The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, October 27, 1899, Page 1

The Call | Thls Paper not to be taken from the Libr'ary_ ‘444 VOLUME In Addition to the Serious Predicament of Her Troops in Natal England Seems to Be in a Fair Way of Causing Inter- esting Foreign Complications. MALTA, Oct. 27 —The British battleship Anson, cruiser Hawk and destroyer Bruizer have sailed in chase of a kussian steamship carrying arms for the PARIS, Oct. 27.—A dispatch to the Journal from Toulon says there is talk there of sending to the southwest coast of Africa a| naval division consisting of three second-class protected cruisers, dmiral Bienaime commanded by & n yminent Boers are not “soldiers in 1 n 1en and y from the Jameson red a correspondent tand against the ac- | fleld guns, which re- Transvaal The Bri h v complete were confldent 1y infantry 2 gte f that correspondent ex- British killed A’ been ex- fire of the s€ pre fewer B cted cor the r h the Boer M he: , 1t ap- wound ations for ry at the pear where it 1 ction have _adysmith hospt With regard to t reported that miles sc 1 tern frontier it is St recently ped ten Philip Kock says the | gunners | ural effect in | | pr LXXXVI—-NO. 149, SAN FRANCISCO, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1899. PRICE FIVE CENTS. Boers via Suez Canal. ited in the Burghersdorp district ap- ch to stand shoulder to nst the e e lBRlTlSH REPORT OF A BATTLE | AT KIMBERLEY cott Turner, rthward to At 9 o'c a | was quickly scattered,. Color the fire on them be and several fall. The ad opened returned. 1, 600 feet to the 1y ordered ment to proc mored train is alread; ott Tu; started pporting ay Colonel seventy itish gu who we e Boer armorc on. nother 2d h additional ammunitic Bo Botha and many ed. The British loss was three nd twenty-one wounded. The en- gement was a brilliant success for the | British forees e CAPTURE OF ’ A BOER FORCE IS REPORTED LONDON, Oct. rhe Cape Town cor- ondent of the Daily it 1s d there from » sources that itish issued from Mafeking, on 1y last, and surr 240 Boers. tch to the Cent own, dated Thursday, “The British at Kimberley a brilliant sortie, routing 7% Boe | The fighting lasted four hours. Two gur were captured. The Lancashire ment carried Kopjo at the point A Boer commandant nded and cap- - TEN THOUSAND BOERS IN HILLS AROUND DUNDEE LONDON, Oct. Z.—The Daily Mail pub- lishes the following dispatch from Pleter- maritzburg dated October 24: The residents of Dundee had a weary tramp of forty miles to the nearest town, | where they arrived in a pitiable plight, having lost everything: The refugees in- cluded Harry combe, former Premier of Natal, and the Dundee of the Dundee people that all a Saturday trains were arriving at Com- mandant General Joubert's headquarters Dannhauser from the Transvaal bor- magistrate. One at ve been 10,000 in the hilts around Dun- dee. took on six wagons loaded with thelr dead from the fleld of the first battle at Glencoe. Among the killed were several Dutch. A sad feature of the en- ment was that three Englishmen who impressed at Krugersdorp fought 1 the enemy, one of them being killed. thers, greatly affected, said they mpelled to fight. Pietermaritzburg defense ed to-day and wi 1 case of attack.’ BOERS ACCUSED OF DISREGARDING FLAG OF TRUCE LONDON, Oct. 27.—The | grapn_publishes this i special correspondent; “LADYSMITH, Monday.—In the latter part of Saturda action (at Elands Laagte) the Boers hoisted a flag of truce. Thereupon Colonel Hamilton ordered the men to cease firing. The troops stood up, when a party of Boers furiously resumed the firing. On the same day other parties were guilty of similar treachery, one fir- ing from a house which was being used as a hospital. Another party, when close ed, threw up their arms in token of rrender and took advantage of the sol- diers grounding their riflgs to shoot and in corps as assigned a posi- par: tion in Dally dispatch Tele- A Dutch circular is being secretly cir- | several instances to escape. Surgeons have -6 0909 flames. ® 2 © 0906 0 e o “tyrant who never | seen on the right flank and el Scott Tur- | train | der, binging Boers, and that there must | v |4 The natives report that the Boers | from fts | 1 | found that some expanding bullets have | | been used by the enemy. “Generals White, Hunter and French, with their staffs, made a round of the | hospltals to-day. The town hall and | | churches as well as tents are fitted up with beds. Medical arrangements are ample and complete. A number of wound- ed Boers were allowed to go Into their own hospitals near Elands Laagte.” | 'BASUTOS ARE | EAGER TO @ID = @40 B R B B e e O e O = GREAT BRITAIN LONDON, Oct. 26.—Advices from Cape s n to-day show that the Assembly. at | Putlatsu River was attended by all the principal Basuto chiefs. The resident commissioner, Sir Godfrey Lagden, was present. The action of the paramount chief, Lerothodi, In pledging the nation’s loyalty was emphatically confirmed by | the chiefs urging the claim that they be the Queen’s soldiers and be llowed to share in Great Britain’s strug- gle. Three cheers were given for the Queen by the natives, led by Lerothodl. | The British Commissioner discouraged the idea that the Dritish needed assist- | ance and bade the chiefs quell the e citement. ORIA, Oct. 21—Président Steyn | of the Orange Free State has lssued a n to the Basuto nation ex- ining the reasons for the war and also ting that the Boer forces have been | * placed near the Basutoland border. He makes known that the republic is at | | peace with the Basutos and wishes to | continue so0, adding that no- injury will be done to Basutos remalning quiet and | | not assisting the British. { |RESOLUTIONS ’ FOR MEDIATION ARE PRESENTED. WASHINGTON, Oct. 26 resolu- tions adopted at a mass-meeting held in Carnegie Hall, New York, October 11, ng the President to offer the friendly services of the United States in mediation between Great Britain and the Transvaal | and the Orange Free State republics, | were preser to the President this after- | by a delegation from New York | headed by Bergin, president of | the Holl y. The delegation also | included Alfred H. Love of Philadelphia, t of thé Universal Peace Union. Mr. Bergin, in his address presenting the petition to the President, said the delegation had no desire to embarrass the | | friendly relations between the tes and Great Britain. On the con- it was because of that friendliness | and good understanding that they pre- | ted the petition to the President In the hope that in the wise and good discretion of the exccutive, a w. 1t be found to offer the timely offices of the Government | of the United States In an endeavor to | allay the bloody conflict now going on in | Africa. This would be in line with the new diplomacy enunciated at The Hague peace conference. The hope was ex- | pressed ‘that honorable terms of peace | might be secured, the honor of both | parties be sustained, and the names of two of our sister republics net be stricken from the earth. No people would welcome our good offices llke the English people, | the South African republics were ready for mediation, and the Unfted States, as the friend of both, should be the best | mediator. noon preside; y B R | The President,in responding, thanked tha | gentlemen present for appearing and for the sentiments expressed in behalf of | peace. Such sentiments had _.is sym- | pathy, but in a case where so many di- | verse interests are Involved, moves must | be made with great reserve, lest, unwit- | tingly, injury be done some of the parties. The fact, moreover, must not be. over- looked that America had Interests at stake. The President reiterated that he | was for peace, and assured the delegation | that the petitlon would recefve his most earncst considerati BULLER EXPECTED SUNDAY. CAPE TOWN, Oct. Everybody 18 awaiting eagerly the arrival of General Redvers Buller, who Is expected on Sun- | day. It is certain that he will receive a | grana reception. 5 The practice of the authorities here fs to entrain all arriving troops alongside the vessel and dispatch them direct to the front, thus avoiding a march through | the city and Inevitable demonstrations. ‘CORDON AROUND KIMBERLEY | LONDON, Oct. 2.—There is little news from the Western border. The cordon around Kimberley is drawing closer, but hopes are expressed that a fiying squad- | ron will shortly sent to its relief. The Portuguese authorities have recon- ducted over the Transvaal - border 500 white and black - prisoners, whom the Boers released from their jalls and turned loose in Portuguese territory. 25. CRONJE BOMBARDS MAFEKING. PRETORIA, Oct, 24, via Lourenzo Marquez.—The bombardment of Mafeking by General Cronje’s commando began this morning. The women and children were given ample time to leave the town. f PRETORIA, Oct. 25, via Lourenzo Marquez.—The shelling of Mafe- king was resumed at daybreak this morning. Several houses are in -9 66 090 0 020 6-00-00-000-0900-0000-0-90-9 . | tvereD e be e e & * @ * @ * @ * General Yule's fore are cam’~% in other avaflable places. Deieieieiestoei et HOW THE BRITISH WERE DRIVEN BACK TO LADYSMITH Deadly Aim of the Boers That Materially Thinned the Ranks of the Retreating Troops. LONDON, Oct. 25.—The War Of- fice has received the following dis- patch from General White: ADYSMITH, Oct. 26, 1. p. m.— General Yule's column has just marched in heré after a very hard march during a night of exception- ally heavy rain. The men, though done up, are In,good spirits and only ‘want a rest. The enemy did not molest them. The War Office has recelved a telegram from General = White, dated Ladysmith, Thursday, giving a list of the captured officers of Hussars, etc., as cabled to the As- sociated Press yesterday. General White explained that he did,not have the ifst until General. Yule's force arrived to-day and adds that he understood they were all alive, but prisoners. B¢ D e e ONDON, Oct. 2.—Detalls of the fighting at Reitfontein are coming in slowly. A special dispatch from Ladysmith, dated October 24, filed after the fight, says: «On discovery that the Boers were massed to the westward of the main road to Dundee an attempt was made by a train to recover the body of Colonel Scott- Chisholm, - killed at Elands Laagte. The train was fired upon and obliged to retire, and General White moved out to attack the Boers, believed to be Free Staters who should have joined the Transvaalers at Elands Laagte. General White command- ed personally. The Fifth Lancers were placed on either flank. They first came in touch with the Boers below Modder~ spruit, where 1500 burghers occupled . a strong ridge, whence they opened fire at 1200 yards, hitting several British. In the meanwhile the Hussars and Natal Car- bincers advanced ‘unscathed through an opening in the ridge under fire of a Boer gun, while the Imperial Light Horse took part of the crest of the hill, the Boers re""l;xtngbout 9 o'clock a Boer gun stationed on the crest of Matawanaskop opened fire With great accuracy on the main force, which in the meantime had come up, but the shells falled to explode and the Brit- jsh artillery silenced the opposition. The Whole British force then advanced and the action became general. A large body of Boers occupied Strong. positigpns at Matawanaskop and the precipitous ridges surrounding it. The British guns held the position and the infantry advanced under the fire. The Glodcesters and Devons crossed a fearful fire zone beneath Tuitan- yoni hill, whence the Boers poured .a withering fire with such effect that thirty B R R e s ‘| of the attackers dropped in a distance of 200 yards. “Seeing the peril of the Devons and Gloucesters, General ‘White dispatched the Carbineers and Liverpools:to. take the enemy in the rear. A fierce rifle and ar- tillery duel was maintained for some time.. The British Maxims rattled, but the Boers, under cover of the rocks, remained cool and replied with an-incessant rifle fire. The Britlsh artillery swept the face of the hills and at length the shells be- United [+ 4+ + 4+ 4+ +4+4+4+4+4+4+4++ 4+ came so destructive that the Boers re- treated to another ridge, whence they were dislodged by the volunteers in the fuce of a galling fire. “The Boers soon reformed and took up a position on another ridge, but the volun- teers dashed across the intervening plat- eau, again rushed the Boer position and | drove them ‘back to the main force, oc- cupying Matawanaskop. The British then shelled the latter until clusters of Boers were seen leaving and retreating west- ward when the engagement close A special from Glencoe Camp, dated Oc- tober 23, says: “After the alleged victory Friday the British imagined they were free from fur- ther molestation for some days, but they soon found that the earlier reports of a sweeping success were exaggerated. The reported capture of all the Boer guns was incorrect. The burghers succeeded In re- moving some of them before the British carried the hill, leaving only the riflemen behind to cover their retreat. “‘On Saturday news was received of Gen- eral Joubert's main column threatening Dundee. General Yule quickly recogaized the impossibility of defending vorh Dun- dee and Glencoe against such superiority ‘of numbers, and sent word to Ladysmith of his dapgerous situation and ordered the evacuation of Dundee, which commencel with long range firing by the big guns at daybreak Sunday. The Boers mais ex- cellent practice and the shells from a forty-pounder occupying the Impatl Mountains dropped in and around the town. In the meanwhile the British had reached Glencoe In safety. There orders reached General Yule on Monday to fall back on Ladysmith. At the same time he was informed that a large force was waiting at Elands Laagte to assist his retirement. Glencoe Camp was accord- ingly evacuated. The precarious pesition of the British was not known to the Boers."’ A belated dispatch sent from Glencoe camp 6n the night of the battle in that vicinity admits that few Boer dead and wounded were found on the fleld and at- tempts to explain this by saying: “Throughout the fighting the Boers, in accordance with their custom, buried ‘their dead and carrled off their wounded immediately after they fell, those left representing only the casualties during the last moments of the fighting. Even their disabled cannon were removed,” al- though broken pieces of them ‘could be seen lying about.” An official British account of the fight at Reitfontein, given out at Cape Town, says: ‘Yesterday Sir George White, having ascertained by previous reconnoissance that the Free State forces had moved east from Besters-Statlon and were at- tempting to gain the road from Lady- smith to the north, moved out in the di- rection of Elands Laagte with the Fifth Lancers, Nineteenth Hussars, Imperial Light Horse, Natal Mounted, Volunteers, two, field batteries, one mountain battery and a brigade of infantry. The enemy posted a battery two ~milés south of Modderspruit’ and opened with infantry fire' at long range on the British advance guard, consisting of the Nineteenth Hus- sars. This was followed by artillery fire directed ~ with considerable accuracy PGPS S S B S G S I GENERAL SYMONS DIED A PRISONER AMONG THE BOERS Secretary Wyndham Furnished the Humiliating News to the LADYSMITH AND THE VICINITY; This little city, often called the Aldershot of South Africa, is at this time the center of interest for both the Boers and the British. With the addition of from Glencoe and Dundee to those of General White, already on.the ground, there are now in and about the place between twelve and thir- teen thousand British troops., while approaching it. dnd by this time probably investing it, on the north and east, are the Boers under General Joubert, who forced General Yule from Dundee, .and fought General White at Elands Laagte and Rietfontein, and on the west and southwest from Van Reenans, and other passes in the Drakensberg, the Orange Free State forces, making together an azgregate exceeding the British force by several thousand, with a good complement of field pleces, besides the heavy, long-distance gumns uged in the last attack on Dundee. On the hills about Ladysmith the British have also a number of heavy guns, so placed as to command all the approaches to the town. To the left of the town in the bend ‘of the river is the permanent camp, while the later additions of troops House of mons to-day. | ha The Dundee. In the course of a reply relative to all the British forces, but possibly the British resources would be strained, vision for this contingenc church in their charge. no such bullets. BOERS BRITISH WARSHIPS ARE CHASING A RUSSIAN STEAMER CARRYING ARMS FOR B e et o R e S o e g | | S am anCat SROST SO SRS SRCE St o e o o o <) D+ & e R S R e S o SeH-e-b> e e ebeiec® Commons. ONDON, Oct. 26:—The death of General Sir William Penn Symons, the Brit- ish commander at Glencoe, who was shot in the stomach in the battle with the Boers there October 20, was officially anonunced in the House of Com- Parliamentary Secretary of the War Office, Mr. Wynd- in announcing the death of General Symons, said: he news was considerately sent to Genera] White by General Joubert, which confirths the impression that General Yule had to leave his wounded at We hope to have shortly full information on the dispositions made by Generidl Yule for his wounded before leaving. The House will be glad that we have a further report from Mafeking, which wa As the establishment thére of the Nineteenth Hussars wa explanation why infantry officers fell into the enemy’'s haiids at the same time, and it is assumed they were mounted infantry.” to know all right on October 21. complete, there is no the arrangements made for the care of the wounded; Mr. Windham said there were ample stocks of medicines, etc., with i if they were forced to care for many Boers, and the Government was making pro- On October 23, he added, three Boer doctors, with as- sistants, arrived at Ladysinith, and the Boer wounded were placed in the Dutch These doctors expressed gratitud unexpected arrangements for the comfort and welfare of the wounded. Replying to John Dillon; Irish Nationalist, member of Ea ham declared that the British troops were not using expanding bullets and had and satisfaction at the Mayo, Mr. Wynd- against the British guns. An action last- ing six hours ensued at Reitfontein Fri- day. The enemy- were driven from the hills commanding the roads. Sir George ‘White's object being accomplished the column returned "to Ladysmith. The enemy is believed to have suffered. “Several Boers own officially that they lost 100 killed at Elands Laagte. Three hundred ' prisone wounded and un- wounded, are in the hands of the British, including several of high position. “In the action at Elands Laagte, Oc- tober 21, the Johannesburg force with a detachment of the German’ corps was completely broken up. “All was well at Mafeking up to Octo- ber 21. All was well at Kimberley up to October 23. The defenders are in good spirits.” X Other accounts dwell on the severity of the rifle fire at Reitfontein. They say that when the Boers finally retreated the Lancers cut them off from their horses and inflicted severe losses on them. The retreat, it is added, ended in a general rout. It is announced in a dispatch from Ladysmith, dated October 23, that strong reinforcements of infantry and artillery have arrived from Pietermaritzburg. It was also reported that the Boers were again massing near Elands Laagte and that a Free State force several thousand strong was occupying Besters Station. ST KILLED AT ELANDS LAAGTE. DURBAN, Natal, Oct. 23 (Delayed in transmission).—Ex-State Attorney Kos- ter, the defender of Von Veltheim, the murderer of Wolf A. Joel, at one time the partner of the late Barney Barnato, was among the killed at Elands Laagte. It is said heré that Colonel Schiel's Ger- man force was almost annihilated at that battle. GERMANY’S INCREASED NAVY. BERLIN, Oct. 2.—The correspondent here of the Associated Press learns au- thoritatively that the conferences be- tween the Secretary of the Admiralty, Admiral Tirpitz, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Count von Bulow, and the Im- perial Chancellor, Prince Hohenlohe, re- ! lated solely to the increase of the Ger- man navy by speedier and larger ships than contemplated under the programme. . This is due to the radically changed political situation of the world. It is not intended as a threat to any one. The conferences did not refer to sending warships to South Africa and no decis- fon has been reached as to what shape the new naval plans will reach the Reichstag. LRl RHODES IS CONFIDENT. LONDON, Oct. 2.—The Daily Tele- graph in a dispatch from its correspond- ent at Kimberley dated Monday says:. *“‘Cecil Rhodes is strongly of the opinion that the Boers’ campaign will utterly collapse. Locally the enemy continues to show a nervous: and unenterprising dis- position, but the greatest precautions are taken against a surprise.” — WHITE WILL ATTACK. LONDON, Oct. 26.—General Sir George Stewart White, according, to a dispatch from Cape Town to the Daily Maii, will attack the Orange Free Staté forces in Natal as soon as General Yule's men have rested. Strong British reinforcements are being sent up from the Cape. e SIX BOERS KILLED. CAPE TOWN, Oct. 2%.—According to a dispatch’ received here from Pretoria, in the engagement between the British forces under Colonel Pluer and the Boers at Rhodes Drift, six Boers were killed and four prisoners taken. MORE TROOPS FOR THE WAR. LONDON, Oct. 26.—Orders were issued to-day for an additional 5000 troops to sail for South Africa, between November 4 and November 18. ST, ARRIVAL OF TRANSPORTS. DURBAN, Oct. 26.—Martial law has been proclaimed throughout Natal. A transport has arrived with a battalion of the Rifle Brigade. & CAPE TOWN, Oct. 26.—The transport