Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1899-10-25
Causing a Great Deal of Dlssat-
lsfaction by Reason of its
Unrelidbility.
LATER REPORTS, NEW ASPECT
Beers Are Not DISCOURAGED and
Decisive Action Is Expected
Today or Tomorrow.

chief Field Marshal Lord Wellesley
has apparently now been convicted OF
doctoring official reports from the
front. There is a strenuous demand
from all sides for reversion~ to the
earlier practice when reports of Gen
eral Sir Stewart White, British COM
lnander in Natal, were given out tex
tually as soon as received. The com
mander-in-chief's summary was read
in the House of Commons yesterday
spoke of General White having fought
a successful action, whereas Whites
own account puts an entirely different
complexion on the situation and re-
duces the movement to its proper pro.
portions and shows that further eX-
citing intelligence may be expected
from the same quarter at any moment.
1t is quite evident that the war in
Natal has only commenced and the
Beers are by no means discouraged
by losing the first two battles. Many
experts are satisfied that General
Joubert is even now close to the heels
of the British and a decisive action
may be fought today or tomorrow.
The main fact that the British were
forced to eyaeuate the Natal triangle,
which the Beers naturally rightly
claim as a conspicuous success, and
which they may even emphasize by a
proclamation anneXing northern Ma
tai, is proving an unpalatable pill to
the public whose appetite has been
whetted by the previous successes
which had been assumed to be greater
than they really were as the deter
mination and gallantry of the Beers
enabled them to quickly reorganize
and achieve desired objects by other
methods. Later estimates of Boer
losses at Elandslaagte give 300 killed.
Their coolness, bravery and good aim
can be judged from the fact that out
of seventeen or eighteen officers, with
half a battalion of the Gordon High
landers, four were killed and thirteen
wounded while the casualties among
the rank and file were twenty-seven
per cent in less than three hours fight
ing. Lieutenant Campbell of the Cor
don Highlanders has since died of the
wounds. A dispatch from Cape Town
today says that General White engag-
ed Orange Free State Beers advanc-
ing on Ladysmith about seven miles
northward, and twas believed the ad-
vance had been repelled.
London, Oct. 25.-A special dis
patch from Cape Town dated this
morning says there has been another
battle at Ladysmith and Beers repul-
sed. British casualties four killed,
seven wounded, all rank and file.
General White telegraphed the war
office from Rietfontein, under date
October "a, saying that in the fighting
near Ladysmith, twelve British were
killed, eighty-nine wounded and five
missing; casualties being mostly
among Gloucester regiment. A spe-
cial from Ladysmith, dated October
23, says troop of the eighteenth
Hussars, which got astray in pursuing
the Beers after the battle of Glencoe,
nave arrived at Ladysmith, the troop
,ers having fought their way through
with the loss of three horses.
London, Oct. 25.-The extent of
British preparations, revealed by to-
days information, causes strong reit-
GRAFTON of rumors of serious foreign
complications. 1t is now said that
Rear Admiral Lord Charles Beres-
lord will command the Mediterranean
squadron. Details of activity in the
dock yards and naval stations are
coming in hot and fast. Work on un-
completed vessels is being hurried
day and night. Special attention be-
ing paid to cruisers is taken by many
naval authorities to indicate that
Great Britain intends to form men
acing flying squadron, using the term
"menacing" because the naval force
at sea now is ample to convoy troops
and is capable of preventing any in
reference in South African waters
The belief that Great Britain is, on
the verge of crisis or even con
fiict far greater than that in the
Transvaal, has many supporters
though lack of official confirmation
favors the conservative view that the
remarkable military and naval activ
ity is due to a desire to take thorough
precautions, which though ominous
have at present no special bearing
upon Great Britain's European rela
tions.
London, Oct 25.-The war office
this evening made public the follow
ing dispatch sent by General White
from Ladysmith $3.50 this afternoon
Advance guard forces sent out by
me this morning to get in touch witt
and help General Yule's column was
within three miles of that column
which had temporarily halted on Sun
Gay river about noon. / have occu
pied all the strong positions on the
road to Ladysmith and | have no fur
ther anxiety about them.
Queenstown. Oct. 25.-British cruis
ers Furious. Peloros and Pactolus
sailed this afternoon enroute to Cans
Clear where they meet eight battle
ships and two cruisers of the Channe
squadron, from North Ireland. The