The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-09-12
ENGLAND MAssING TROOPS In
EGYPT PREP.ARfATQRY TO A
GENERAL ARyANCE.
OPEN WAR NOM 2IIN SIGHT.
BRITISH LEADERS g,AND MEN
EAGER FOR THE OPENING OF
HOsTILIElEs.
DERyIsHEs SLOWLY DRIVEN RACK
Prepared to Resist the@ Advance and
to Wake 1t Costly fegsthe Eng
Iish Expedition.

/ Cairo, Egypt, Sept. 11-Dispatches
| just received from the front say that
/ the North Staffordshire regiment. num-
| bering about 900 men, arrived at Kos
heb camp, the southernmost fortified
! post on the Nile, yesterday, and will
/ be pushed forward to- sAbsarrat today.
| The Third brigade has reached Absar-
rat safely and the, main body of cav
/ airy is arriving there. r.
! The cavalry scouts, report the dervi-
/ shes still in view, south Of Duglo but
( the enemy retreats at the slightest sign
of a forward movement. The Anglo
/ Egyptian scouts, feeling the. way for
/ the advance guard, are steadily pushing
! on to Kasbar, Il miles further south,
/ which will be the next place occupied.
! The troops, black and white, are full
I of enthusiasm and anxious for g. brush
with the enemy. The weather is hot
/ in the extreme, but the soldiers are
benefitting from being on the move.
| All the troops taking part in the ex-
(, petition are now on the march to-
wards Dongola.
Duglo, hitherto held by q small force
! of cavalry. is being fortified and added
to the string of depots connecting the
expedition with Wady Halfa, the real
base of supplies.
The intelligence department reports
the dervishes gathering in force north
of Dongola.
Skirmishes between the dervishes
and the Anglo-Egyptian scouts are
! expected at any moment.
Thus the advance Of the British
Egyptian expedition up the river Nile
with Dongola, if not Khartoum, as it's
objective point, is now in full swing,
after months of struggling with ter
| rife heat and cholera, during which
the work of railroad building and pass
ing gunboats in sections up the river
and over cataracts, has been carried
on necessarily under the direction of
British officers, a number of whom
have already given up their lives as a
| sacrifice to the task.
The operations began in March last
when troops hurried up the Nile to
Wady-Halfa, the southernmost post.
although the railroad ran to Sarras.
| about forty miles south from Wadv-
Halfa. Since that time the railroad.
| a desert campaign line, has been ax-
tended to Akasheh, fifty miles from
! the latter place to Kosheh and thence
| to Absarrat, about rs miles
In the first seven days of the cam
| pafgn, over 1000 men, in every way
fully equipped, were moved south
ward. in spite of the great difficulties
of transportation, and now some
$1,000 men, not including natives en-
| ployed in transport service are NOV
| ing south with fotilla of about f1f-
! teen. stern wheel gunboats, some of
| them towing over 200 other boats and
| barges, loaded with supplies, ann1uni-
| ton, etc.
This fleet will keep up constant com
munication with Absarrat, aow the
base from which the army is operating
AT every station between Absarrat
and Wady-Halfa, hospitals fer the
care of the wounded and sick have
been established. The sirdar or COM
mander Of the Anglo Egyptian expedi-
ton. Sir Herbert H. Kitchener, has
| left nothing undone to promote the
| sultan of the Soudan Abdullah Ell
| Taashai, otherwise Abdullah FL Khali,
| who claims to be the successor Of the
famous Mahdi, who caused the British
so much trouble years ago. e-s
| 1t is looked upon as more than proba-
BILE that the gunboats will play very
important part in the campaign. They
| are from 100 to It's feet long, have 20
| to 27efeet beam, only draw about two
! feet Of water, when fully loaded are
able to make about Il miles an hour,
carrying a large number of men and
| tow barges. ETC., carrying many more
| men. =Y ssFos .s-s..I s
Each gun boat CARRIES twelve
| FOUNDER quick fire Maxim gun, able to
| discharge a shot every three seconds,
! mounted forward on an armored citidel
deck. Amidships there is a coming
| tower and an electric searchlight an
other lighter Maxim, from to 20 feet
above the waterline and the armament
| OF the deadly boats is completed with
two quick firing six FOUNDERS and six
| lighter Maxim guns. Besides these
guns, some Of the larger gunbo4ss carry
! "a FOUNDER Armstrong;, capable of de-
Hvering a very effective fire at long
! range.
The hulls of the gunboats are con-
| structed in sections, enabling them to
be taken apart and to be put together
again in a short time Finally the SOL
! diers on board stand in the shallow
| hull, well protected by the matches
which are capable of being folded and
which form an admirable portable
breastwork. 1t will be seen from these
/ preparations that the advice given tc
Hicks Pasha when he left for Khar-
toum In 1883 with 10000 men to keep
close to the Nile" is to be closely fol-
| lowed in the present campaign. Hicks
| dlsregarded the recommendation. and
! persisted with his entire command In
the Kordofen district.
The British troops taking part, in one
way or the other in the operations
are drawn from the North Stafford
shire regiment, the Surrey regiment
/ the Gloucester regiment and the Con
naught Rangers, the Second dragons
Royal artillery and Royal engineers. not
counting the detaehinents Of sailors
manning the gunboats The general
upon whom the khalifa relies to defeat
the Anglo-Egyptian troops is the fam
Gus Osman Digna, a thoroughly tried
| and able warrior, who was the great
Mahdfs most trusted lieutenant, and
who was with the latter in all his cam
paigns. He has been almost constantly
! in the saddle for about IL years and is
a commander thoroughly respected by
| the British. The number Of the kha-
lifa's followers Is not know, and cannot
be accurately estimated 1t Is variously
placed at 10000 to 100,0G0nmen
The report received from Kosheh to-
| day chronicles the carnival there by
| train of the remainder of the Stafford
shire regiment, the first detachment
| Of which arrived yesterday The sir