Vessels of the English ,squadron in the Irish sea came up and aided in the work, 'The 'crew was transferred to the Olympic at noon, three ,hours .after the accident. Tho Aud:aciotls did not ea down oustafter an a cidental explosion n her stern, but was deliberately hheeyn up by they men of the cruiser Liverpool ,to remove her from the track of navigation. The Liverpool had taken off her commander and those of the crew who had remained aboard after the Olympic had to abandon her effort to tow her into sheet water. i4d, H4 ,ti:YY,fii Gerutan Crown 1'rinee`s Mother -in - Law Ilas Renounced Germany. The Grand Duchess Anastasia of Meoklenbourg-Schwerin, mother-in- law•of the Orown Prince Frederick William, has renounced her Ger- man nationality and resumed the nationality of her birth, which is Ruseian. Hereafter she will be known as the Grand Duchess Mika- lepitscdi; She is the Czar's cousin and sister of the Grand Duke Nich- olas and Michael, She has given her beautiful villa on the Raiviera for the use of the wounded soldiers, or -•.: b For Enver Kills s 5 1Germans� FA deapatoh from Petrograd says Pere ha' been a. revolt oS the Oon- tuia nople garrison. The German 'e were k ed by u bob s ala Bae palate a Enver Paah a the Miro= zsber for War. Enver Pasha li1msel,f- was unhurt, A letter whish was', found declared that the boinb w* an it for the man who saki Turkey to ermany, PPITISII OFFICER GIVEN IRP CEOSS i e Saved n Wounded Gcruan.and `Thenen Received a Mortal Hurt Himself. A despatch from Landon says : .A Paris despatch to the Central News says: During the recent fighting, the German troops, after a fierce charge, retreated, carrying all.•their wounded except one Bran. A Bri- tish .officer who went' out oto' bring insthe wounded soldier was,.iiitnself wounded, but managed to drag the German soldier to aheltes, where later both were picked up by a German ambulance, As a, reward for his bravery <,nd humanity, the British 'eflieer ;re- ceived the Iron Cross from the German commanding officer, He was !sent back to his own trenches,. where he was recommended for the Victoria Cross, but :succumbed to his injuries. Turks Sent to Fort Henry. Bound for Fort Henry as prison- ers of war a train load of Turks passed through the Toronto termi- nals from Brantford. This was the first occasion that any citizens of the 'Ottoman Empire have been,. placed in custody, and the arrival of the train in Toronto created a great deal of interest. The train was composed of two coaches and a baggage car, which was filled with the effects of the prisoners. The total number of Turks arrested was 120. A full company of the local militia was placed in charge of the prisoners, and while, ten men were placed upon the platforms with loaded rifles as guards the remain- der were seated in the coaches be- tween their charges. 3 WEEKS RAIN OF SHELLS QHEEN PAID VISIT. TO WOUNDED MO Defence of Ypres Will Rank as One Greatest '.Episodes A despatch from, London says: The Official Press Bureau issued the following statement ; "The operations during the last few days have consisted mainly of fighting to the north of the Lys, where the paints of interest were at first on the line of Hollebecke, Wytschaete and Messines. There have also, been severe encounters on the line from Zanvoorde to Frelinzhein. "The character ofthe fighting has been ane of frequent and vigor- ous infantry attacks from the Ger- mans, accompanied by heavy shell fire, alternating with equally vigor - ons counter-attacks, the general re- sult being the maintenanceof our line, not without considerable losses on our side, but with still heavier losses o•n 'the other. Six machine guns and over one hundred prison- ers were taken by us in one day. "The German artillery fire was practically a continual bombard- ment, intended to pulverize the de- fence preparatory to the advance of the infantry. In the centre the struggle has been at Ypres, the de- fence of which willcertainly be reckoned in history as ane of the most striking episodes of the Bri- tish army. "For more than three weeks the position, which projects like a bas- tion into the enemy's lines, has been held under a rain of shells which has hardly ceased by day or night. During this time the enemy has poured successive waves of infantry Tillel LATE LORD ROBERTS.. FORCING A WAY INTO GERMANY Russians Wearing Down the 1)e- fences of East and West Prussia. A despatch from London says: A general engagement, on which the fate of German's eastern front- ier provinces may depend, is rapid- ly: developing all along the extend- ed line from Stalluponen: to Cra cow, Where the advancing forces of the Czar have come into contact with the armies of the Kaiser, the latter evidently being determined at last to offer a stubborn resist- ance to the Russian progress. Al- ready the whole eastern and south ern border land of East Prussia is ringing with conflict, particularly in the regionof the Mazur Lake's), where Slav and Teuton are strug- gling for. the possession of passes, whose : relinquishment by either, army means serious defeat owing to the nature o1 the oo'lntryi The Germans fAiled in a vigorous offensive ua the • Vtstiila into Rus- sian Polanc from the stronghold of nom, According to official' state - anent ;from Petrograd, the Germans sottght to reach Wloclawek,' 80 roil e8 .from Thorn, by a simultaneous ad- vance on both sides of the river, but were repulsed by the Russians. The German force in this direction is said to have been strengthened by troops :hurriedly transferred from Ly ek, where no effort was made to cheek the Russian advance some days ago. Of the fighting on the Posen and Silesia fronts the Russian general staff merely says that "in the Czen- stochowit region the Germans are moving gradually to the Silesian frontier," Unofficial reports pass- ed by the ,censor and printed in the Petrograd newspapers, however, state that severe defeat has been intii.oted on the Germans near Kal- isz,, and that the enemy has retreat- ed rn'to his own country after losing twelve heavy guns and leaving many dead on the field, s$ flRI'CIal1 LOSSES 57,000. • A despatch from London .says: The British casualties in the war up to October 31 were approximately 57,000 men of all ranks, This esti- mate was given by Premier Asquith in the House of Commons in reply to a question by Edward T. John member of the House from East Denbigghshire. Premier Asquith gave the British casualties, and add. ed &Who was not in a position to esti nate the losses of. the other allied powers or those of the enemy. of History's against it, only to see them break to pieces, one after the ether,' The !bombardment of Ypres serv- ed to absolve the allies of the obli- gation of .looking after nearly . one thousand -German prisoners,i The German shelle: fell op the railway station, where they evidently hop- ed. to blow up one of,the armored trains. At the moment prisoners were awaiting the arrival -of a spe- cial train to convey them to the south of France. They were killed in .appalling numbers, only 284 sur- viving unscathed. One hundred and sixty-one were wounded and conveyed to the British base hospit- als. The others are still Unburied at the railway station. The Ger- mans began a night attack and they were well on toward Bethune. The town seemed to be at their mercy: They had reset little opposition, for the thin line of khaki had retreated before them and occupied a posi- tion on the slopes of a hill. Tlie British infantry opened a terrify- ing rifle fire which decimated the Germans. In the meantime the latter had brought their artillery forward and in the stampede that ensued after the British fire opened their gun crews and infantry be- came a panic-stricken mass of hu- manity. The British guns did their work mercilessly. The Germans were driven back helter-skelter, leaving piles of dead. Their guns were also ,abandoned, with several rounds of ammunition. BRITISH SEIZE TURKISH FORTS Sheikh Said. at Entrance of Iced Sea. Occupied by Marine ' Force. A despatch from London says : The secretary of the Admiralty an- nounces the success of operations against the Turkish forts at Sheikh Said, on the Strait of Bab el Man- deb: at the entrance, .of the Gulf of Aden, and of the occupation of the Turkish forts at Turba by Indian Troops, assisted by the British cruiser Duke of Edinburgh. "The Turkish fort of Turba,.. says the Admiralty report, "is situ- ated on the rocky heights close to the boundary of Turkish territory and the Aden protectorate. The guns of the fort command the isth xg.us connecting- the peninsula of Sheikh Said with the mainland, "Three' battalions of troops were landed in the face of opposition, but under cover •of the Duke of Edinburgh's fire, which had previ- ously disabled the Turba fort. The Indians attacked the enemy's pose - t tions, being opposed by well con- eealed artillery and infantry fire. "When the hills cotnmandin Menheli were occupied, the opposi- tion weakened and e00 of the enemy escaped over the let:limns con camels or by boats, Six Turks were killed, the remainder being wounded or taken prisoners, "The fort was occupied and a large •amount of munitions of war and six field guns were captured,. The Indian casualties were one offi- cer and fifteen men wounded, and four men killed, There were no casualties on the ctuis•er,'' The' Sultan bas refui4ed to pro- claim a holy war, but; at the urgent request of Enver Pasha; Minister of War, signed a proclamation ad- dress'd to the army and navy in Which lie exhorted all lIosletns to fight Turkey's enemies, especially the English, Who, it says, aim at the annexation of Persia and Arabia. The proclamation declares that the English attempted to corrupt the Arab chiefs but failed, and everybody is- now united -under the C'aliph's flag. AN'PHiil.li'I'I'fill PAI':ERS laliidiiiait=tl Hearts a Soldiers with Gifts of Pipes and • Clothing. A despatch from London says Queen Mary paid a, visit to Paagn�' ton,. in Devonshire, in order to in- spect the American Woman's Heb petal, wheresome 200 wounded sole diers frons the front are being tend- ed. Accompanied by Lady:- Arthur Paget, Lady Randolph and Mrs. Lewis Harcourt, members of • the Hospital Committee, and her per- sonal suite, the Queen • left 'Lon- don and remained in the hospita for more than two hours, which were passed in visiting the wards, talking to the patients, and distr%-, bating among them personal pre- seats of pipes, shirts, cigarettes andel warm mufflers. The Queen, who was shown round the wards by Dr. Howard N. Beale and other American it nbers of the staff, which is entirely American, and consists of two American Red Cross units of six surgeons and 24 nurses, was greatly struck by the efficiency displayed, which is en- tirely due to American effort, the whole sum needed for the support of the hospital being c.pntributed by Americans. FAIL TO BLOCK RUSSIANS. German Defence Already Has Bryn Pierced in Three Provinces. A despatch from Landon ..says: The situation in the eastern their.i.:res of war is summarized by military critics as more favorable to Russia. than at any time since the outbreak of hostilities over three months ago. Germany and Austria have failed twice in powerful offensive •move- ments, and are now entirely con- cerned with the problem of block- ing the Russians from German ter- ritory. In this they have not been wholly successful, since Russian troops are further within East Prussia than ever before, and have even broken •through the Warthe line its West Poland, and gained a foothold at various points in Posen and Silesia. This appears to be due not so much to the weakness of the German re- sistance, bier to the constantly growing power of the !Russian at- tack, and to the !superior general- ship of the Russian commander -in •chief. Russia has been able not merely to repair losses, but to add at least 200,000 trained troops' to her first line armies every month. Seven Russian armies, estimated as numbering 9,400,000 men, are now attempting to close in on Ger- many. On the Russian right wing two armies are advancing toward the East Prussian defence line of Danzig -Thorn with the obvious purpose of holding the River Vis- tula from the Baltic to Thorn, and snaking any turning movement by the Germans in the north impossi- ble when the central armies, now advancing in West Poland against `. Breslau, are ready to strike with full force, ' FEAR FAMINE IN GOATS. French Animals are Being Feil to British Indian Soldiers. A despatch :from New York says: . deices reaching here to the effect rat the British Government is feed - ng its Indian troops in the field on rench goats are worrying glove mporters in this country. There remises to he a shortage in goat ins for glove manufacture, not be- e -use the Indian troops eat the en - re goat, but because they are sing the skins as nsats'tu lie on the trenches. To snake sure that by no .chance iouid the meat served offend the eligious scruples of the 'Hindus, ie .British Goverment has been ruing goat neat. The information is that the In - an troops are consuming between ve andr six thousand carcases a y, or five . hundred dozen old ate. Assuming that the war lasts rily six months, a most conserva- �Ye 'assumption, these troops will nsunie approximately ninety ousand dozen goats. Because of is destruction of the goats there likely to be a shortage in French dskins. SPREADS TO CHILDREN. xi cies �attch fi m v' ' m Pzo idene'te, R.I. N s Feat that the foot aand oath disease had spread to human stags was expressed by Federal an State authorities. Four, chil- en of a Providence man who• nod infected cattle were foitn.lt have sores in their mouths. A bo of fouri.cen who had taken care the cows had the most pro-, unced symptoms. The .ehi1dren ve been examined by s�ererai dopy;, l , bi.it the nature of the disease s not. been determined definitely, A t1 F s il� ti u in 51 tl se di fl da go 0 ti co th th is Id sa lit be a dr ow to of no ha to ha Order-in.Colulcil Makes it a C'rtall- • nal Otfenne to Possess Them. A despatch from Ottawa says; The order -in -Council, making it a criminal offence to circulate or pos- sess seditious anti-British•and Ger- man papers, which are coming into Canada from American cities, will be rigidly enforced, The matter is to be taken up by the Postmaster - General, and special officers ap- pointed to e,nforoe »the law, The penalty is $,000, or two years' im- pprisonnaonb, !There is amid to.be a heavy citeulation of surh papers in Montreal,