Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

"TROOPER BIDDLE'S DEATH.

Trooper Glover, in a letter dated Vredfort 29th July, acquaints Mr. Thomas Biddle, of Armidale, with particulars concerning the melancholy death of his brother, Trooper J. W. Biddle. He says: —

It was in our second last action, a little over a week ago. With five others of a squadron he was scouting in advance of the main party. They saw what they thought to be one of the officers in the distance, a figure dressed mostly the same as our Mr. Tooth. They were cantering to try and catch up to him, when they were suddenly fired on at close range (80 yards) with explosive bullets by a party of about 30 Boers that had been lying concealed waiting for their approach. The unfortunate men were taken unawares and could do nothing to protect them- selves from the murderous attack. It turned out that the supposed officer was a Boer, dressed in khaki, precisely the same as our uniform. Poor Jack got his bullet in the thigh, where it exploded, and he bled to death in about half an hour, his last words being a request for a "drink of water," which was promptly procured. He died quietly and apparently without pain, and was buried next morning by four of his comrades in the action. The fifth man, Sergeant Nicholson had his nose shot off, and three out of the six horses were hit, so you can form an idea of how warm a corner they were in. The wonder to us all is, how any of the party escaped. The unfortunate death of our comrade cast quite a gloom over all who knew him in the regiment. It was jolly hard luck to go right through the campaign and then fall into a trap like that. A painful circumstance about the affair was that Jack had only that morning received a mail from N.S.W., about six letters, including one from yourself." - from the Armidale Chronicle 08 Sep 1900 (nla.gov.au)