The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, January 25, 1900, Page 1

SAN FRANCISCO, THURSDAY, JANUARY PRICE FIVE CENTS. WARREN CAPTURES KEY TO BOERS’ POSITION 14 vance to Relieve Ladysmith. B Battle in the British Ad-| Reports of Very Heavy Losses to the | British—=General Woodgate Among the Long Llst of Wounded LONDON, Jan. 25.—The War Office has just issued the follow- g dispatch from Spearmans Camp, dated January 25, 12:10 “Genera, Warren's troops last night occupied Spion Kop, sur- g the gs o2 which fled. It has been held by us all day we were heavily attacked, especially by a very annoying fear our casualties are considerable and I have to inform t General Woodgate was dangerously wounded. n is of the opinion that he has rendered the » untenable. The men are splendid.” et th BN TN e e et e e e e T e Tie i e i e e e et 0 e 0:30 p. m.—The lled the enemy on The infantry, under Boers re- Tues es behind a held T m and the infantry list was small. he Times from Spear- for hours. he British ar- are preparing to 1 the ridges, which e Drakensberg many We have not ad- 1ichments during the duel continued from following dispatch from January 23, 9:30 p. m arren’s force cannonaded and of Spion I\’np near the Acton ated with the other bat- , causing the desperately positions west eTY CO-Oper, s ich the re being slowly driven. To- using also the captured 5 ualties were less to- e a general I engage- otgieters Drift in BRITISH ACCUSED OF - SHOCKING BRUTALITY rday, L hA. Government f officiale. who are £ pro ng life and prop he latter they e by the nformants are convinced that th rabbl save the ‘n' 'Iyr retreat of 4 m ng the Boer: t the war is due to that the only revenge pos amite the mines. h to the Daily Marquez, dated Mafil aal were stopped with the exception o nt erder BULLER’S DEFEAT IS d to surrender ence cars and their and let the doctor, e’ wounded return to arrying their personal | Special Dispatch to The Call acks NEW YORK, Jan. 25.—The Journal ha expected from the | this from London: Buller has been de. jolation of the feated There is no use trying to hide th 4 . =upplemented . prove it. There n the front to. d is hoping against that another dis. h arms Spion Kop at nigh Ate that 1 MAY HAVE BEEN HEAVILY REINFORCED m —To- Kop is BULLER MACRUM NOT INCLINED —The State De > himself nder a different im The fact that the United State: Senate confirmed a successor to Mr Ma crum as C by the State Department as sufficien: evidence that he was thereby ousted no from his pcst at Pretoria, but en nly y from the service of the United Government. ——— Ladysmith on Half Rations. LONDON, Jan. 24—The Times pub lishes a letter from Ladysmit December 19, the writer of w Har Ths BOMPAA B Back ot hatt tig tions for at least two months, led which Rand from the fury f s the from Wednesday, ng all passengers book- by £ memt of the Russlan ambulance | corps, who proceeded by spectal trafn.” e ALMOST A CERTAINTY 8 e by s hope, t t e of hope which for the last few TO LOSE HIS POSITION ¢ to repudicte three auihori- issued 10° the nsul to Pretoria, t e United States Consular » in any acity, yet it appears t he 3 nsul to Pretoria is regaried t t BRITISH PUBLIC FEARS BULLER HAS MET DEFEAT London War Office Believed to Be Withholding News of Disaster to British Arms on the Tugela River. Special Cable to The Call and the New York Herald. O O O RO R OO RO N N O N O OO OO O OORORORIROR DRORORIRORGLO g BRUSSELS, Jan. 24.—Nearly 100,000 signatures have been appended to the address promoted | by M. le Jeune and other members of the Universal Peace Society, asking President McKinley to medi- 31 | ate. It will be forwarded te Washington in the course of a few days. | @GN OO OO RGO RO O OISR DRROURURONIN VRNORORINGRONTO = Copyright, 1900, by James Gordon Bennett. 3 =i | ONDON, Jan. 25.—Up to. half-past 2 o'clock this morning, a little more than twenty-four hours after the arrival of General Buller's no- tification that he intended to make a night attack, no news of the results of that movement had reached unofficial Snglan Whether the officlals at the would not be likely to be put in at once.| As to the other seats of war, General | Probably the assailing line would not be | French reports a small reconnoissance. | stronger than 5000 men, but would be fol- | Methuen sends word that he has made a lowed by strong supports. itelm against the Boer position to locate | It is significant to recall the fact that | the disposition of their principal force. | there have been three disastrous British | He has probably also dispatched a raid- | faflures in night attacks during this war— | IN€ party under General Babington. at Stormberg, at Magersfonteln and the| Kimberley is again being subjected to (a Boer bombardment. ar Office have received any intelligence | Suffolks’ assault upon a kopje near Coles- Colonel Plummer | or not—and there are reasons for believ- | berg. The fact is pointed out that condi- 1 Is making all efforts to advance to Mafe- | ing that have—nothing has been | tions in Natal at present are favorable to | King, which is holding out vigorously. they The nights at this period | The morning newspapers all consider the Tugela situation one of the greatest | danger. The Dally Telegraph say “What the result of the attack is no one can say. In every direction the Boers have checked our armies upon our own | soil. It is only the weakness and isola- | fon of the army which have saved us from positive perhaps fatal disas- such an attack. are longer than are England’s in mid- | summer; the evening would be cool and a e War Office is walting, | crescent moon would certainly not throw | eive better news before tak- | too much light on the midnight march. e e . made pub] There is a deep-seated im- n that General Buller has been at ecked, but that the fighting con- and e MORLEY DENOUNCES | GREAT BRITAIN'S COURSE —— | LONDON, Jan. 24—John Morley, ad- | dressing his constituents at Forfar, made but little reference to the present aspect of the war in South Africa, confining him- | self chiefly to a renewal of his indictment of the “policy which led to hostiiltles.” | He ridiculed “the notion that a few Boer successes entitle the Transvaal to be de- scribed as a first-class military power,"” and declared that “the fact of the Boers | sending the ultimatum no more disposed | of all other questions than the deflance of the American colonists in throwing the tea Into Boston harbor disposed of all the Continued on Second Page. Qv s st e oo eiesrieg | mTHE G (M el HevszER USED BY Gl SEh yARsE Asdwsy SPION KOP PO PP IDI 0000404000040 00900904D40 0040+ 0000904+040009000 | .‘0—04‘6 R e e A R e e BRI SO R RCaS TERS DR|=T‘ N L (oxxd JHE B "r BNRI B A P Ciosieieio ing the public into its confidence. As only countless rumors have been circulated in the absence of trustworthy intelligence. Tales of Brit- ish victory and a decisive Boer defeat | were coupled In the same breath almost with stories of Buller having been re- pulsed by Boers and the British being in retreat. London newspapers, be it sald to their credit, took no notice of these wild rumors, not one of them appearing in print. No day in London during the whole progress of the war has been quite like yesterday. The news contained in Bul- ler's message that the intended assaulf upon Splon Kop on Tuesday night was enough of itself to keep all minds on the rack of anxiety and feverish excitement. Toward evening vague abroad, such as are usually a perfod cf suspense, when a chance ut- terance {s magnified into an authorita- tive statement and a surmise {s mistaken is natural, rumors were the fruit of for a certainty. Among other things sald vere that the attack had failed; that »r's statement was Intended as a | blina ana his real iIntention was wholly GAGE BOWED BENEATH THE RAILROAD ROD The Extra Session Was Hatched in a Conspiracy. Southern Pacific Dictators Insist That Balloting for Senator Must Begin Next Tue_gi_ay. HE approaching extra session of the L ing gemeral attention from men of affai is naturally asked Gage issued the call. That the why and un egislature is engag- s and the question r what influences Governor Governor of this State is a crea- ture of Dan Burns and the exclusive political property of the Mexi- can is a fact admitted with the deepest humiliation, but never without question. That Governor is acknowledged, and that the mand of Burns no one doubts. extra But nipulations of the conspirators were mysterious. theless will ob vill of Burns Ga th 1 sion was at the cc este until the secret ma- w they are pub- lic property and this morning they are presented. The extra session of the State Legislature was born la. in room 962—the room of Jack Wright—at the Palace Hotel this room Governor Gage, William F. Herrin, Wright met to prepare the call for icy and plan their campaign for the ele ator. In that room the Governor head of the law department of the Southern Pacific Company, is @ Democrat when he is not doing the politics of recutive of California counselec chief ez mento division superintendent of the who is also a Democrat. The Gov a defaulter in every public position of trust he and with these precious advisers dle the State with great expense, spectators of an indecent ectacle lift a rascal into a position of honor that the Governor of California decided to call the ernor called into the conference a man 1 Dan Burns and Jac the extra session, on of @ United State outline their poi- of this s employer. 7 Pacific d in Southern the Sacra- Company, \Iw has been eld except one, Governor Gage determined to sad- make the people of California the at Sacramento and seek agawn to 2 ever h t was in this disgraceful way extra sessionm. He became the tool and instrument of the men who constitute his unofficial cabinet and dictate his policy. More than that, he submitted to the plan of campaign as they outlined it for him. loting shall begin for United States Senator. They determined that on Tuesday next bal- 3 They decided to chea the Federal law which governs the clection of United States Sena- tors, and instead of w waiting until the second Tuesday after reor- gani:atian to begin on the first Tuesday, assuming for their pur- poses that the election is not to be full term. for an unexpired term, but for a This is their scheme, and they are determined that it shall not be defeated. i Senator. As a matter of course, ing, discreditable or otherwise, will be left undone to elect him. They also discussed the chances of electing Burns as no. But he is their first choice, anc if he tannot be elected, then the forces of the conmspirators will be turned to Van R. Paterson, the second choice of the railroad. again failure rewards the scheme, thrown into the fight, and after him M. H. de Young. a cheap « If will be In this way then Irving M. Scott cxecutive, scheming railroad manipulators and a rascal have laid out the work for the extraordinary session of the Legisla- ture. N the camp of D. M. Burns there Is a “scheme under consideration to begin | the balloting for United States Sena- tor as soon as the Legislature con- venes. The point Is raised that the Legislature s already organized and W@H+o+@+@+»—»@—o—. gifferent, and that he would never have cajd so much unless he was practically sure of success. From early morning until midnight the | War Office was thronged by visitors. To make matters worse there is not a single ftem of offictal intelligence from the front to appease the widespread and breathless anxiety. At midnight the announcement was made at the War Office that the au- thorities had nothing to communicate to the public, which at once suggested the | {dea that they had recelved something in- tended only for private information. The attack upon Spion Kop would prob- ably be simultaneously delivered from two sides, from Trichards Drift and from Pot- gieters Drift by Warren's division and Lyttelton’s brigade. During the last few days there has been an almost continuous bombardment of the Boer position as a preliminary to the advance. The PBritish force available for an as- sault would be about 20,000 men. All these + B R S O S R S o i S R S ] - SCENES ON THE TUGELA RIVER. Duripg General Warren's engagement with the Boers at Spion Kop, some eight miles to the west of Potgieters Drift, General Buller made a supporting demonstration toward Potgieters with General Lyttelton’s brigade, while the naval guns on Zwarts Kop kept up a continual fire on the Boer works across the Tugela River. The central picture, illustrating.these movements, was made from a British military map and gives a fair idea of the difficulties attending the passage of the river at this point by General Buller's forces. L e e e e e e e e e ] R R S S S B R R e | E TUGELA RivER L e . LERS PASSAGE e e T S o S o ‘ therefore the Federal statute relating to the election of United States Senators will not be violated if the voting should begin Immediately. Until recently it was ac- knowledged by all factions that a baliot could not be taken until the second Tues- day after the organization. Under the proclamation issued by Governor (fage convening the Legislature on January 29, anad assuming that organization will be effected on, the day that the Legislature convenes, the first ballot may be taken on Tuesday, February 6. The railroad schemeg is to begin the voting for Senator before members from certain remote dis- tricts can reach Sacramento. | Men prominent in the Burns faction will | not admit that such a scheme iIs in con- templation, but they will not authorize a statement to the Mn"arv tained yesterday tha propose to meet ! and consider the can be found for immed: will advocate balloting on t | the Judge Dibk It was ascer. | eral statute was e man extra session, was elected Senator to nesday, and therefore elapsed before the began. In the Faulkner case of West Virginia, wherein the right to elect asSenator at a special session of the Leg puted. the fact was esta ceedings that the Legis lot until the second Tuesday af Legislature convened. Precedents or no precedents, the anti-boss forces of the California Legislature are strong enough to prevent any snap judgment by the fol- lowers of Burns and Herrin. The impres- sion that Democrats will join the Re- publican bosses to carry out a scheme in opposition to the spirit of the Federal law Is not well founded. The Federal statute relating to spectal sessions of the Legislature requires that bailoting for United States Senator to fill un unexpired term must begin on the sec- vnd Tuesday after the organization of m.\ Legislatur the words the election now ir u arly three balloting for S hOIr‘mz th 1[ L to Al an xpired term, but a full term of six ye and that the successful candidate will draw pay for the term of years from March 4, 159%9. Burns is ready to spring a point of this kind. He may change his mind when he ascertains the sentiment of the people regarding sharp dodges. The claim that the Legislature is ai- ready organized and ready for work will ce on the payroll the entire army of es engaged for service at the reg- ular sion. Members have already re- ceived notice that the clerks, porter watchmen and attendants from Siskiyou to San Diego will be at the Capitol next Monday and demand mileage for their at- tendance. Under the Belshaw law the number of clerks and attaches which each house may employ Is designated, hence the contention that the attaches engaged at the regular session are statutory offi- cers and therefore entitled to mileage. When the Legislature convene be immediately taken to di number of clerks and otfer attaches. Assemblyman Owen Wade of Napa, who came down from the valley last evening to see M. M. Estee on law business, be- leves that the old army of attaches will rally at Sacramento next Monday and that steps must be taken early In the ses- ston to lessen the number. He entertains the view that committees as established Continued on Page Three