17 JANUARY 1903, Page 3

A curious episode in the annals of military horseflesh ter-

minated on Friday week near Colchester. A Mexican broncho remount broke out of the depot stables, and defying all attempts at recapture, ran wild over East Essex for nearly a month. The account of its successive escapes by flood and field reads like a romance of Mayne Reid, and 'De Wet,' as the horse was nicknamed, led his pursuers the merriest dance of all on the last day of his freedom. A small army of soldiers, assisted by an ex-cowboy and a lady rider, were engaged against him, and after being surrounded by troops and brought to bay, he is alleged to have jumpedon to the roof of a barn, broken through a barbed-wire fence, swum a river, executed a wonderful double leap over two hedges and a lane, twice extricated himself from the noose of a lasso, and floored a Guardsman in a cabbage garden before he was headed into adisused stable, and lassoed through a hole in the roof! 'De Wet,' one learns, is now in the "equine hospital" under special guard, and receiving every attention from the authori- ties, who entertain hopes of breaking him in.