The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 25, 1900, Page 13

AR A R R NN Pages 130 22 T 2244244444424 440404 ’00?09&90.’9*’0%!9000002 : Pages 1310 22 - e b ad i A R R e 44440404 "\'()LI',\IE LXXXVII-NO. B87. SAN FRANOISCO, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1900—THIRTY-TWO PAGES. PRICE FIVE CENTS. SURRENDER AND ESCAPE OF CRONJE ARE THE STORIES CIRCULATED. From Berlin and The Hague Come Reports That the Free State and Transvaal Forces Have Formed a Junction and Are Well Entrenched. Rumors in London That Roberts Has Captured Cronje, but Is With- holding the News in Order to Trap Boer Reinforcements From Natal. BERLIN, Feb. 24.-—Several newspapers here anncunce ha,L they learn from private sources that General Cronje has succeeded in forcing his way through the British lines. NEW YORK, Feb. 24.—A cable dispatch from The Hague to 2 prominent Dutch resident of New York printed in the Evening Journal says: “Dr. Leyds has received the following dispatch from President Kruger: ‘Free State and Transvaal forces together south of Paardeberg. Reinforced and well entrenched.”” ' Qeieiosieioioietedodeltodie R o S e i S o e ] ‘nce 2:15 o'clock yesterday afternoon nothing has - 3 ONLON, Feb, 25, 4:35 A. ; L been recceived from the scene of what the London papers call General Cronje’s death-struggle, the War Cifice officials anncuncing at midnight that they had nothing to give out. They stated that they believed it to be impossible for Cronje to es- cape from the grip of Lord Roberts. The report circulated in Eerln that Crenje had succeeded in making his escape came from Beer headquarters in Brussels, where it was stated details were still lacking. e e ONDON, Feb. 25.—Face|? & | to ¢ in both the Free | State and Natal the oppos- ing armies stand, apparentl | withouyt vital change since Fri- day. It was expected and even + | very confidently asserted by thosc; * ! who had made careful study of ;lhc progress of events that we | shoyld surely hear of Cronje's| | surrender by vesterday, but from | [latest accounts he se€fis to be ‘5(11] holding out. L e e e e g There are rumors, but nothing more, through Ca pe Town and “ | Durban that Cronje has surren-| g ¢ | dered, but they are not generally credited. At any rate the War|{ Office has not received ahything to back up these stories. There is news under Thurs- R R R R R day's date from Paardeberg o e which, though not official, is con- sidered trustworthy. On that day the Boers were still holding out. Their laager was being shelled intermittently, but Cronje had| | apparently not altered his mind and was still determined to per- > o0 ha [ R R R R e R R R R R R R TS ! '/ sist in defense to the last in the [ 4 + hope, no doubt, that reinforce-| ¢ * . |/ments would succeed in accom- i ¢ o | plishing his relief. That reinforce- | 6 + \ ments have been sent to hir is |+ * ¢ | made clear by a message already | j : . : . ; " $ | referred to, which says that two| & British Chaplain-on-the Charging Line Giving the Last Comfort ¢ [thousand Boers are operating| ! Lieutenant Roberts Urging on the Men in the Rescue of the to a Dying Man. + | southeast of the British positions. | ¢ Guns at Colenso. ; From Black and White. : These may be the force of Com- if From the Sphere. % -4 ) D00 00 P oD PP 0PGRS G0:09 0000 B b bs bttt st s RASERPEGH mander De Wett, Which is trying | @ -0+ 0004040004040 0904040 0+-0-0-0-0-000-00 0066 +-0-- 000000 PERSISTENT RUMORS THAT a'ir e s BOERS REPORT HAVING CRONJE HAS SURRENDERED/= ™™ ™™ DRIVEN GEN. BULLER BACK Belief in London That Roberts Is Withholding|usted at 40,000 to s0.000 men of| British Forces Said to Have Lost Heavily, and all arms. When one bears in‘ : the Ne.ws in Order to Trap Boer Re- it e e it hich aa | Eight Ambulances Collect the Dead inforcements From Natal. British have invariably defeated | and W ounded. the Boers when permitted by cir- | CIE HEAD LAAGER, T, Teb. 23.—% 7 the British erossed ths Tugela in largs num- @ 2 B bers, with cannon and over sixty wagons. They sttacked ths Ermelo and Middle burghers com- mandoes, but were forced to retreat unde¢r a heavy Mauser fire. A renewed attzmpt to storm the Ermelo men was made this morning, but the British were again driven off. The fighting continues. The British losscs were heavy. Eight cmbulances wers employed in collecting the dead and wounded. The generals report that the commendoes are fighting bravely. Ladyemith fired a'few shells this merning ot our outposts till silenced by “Lozg Tom.” LONDON, Feb. 24.—The War Office o ved from General Buller a list of casualties result. ing from the fighting of February 22, as follows: KILLED. il oo Special Ceble to The Call and the New York Herald. Copyrighted, 1900, by the New York Herald Company. |ClMstances to act on the de- fensive it is difficult to believe | o | that any attempt at relief could | be successful. Such at any rate nissed as untrue. Late last night, however, ths rumor again got about in clubs that Cronje was a $ |is the opinion of the best military | ner. The War Office, when asked about it, depeated what had been stated during the day: “Nothing § | experts here. I ONDON, Feb. 25.—Persistent reports circulated all day yesterday that General Cronje had surr:n- but as the War Office would give no definite information the stories were generally dis- to communicate from front.” Nevertheless, the story came from such a source as gave room for belicf that it was true, and that the War Office was holding back information for some rsason. It is thought by somos that Lord Roberts’ The fact that Commandant De Wett struck in at Petrusberg geme is to encourage the Boers in hurrying from Natal and elsewhere in the hop of relieving Cronje and would indicate that Bloemfontein Lieutenant, the Hon. R. C. Cathcart, son cf Lord Cathcart of the Rifle Brigads, Lisutenants Cos then defeat them in detail. Were it allowed to become known in Pretoria that Ctonje’s army had suc- and not Brandfort is the railway i Patkar ok Uia Tadoantire Pegiment. . cumbed, the Boers, instead of rushing upon Roberts’ army where it is at present and prepared to cope with base of the Boer army. It seem—s WOUND=ED. all the forces sent against it, would surely retire to another position and awzit Roberts’ advance. very doubtful if time will . Fourteen officers, inciuding Major General Wyuxno and Colonel Harrls ol the East Burrsys, Accordingly this was the argument by some in the clubs last night: “If Cronje is captured we Sope e pecatt General Buller concludes: “Owing to the contizuous fighting it s imjossibls at present to chall not know it from an official source until it suits Lord Roberts and the War Office to make it public.” la s.ufhcxently large fcree of Boers give the number of men killed or wounded.” . 4 bt B e s L e i | being gathered together to really | B e e e AR A RO U e i e 2 e B D Y cndanger the British communi- t-x-x—l—-l—H—l—l—l—r!—d—i—H'Prh-n'-i-h D bbb e ) ns or to break through to Cronje’s relief. As to the Natal situation also rumor has been very busy. A series of reports have come through Cape Town and Durban that Ladysmith is relieved, but ne eredence is given the storjes, now nearly a week since General Buller reported that he was confronted by only a weak rear guard, yet he appears to have made very little progress since the captuse of Hlasgwana Mountain and the occupation of Fort Wylie, h mmu‘ in his pnx:e«mn a strong point on each side of the river.- One puzzling feature of the situation is found in the report that the Boers still have big guns on Bulwana Mountain, though it is not clear whether the re- Long Tom” is still in position there. It was stated two days ago that their T)xg guns had been removed on Monday, information of which more than anything clse gave rise to the report and convineed everybody that the siege of Ladysmith was about to be raised without loss of time. Now it is apparent how inaccurate this information was. . Consequcm]y the intention of the Boers to raisc the sicge of Ladysmiih has become & maiter of doubt, An ex- traordinary telegram which has reached London from Boer sources by a roundabout route states that the British force has again fallen back from Colenso. Nobody here believed such a story for 8 moment, since in the opinion of mili- tary experts Buller, with a grip on Fort Wylie and Inhlawe Mountain, could not be compelled to retire except by a serious interruption to his communaications. - .